I refer to TOC’s article.
Much as I agree with the principles of equality across students regardless of institution of study, I am sorry that such campaigning and activist-ism only came about because this issue directly affected the students’ pockets.Once again, pragmatism in Singapore’s youths reared its head out of the apathy veil. I strongly doubt that this issue would be brought to attention if the students studying in polytechnics all hail from rich families(assumption here), even if the inequality existed. However, I reiterate once again that I support this campaign and that poly students should not be discriminated unfairly based on their choice of study.
For the sake of promoting student activist-ism and greater participation of youths in Singapore’s society, I hope something good would come out of this. I would like to see it as taking a step forward in the right direction, even if the motives for taking this step is less than perfect.
Finally, if nothing came of this protest which is a possible scenario, I do hope that Singapore youths do not lose heart and withdraw back to the veil. They should be even more inspired and not be discouraged to fight against what they feel isn’t right, and against authorities that do not bother listening.
Anyway, did anyone wonder why the school authorities have allowed this discrimination to continue? Is it because this issue does not affect their bottomlines or profits?
3 Comments
November 7, 2008 at 11:27 am
Well I think it’s only natural that people protest only when it concerns them. It’s human nature after all. It’s true in South Korea as well, when hundreds of thousands thronged the streets to protest the import of US beef. Even Martin Luther King Jr, during the Civil Rights Movement, lead a march as discrimination affected his people.
Yeah I’m quite glad that students are standing up for their rights now. If this is indicative of a future trend, then I’m optimistic about Singapore youths.
November 7, 2008 at 10:00 am
actually, i used to blog in the past at another blog before something happened.but that was more of a personal blog, and something happened. i would write about that another time. oh and i do get lazy sometimes..
yes, that’s why i said that its a very small base that is growing slowly. and again,pragmatism here. NTU people took up the issue because it directly concerned them. one would naturally feel mad if the hard work they put in based on what they learned is removed for a reason that is unfair and rather ridiculous. the issue here is whether the anger would translate into actions. in the past, perhaps people would just swallow it down. i’m happier to see that today, they didn’t do so, and took actions in an effort to highlight the wrong done to them.
November 7, 2008 at 2:07 am
Hey there, I noticed that this blog is new. What got you interested in blogging all of a sudden?
While your generalisation is rather true, some students have contradicted this observation of yours, and quite recently. Read this article if you haven’t: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/10/ntu-students-protest-at-speakers-corner/
Welcome to the blogsphere.