Is our children ready for the rat race and able to handle the high standard of living in SIngapore???

Question

Most of my friends including me are in our mid 40s.One of my best buddy has a son( 22yo).He committed sucide last month and even wrote a letter before he died.Ironically, the letter mentioned he was very depressed as he could not see himself to be successful in life.Despite only having his N levels he tried out many jobs but eventually he still lost out to the others no matter how hard he work.He was a good kid who's filial.Many others came with diplomas,degrees.Its a worring sign cos i'm sure there are many out there who's education level is not favourable.Many had labelled him as 'stupid" to comit sucide But the fact is these kids just cant handle the stress in the working society.Currently, if u look at the ads, a diploma or A levels are the min requirement for a post of a admin clerk.Many has called him stupid for commiting sucide but i'm sure if given a choice he will not end his life in such a way.Can our chidren handle the high cost of living standards in Singapore???

Answer 1

No, they're not ready, and its basically our fault. The education system both in the US and UK do not prepare them for real life. We've raised an entire generation of people whose world view is dominated by Brittany Spears shaving her head.

I'm in my mid-40's and going back to school because I want to change my field of work. I'm taking an astronomy class to complete my science requirement, and I'm astounded at the fact that most of my classmates think the teacher is lying to them. They've never been exposed to basic scientific concepts and find them unbelievable. Almost all of them have never been told that the Sun is a star, and find this fact mind-boggling.

Answer 2

I think it all depends on the child, his/her family, and not particularly where they live. I live in Singapore, I ran the same rat race you're talking about and my whole life my parents never worried if I could make it or not (at least not in front of me). And because they didn't, I never knew how competitive things were, I got by without stressing, without worrying if I would be a failure. I never understood what streaming was - my parents just made sure I studied hard for my exams and made sure I enjoyed myself on weekends, and I still got by. They kept telling me, work hard first, and reap rewards later, things will fall into place. But you need to put in the work first. They never made it easy for me to own things (new shoes, a new walkman) to "teach me the value of money", but were always there to provide advice and guidance and I'm grateful for that.

I think Singaporean parents should chill out, relax, and just know that even if your child doesn't get to the university, or have a stable job, it doesn't mean they're a failure. There's always opportunity. Now they're talking about entrepreneurship and naturing those people who dare to take risks - many entrepreneurs didn't finish school, they don't even succeed the first try! But they're determined, and they perservere, and they have conviction. And if your child lacks that because you didn't incalcate those values, then don't blame the rat race. Cos there are easily 50 thousand peers your kid has that are getting by.

Now I got through the entire education system, been in the job for a while, I can honestly tell you - many youngsters now tend to want the easy way out. They're not ready to roll up their sleeves and work through the ranks, they want to sit down and have success delivered to them, and rant and rave when it doesn't happen quickly. This is why they're going to fail - because they don't have the desire to succeed. Because they think that the world will revolve around them, at work, just like it does at home.

Singaporean kids (I'll say it - me included) need to fortify ourselves - work-ethic wise and build resilience to stupid comments about us being stupid just because we didn't pass exams the right way. It means nothing, just like the people who label us. You can always get a job if you try hard enough. It's the attitude that will tip the scales when I hire someone, not their education. I will always hire someone who's eager to learn, and not the one who thinks he knows better.

As the folks above has said - competition is everywhere - we need to stop griping the that system is running our kids down, and start just teaching our kids that life is about competition, and not everything will be delivered to their doorstep. Success begins with hard work! Only then will they be able to handle anything in life - not just the high cost of living.

Answer 3

Why does your summation end in Singapore??? Maybe he would have commited suicide for some other reason if it wasn't the one you mentioned. Fact is you can't bring people back. We have been sold out in America. The American worker had his/her day. We are now in a global economy competing with communist slave labor. As long as the rich in America serve us up for the slaughter they will. The rich get to ship jobs overseas and reap the profits. Americans cannot compete with the low wages of a Chinese worker. This is why we have an underground economy of drugs, robbery, etc. Americans have lost hope and will turn to crime and the people that have sold them out will pay eventually too. America is doomed. Drink the Kool-aide...