I didn’t come here to think…
An English-born sociology lecturer teaching in Singapore was stunned by the reply of a student to his simple request: “But before you put pen to paper, I want you to think for 3 minutes about the question, just think.”
I thought this was a classic symptom of the Singaporean education system (and see the Straits Times article he quoted beneath his post). Of course, this phenomenon is not confined to Singaporeans (and neither are all Singaporeans like this).
but I really want my friends to know.. im really sick of having to fake this “image” when i face them.. I really want to tell them all of this.. but I’m really afraid they will just reat me as nuts and desert me as they have done in high school…. i really dunno wtf is wrong with me… why cannot i just be like others.. e.g. [] .. who just fail every thing at school but dun give a damn… still enjoying life and partying? I’m not doing crap.. I get like HD and D for finance and Cr for law…………. but im just so sick of law.. I work my guts out yet.. i jsut cannot get above Cr… I think it’s my fault.. i know im crap at english.. and written stuff.. I know im shit at grammar.. but i just wanna persue it.. cuz u look “cool” taking law.. look so smart…………. yet im not… im not the smart one who can have fun, do no study and get top grades.. im the one who stress.. work my butt off.. have no life besides study yet do crap…………. Doing law have really blown my self-esteem.. and pushed me beyond my limits.. to such a state that i have just given up………… I’m faced with ppl who get like 100 UAI… yeah..i did ok with 97.25 but everyone else got above me in law…… They are so smart, partying etc…. yet im struggling……….. I know a Cr is not bad.. I get in the 70s.. that is still better than some ppl………… but im really afraid.. each time i have to take a law exam is like taking an english exam in high school.. i face my worse nightmare.. I”m really trying hard…. working my guts off.. i try so SO hard………………………………..
The law teachers are crap…… except one or two.. but majority are crap.. no class ntoes. they just blab.. cant they jut teach and give us notes like commerce????? Like why btoher reading a ton of cases….. why cannot they just tell us the fuckin ratio.. yeah.. just make life hard so they look cool as lawyers.. law is no hard.. is just their fucking exam questions is so vague.. unclear.. esp essay Q’s…. it’s like wtf…………………
I won’t link the blog it comes from, but it’s a pity. With respect to this person, in my opinion I think that it’s the wrong course for them to be doing because they are doing it for totally the wrong reasons. I don’t believe it has anything to do with intellect. (There are very few university courses that require genuine intellect, and law is not one of them.) It doesn’t matter how smart you are, if you’re doing the wrong course, you won’t enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, you probably won’t do well at it. You’re much better off doing something else. It’s rarely too late to quit. There are some people aren’t fortunate, for financial reasons or otherwise, to have the luxury of choosing what they want to do (particularly if there are financial constraints), but this person is not one of them (judging from the 29 December 04 entry).
4:51pm (GMT +11.00) tomorrow 
Such is life… Obstacles makes people stronger. I believe he can do it, we all can do it if we’re determined to do so. Stretching the elastic is ok, just make sure you don’t break it. Happy New Year everyone!
hey stu – great posts as always. I agree with the comment that we should all be doing something we enjoy – but sometimes its hard to work out what that is – I mean a lot of people do comm/law because it gives them more options. As for the quitting thing – its hard to give up something when other people value it highly…..
Beijing law school is great!!!! hope you enjoy it – easiest 8UOC ever.
hmm. so what do you define as genuine intellect and why do you think law is not a subject which requires genuine intellect?
Nice link.
I’ve never read so much self-important drivel in the comments section for that link though.
I’m going to SE Asia for a bit Stu.
I promise when I get back, we’ll actually hook up for coffee or something.
Defining “genuine intellect” is something that’s going to be very contentious, so this is a matter of my personal opinion only. There are some areas which people “get or don’t get” – that need a certain way of thinking to understand, a way of thinking that is difficult to teach.
Generally these subject areas don’t have cribs. There’s no way you can get a crib on maths, or computer programming. For many commerce subjects, you don’t need cribs – the downloadable lecture notes are all you need to rote learn to do well – you don’t even need to attend the lectures (there are exceptions of course, such as actuarial studies). Law requires more effort than some commerce majors. You can get cribs on law subjects, but to do well you still need to be able to spot and structure issues and run an argument – thought skills that aren’t taught very well in, for example, information systems. I suspect many arts courses are more difficult to do well in than some commerce ones.