Slippery Slope

Seeing my little sister study, play and manage her life, I've come to see how this country has nearly disregarded completely the real meaning behind learning.

She's Primary 6 and has probably already got easily three to four times more homework than I did when I was her age. Her teachers are probably frustrated themselves because of the requirement to finish the syllabus/curriculum that some of them have screwed up their teaching and thus their students as well. At this point in time - just wanted to give a random shoutout to her Primary 1 chinese teacher - you stupid, dense, foolish idiot. You've screwed up her perception and attitude towards Chinese so much I think you've done a lot more damage than you think you may have (or may have not) done.

My parents consistently bug her to do her work - in fact the only spontaneous questions that they ever ask her are those regarding her homework, whether or not she's done them etc etc. it sometimes pisses me off having to watch it.

So when she gets nagged at since young she psychologically grows up rebelling what she's been tormented with for the past couple of years. And rebellion loves company. Her friends at school turn out the same way, whether due to parental negligence, indulgence or stupidity.

Upping the curriculum each year and by such a large mark is probably the stupidest decision moe makes in order to "ensure that Singaporean students are of the highest, all-rounded standards". Down the slippery slope we go - childhoods ruined by capitalistic instincts and audacious dreams of foolish parents, memories undefined by large amounts of homework and tuition, innocence tampered and infected by the interests of other people. Such over-competitiveness prides the victorious and damns those who can't catch up.

Money may make the world go round, but it certainly corrodes the world each time it spins the damned globe one round. Children and people for that matter, treated as "manpower" or "commodities" or "economic labour". I'm not trying to be preachy here - but I think it's pretty obvious why children in other countries like Australia, the dunno-how-many-trillion deficit USA or parts of Europe are happier.