Re: [ossig] (Fwd) STI News: Firm discovers good IT help hard to find

["Colin Charles " <byte@aeon.com.my>]

On 16 Dec 2002 at 1:10, Teoh Eng Sin wrote:

> Personal Note:  I did receive a private mail from someone on the list
> that I will see this issue differently if I had kids of my own.  Maybe
> when I do have kids of my own,  I hope I will have the courage (and
> information ) to let them know that super grades is not the holy grail
> of education (and life).

I'm actually going to support Eng Sin on this one.

My parents generally never really did say good grades were too 
important. Yes, they get thrilled when I did get good grades, and 
when I did falter on occasion, they did tell me to try harder next 
time. There was no grilling that good grades would make me any 
better.

The general idea that I was taught was that: do what you want to do, 
and be the best at what you do. So if for example, I wanted to be a 
grass cutter, I should strive to be the most efficient grass cutter 
and do my job really well (thats the analogy that I was given to as a 
child).

Today I'm finally of age to make decisions on my own, and its true, I 
don't think that grades are the ultimate be all and end all. I can be 
fairly successful in what I do, if I myself take the drive and 
initiative to do it well.

Heck, at Uni, I notice half the students there majoring in what they 
call Computer Science not doing a heck of a good job. They may want 
the good grades, but how do they achieve it? Copying from those that 
want to strive. And the Asian system of mugging generally helps them 
when it comes to an examination. What do you get upon graduation? 
Good grades yes, but a bunch of morons running lose in IT firms. I 
have heard heaps of employers telling me about this.

Which brings me back to supporting what Eng Sin says - do you really 
need good grades to get up there? Probably not. Am I better off that 
I don't intend on striving for super good grades, but if I do get it, 
I'm satisfied, because while keeping the grade, I had a great social 
life, as well as learnt things that were out of the scope of my 
course? Thats for you to decide - as my personal opinion is that I'm 
better off.

Regards...

P/S: on a personal note, grades have been doing nicely in the 
education arena. So has my social life, and my education it terms of 
things that are out of scope of my course. Maybe I'm lucky in a way.

P/S^2: I said "Asian system of mugging" because that is the general 
impression I get from all the SPM graduates and even folk down in 
Singapore for instance. I graduated from an International School in 
Kuala Lumpur, so I did the O Level Examinations, and we were *never* 
encouraged to mug. Kind of bad in a way, since I never mastered the 
skill of being a sponge ;) But being a sponge is a double-edged 
sword.

'nuff rambling...

--
Colin Charles, byte@aeon.com.my
http://www.bytebot.net/


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