g r i e v e r

Sunday, September 15, 2002

Perfectly Disgusted

We were in the midst of a GP lesson, the topic being capital punishment. Then, the tutor posed to us a very interesting question; whether we would choose to face life imprisonment or accept capital punishment(What if). I quote my classmate: "Life imprisonment, so that I can study!" I was outrageously disgusted.

What is the point of studying if you're never gonna get out of that clammy old room? What is the point of reading Jones & Childers, or Sloman for that matter if you're gonna be stuck inside jail for as long as you live? I mean, knowledge and widsom are things we should always yearn to acquire continuously, but studying - which translates to mugging in the context of my classmate's warped psyche - it isn't something you want to do for the rest of your whole darn life spent in a prison cell!

I think that shows how shallow some people have become in today cruel and merciless (and largely pretentious) society where only the best survive, and where academic excellence is the synonymn of "best". I feel that this very perverse ideal propagated by all forms of educational media nowadays is absolutely revolting. What an irony too, that the education of young men and women is actually about teaching them the twisted facts of life. Living isn't about studying! For those who still think mugging is the whole world to you, you've been living in space all the while. I really mean it. Please wake up. Or at least try to.

I also chanced upon a notice attached onto one of the walls around the neighbourhood, informing parents about tuition services. I read the lines with extreme interest, them saying "Help your child achieve better grades and provide them a better chance of success in life". Or something like that. What it said exactly is not important. All I know is that many people out there think that 10 As and 20 Distinctions secure a promising future for themselves. They've been horribly misled. But it's not their fault really, it's just that somewhere along the evolution of society, things got very, very mixed up and disordered, to an extent that this mistake never got discovered. And if it did, no one really did anything about it.

Another anecdote(not really sure whether it's true) you might want to know about: Tan Tong Kai, a student in RJC, formerly from Chinese High(read - associated symbols and ideas?) did Humanities for the first 3 months. Then he decided to drop it. His reason? "Oh I can't mug for E.Lit!" or something like that. What a big turn off. I can't even do my favourite subject and you bastard there, you're telling me you're gonna miss doing Literature just because you cannot mug for it? Go and jump. It is true that we should do our best and obtain decent grades for ourselves, but really, Literature, like the very themes it represents, is more than what one can only glance at; it holds deeper meaning than mugging damm it! Literature, may it be poetry, prose or drama, is about life, about both the beauty and ugliness of it, about people and these people who are the society, live... It is about humanity. It is about... the very essence and core of being human.

Not mugging you idiot.

I think I've said all that I wanted to say. I only wish that humanity will awaken from his self-destruction. He has abandoned his mother and brothers. He only has himself left to love.

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