// a blog! bits and pieces of life

Scholar?

Simply amazing, all within a period of 3 days. Oh, if you haven't realised, the above is a screenshot of my inbox.

Probably, anyone who signed up for BrightSparks would have received the same emails. I'm pretty impressed how they're trying hard to reach out to garner applicants. But perhaps they should have just sent the mails to students from the elite schools. After all, isn't it the case that the elites obtain perhaps 99.9% of the scholarships available?

Now I'm not trying to offend anyone here, but let's face reality - how often does a student from a mid-tier Junior College get awarded a scholarship? Yes, the elites have better results, but a student from a mid-tier Junior College has no less IQ and may even possess higher EQ. Traditional notions of results-oriented shortlisting ought to long have been revamped, and for once, look at what schools have been pushing for - holistic education. So why are scholarships awarded to students with 7A's, and not students with 4A's with stellar non-academic achievements (be it leadership or CIP)? How less qualified would the latter be?

The top managements in various industries are filled with scholars who know nuts about running operations. I understand the controversial sensitivity of my topic. Nonetheless, I'm going to voice out my dissatisfaction. Meritocracy has been too effective in killing futures of late bloomers and potential individuals. From young, we've been filtered into the various castes, from the more intelligent (EM1) to the more technical (EM3). From then on, our futures were pretty much decided, given the streaming system in contemporary society. Those who developed their minds early earned a place in the elites arena, and received top-notch education to be who they are today. The rest who failed to bloom as early had to be shelved into the less academic ranks of our society, and were showered with less care and concern. The result? Elites remain elites, non-elites remain non-elites. Sure, there are talented individuals who, with much effort, make it across the boundary and enter the realm of the more intellect. Statistically, the numbers don't even earn concern.

As an individual who has been through neighbourhood school education for the past 12 years, I'll never understand the thinking of the elites. Neither will they understand the thinking of what they arrogantly term neighbourhood school kids. Let's put every effort to transcend the boundary, and to one day diminish the existence of that condescending attitude towards the less academically inclined. That effort starts now, starts here.

Let's not be happy with merely passing the examination, be contented only with A's, for we live in a pragmatic society whereby the weaker ones will undoubtedly perish in the tug-of-war to the top. For that change to occur, we need to be the change. Neighbourhood school kids, admittedly I'm one of them, we can make it, for the betterment of the next generations.

I'm not going to be a conforming devotee of the current social zeitgeist. Face it, times are changing, and we have to change too.

Disclaimer: If I had in any way offended you as an individual, or any organisation, feel free to drop me a comment. If I unwittedly committed any fallacies in my fit of exasperation, I'll be willing to make the appropriate adjustments; that said, my stand doesn't change.