| | (Sent to New Paper on 28 Jan 2009)
I refer to your three-part sports series called Face to Face (27 Jan 2009, P. 54) in a discussion on what’s holding Singapore back from succeeding in the sports arena. I like to applaud the editors for featuring such unaltered and frank opinions of various sporting leaders. I agree in principle that the one problem that besets Singapore is the mentality of being afraid to lose and our general perception of success. I am a sportsman myself and have gone through phases where my team has lost continuously but I always tell my teammates to look up and work harder. (We have barely 2 years of experience) Sporting success do not just occur overnight. These power divas have correctly identified the problem but have not gone deeper. What makes us like this? Why are Singaporeans afraid to lose? The reason arguably lies in the construct of our society viz-a-viz the education system.
What is common among Singaporean sportsmen and normal Singaporeans is that we are all products of an education system that places academic excellence above all. Where getting second is to fail, where scoring less than perfect is recipe for depression, where improvements are overshadowed by perfect scores, where societal pressure is to qualify for the best schools and where going to a polytechnic deems you a failure. Jessie Phua correctly identifies this in your article.
While it was imperative during our nation’s beginning that the government focused in education were the sciences and creating a literate population. This inevitably relegated the ‘soft skills’ of life to a backseat. Creativity and exploring was never an emphasis in Singapore. What are important are grades and perfect scores. Failing is taboo. Admittedly, the education system has begun to tackle these problems as shown in recent years. The inability to accept losing and giving second chances is a mentality of all Singaporeans and not just our sportsmen.
Therefore the problem does not just affect the sporting industry but the very fate of Singapore. The divas’ interviewed were right on. Perhaps it is time to reevaluate our notion of success and merit not just in the sports but also in the entire education system, which is the very ideological nurturer of all our young and future generations to come. Some of whom, may become our next Olympic medalists.
|
| | Posted 2/3/2009 12:43 AM - 3 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
