Good Competition?


Exams bring out the worst in people. No, scratch that. Not exams, but competition.

I thought I had seen my fair share of it during my degree days in UTAR. But guess what, people? I was wrong. I am actually seeing it happen again at the postgraduate level.

Now before you readers jump the gun and go shooting at me, saying, “Why are you so bunched up Kathleen?” I WILL tell you why.

A Bachelor’s degree was deemed as part of the natural education progress, from Primary to Secondary to college or university.  Opting to take up a Master’s degree is your own choice, your own free will. It is different from Bachelor’s as everyone was fighting for the same thing, that same degree level certificate. It was seen as a must to land any kind of job (most jobs these days). So the competition there was understandable to me in the least. And how old were the most of us when we were pursuing that degree? 20 years old. We were young, not so mature and the only goal was to graduate.

Fast forward, let’s say, 10 years and then you decide to take up a Master’s degree. By now, most of you would be successful in life. Being managers, holding senior positions in companies, being married, having your own family and so on. You have your own life path to go on but you also decide to add a feather in your cap (no harm in that, certainly) by taking up a postgraduate degree. Good for you…

Then why am I seeing all those immature and unethical behaviours coming up as well?

Cheating by writing the formulas on your hand before our midterm?

Being so tactless (and rude!) as to tell another classmate who scored higher than you, “Let me see your test paper. It cannot be that you scored higher than me.” WHO ARE YOU to say that? What an insult.

Being so competitive as to look up other people’s scores using the attendance list and matriculation number.

Being so selfish by not helping out another, but when that person scores well, you approach them to have a look at their midterm answers.

Like what???!!!

Why I am so worked up at this is not because the above happened. I mean it did happen, before my very eyes but what got to me was that, the people who were doing it were the unexpected ones. Fathers, mothers, managers (with people under your supervision), bankers. I mean like, come on!

Aren’t you all successful in your own life? You have reached so many milestones in life! Milestones which I so wish I could see myself achieving one day but seem so far away at the moment. You have so much…. Why do you behave like a degree student in class??

I cannot believe that this will happen among Master’s students as well…

It disappoints me because seeing all these happening, I may very well become like one of them. Overly competitive, rude, selfish etc… If I do, please, someone give me a smack on the head (but please be gentle…) and ask, “What happened to the real Kathleen? We want her back.”

Then I’ll wake up and come back. I will.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Mr. KT

This post is written in honour of (no, scratch that), is written with the objective to give someone a piece of my mind. (Want my cerebrum or medulla oblongata?) Firstly, this person complained that I did not update my blog often enough. Then he said, "Kenny Sia updates everyday." Yeah right, it's not everyday la Tai Kor! And why compare me to him? I'm so tiny and puny in the blogsphere. Heh. Anyway, I'm super busy and super tired and has had no inspiration whatsoever to blog about anything till today. (Thanks to somebody...) Before I go into the second part, for all those who have yet to hear about it, (it's been publicized in her FB), my sister, Eileen is now formally engaged to her sweetheart of six, seven years. Congrats to my dear dear sister. Finally, eh? Hahah. The second part is related to this. Not referring to my sis, but me. Our good friend who complained that I don't update often, had the gall/balls (Grr...) to 'insult' me. When I sh
Read more

Of Vampires and Werewolves

I've never really been an ardent fan of the Twilight series(boo...says you). And I have no idea why some girls go gaga over Edward the vampire. He looks so paste-y with the bloodshot eyes (yea yea he's supposed to look that way). And bleah! I think he looked way hotter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Cedric Diggory . That, I can go gaga. But in Twilight??? The romance between Edward and Bella is fine. Romantic, mushy and cliched. Heh. But there's nothing much for me to shout about. (Sorry to the ardent fans, esp to my three sisters. Ha.) This year, the next sequel in this series is about to be released tentatively in November. Known as New Moon , the title is definitely appropriate since the werewolves play a bigger role this time. I didn't read any of the books in the Twilight series though my sisters finished the whole lot of it. So there's no doubt I have no idea of what's going on in the next book. But judging from this trailer of the next sequ
Read more

My Future???

After thinking for a while, (ok, not a while but many whiles) I have finally decided what to do after I graduate (hopefully) in May this year. I have narrowed it down to two options. Sigh. Either I continue my studies and proceed wtih Masters (God, help me..) or I apply for this work and travel thing to US for six months. Will see how it goes... see which comes first. If it's the latter, I'd most probably miss my Convocation. If the former is first, the latter will no longer be on my list. We'll see we'll see. :) P/S: Applying for masters has nothing to do with what the government has allocated to help the economy.
Read more