Courage
People have asked me, whats up with that comics post man? This is Singapore, how does the guy survive? Since you support what the guy did, you may as well quit your education now and go the things you like?!
The reason why I recommended you all to read his comics was because I thought he had the courage to do something that he loves to do. And that's why we should support the comics he has drawn.
Courage? What courage? It is the courage to do something you like despite what other people say and daring to venture away from the path that many before you has taken.
Well until now so far, I have gone down the path that the society has expected me to take. Study hard for PSLE, get into a good secondary school. Study hard for O levels and get into JC. Study hard for A levels and get into university. A degree will at least give you a decent standard of life in the future. Then go NS, be safe and come out in one piece.
And so I did. I did all of them.
People say that studying arts cannot get you a job in the future, science will be better for you.
And so I did.
I studied mostly science all my life (except in secondary school where we studied history/geography too), from secondary school to now. During my secondary school years, biology was all the rage. I was sucked into the hype. I took biology and dropped it a year later. And sometimes I wondered what if I had studied that economics/history/geography for my O or A levels. Will I have a happier time studying and probably better grades too?
It is ok when you follows the social norm. But it is a big NO NO if you follow the social norms and are unhappy doing it.
Why study science? Why choose the engineering and accounting courses? The society has drilled into us that engineers and accountants are good jobs, they pay you well and gives you a good future. In the end many people got sucked into it despite having partically zero interest in it.
I have probably said it many times before that I admire people who had the courage to do the things they like despite pressure from the society to do otherwise. After so many years of following the herd, I have realized that, yes, it is important to dare to do something you like.
Why do something you don't like in the first place? Imagine if you do it for the next 30 years, can you take it? I rather earn lesser, do something I like and be happy about it.
People say that if you like what you are doing you will probably excel in it too and willing to put in all the hard work required to succeed. Many successful chefs, sportsmen, performers have said that their motivation for success comes from the love of what they are doing and thus they are willing to go all the way, even if it is tough.
I didn't really like biology and thus not willing at all to work hard and felt sian whenever I had to study it. So I ended up failing it all the way and dropping it in the end.
Sometimes it easier than you think. Let's say you like meeting people and interacting people, you can get a job like customer relations, PR or even teaching as a career instead of doing some jobs facing machines everyday. Or you love helping people, you can be a nurse, a social worker or even a civil servant in MCYS working on how to best help the unforunate.
And to the question on why shouldn't I quit studying now and go work on the things I like. Well sometimes you cannot afford to be too idealistic, you have to strike a balance. Yes it is important to do something I like for the rest of my life, but I also have bills to pay too. Having a decent certification actually provides you the safety net to allow you to try the things you want wholeheartedly, at least you have some skills to fall on in times of crisis.
Education also provides you with the right skills to allow you to work in your area of interest. For example, aspiring chefs/bakers will tend to go to schools like shatec to get an industry-recongized certification to allow them to enter their area of interest more easily. Imagine you have zero skills, zero certifications, and you want to be a chef. The only way is to be an apprentice in a resturant. People may not accept you as you have zero skills at all.
Sometimes it is the soft skills you learn in schools that is more important than the facts that you actually learn. Jobs that require strong analytical skills will find science and engineering graduates very suitable. While jobs that require strong interpersonal skills will probably want to hire someone with a bussiness or mass communications degree.
Yes, this is getting all long and windy. So do something you like even if it raises eyebrows and everyone around you discourages you from doing it.
So don't be afraid. Don't bow to pressure.
les
The reason why I recommended you all to read his comics was because I thought he had the courage to do something that he loves to do. And that's why we should support the comics he has drawn.
Courage? What courage? It is the courage to do something you like despite what other people say and daring to venture away from the path that many before you has taken.
Well until now so far, I have gone down the path that the society has expected me to take. Study hard for PSLE, get into a good secondary school. Study hard for O levels and get into JC. Study hard for A levels and get into university. A degree will at least give you a decent standard of life in the future. Then go NS, be safe and come out in one piece.
And so I did. I did all of them.
People say that studying arts cannot get you a job in the future, science will be better for you.
And so I did.
I studied mostly science all my life (except in secondary school where we studied history/geography too), from secondary school to now. During my secondary school years, biology was all the rage. I was sucked into the hype. I took biology and dropped it a year later. And sometimes I wondered what if I had studied that economics/history/geography for my O or A levels. Will I have a happier time studying and probably better grades too?
It is ok when you follows the social norm. But it is a big NO NO if you follow the social norms and are unhappy doing it.
Why study science? Why choose the engineering and accounting courses? The society has drilled into us that engineers and accountants are good jobs, they pay you well and gives you a good future. In the end many people got sucked into it despite having partically zero interest in it.
I have probably said it many times before that I admire people who had the courage to do the things they like despite pressure from the society to do otherwise. After so many years of following the herd, I have realized that, yes, it is important to dare to do something you like.
Why do something you don't like in the first place? Imagine if you do it for the next 30 years, can you take it? I rather earn lesser, do something I like and be happy about it.
People say that if you like what you are doing you will probably excel in it too and willing to put in all the hard work required to succeed. Many successful chefs, sportsmen, performers have said that their motivation for success comes from the love of what they are doing and thus they are willing to go all the way, even if it is tough.
I didn't really like biology and thus not willing at all to work hard and felt sian whenever I had to study it. So I ended up failing it all the way and dropping it in the end.
Sometimes it easier than you think. Let's say you like meeting people and interacting people, you can get a job like customer relations, PR or even teaching as a career instead of doing some jobs facing machines everyday. Or you love helping people, you can be a nurse, a social worker or even a civil servant in MCYS working on how to best help the unforunate.
And to the question on why shouldn't I quit studying now and go work on the things I like. Well sometimes you cannot afford to be too idealistic, you have to strike a balance. Yes it is important to do something I like for the rest of my life, but I also have bills to pay too. Having a decent certification actually provides you the safety net to allow you to try the things you want wholeheartedly, at least you have some skills to fall on in times of crisis.
Education also provides you with the right skills to allow you to work in your area of interest. For example, aspiring chefs/bakers will tend to go to schools like shatec to get an industry-recongized certification to allow them to enter their area of interest more easily. Imagine you have zero skills, zero certifications, and you want to be a chef. The only way is to be an apprentice in a resturant. People may not accept you as you have zero skills at all.
Sometimes it is the soft skills you learn in schools that is more important than the facts that you actually learn. Jobs that require strong analytical skills will find science and engineering graduates very suitable. While jobs that require strong interpersonal skills will probably want to hire someone with a bussiness or mass communications degree.
Yes, this is getting all long and windy. So do something you like even if it raises eyebrows and everyone around you discourages you from doing it.
So don't be afraid. Don't bow to pressure.
les
posted by yaogui at
1:44 AM
