Which Is The Path To Success?

My brother and I had a conversation with our 16-year-old sister lately regarding where should she go after O levels. At the tender age of 16, she, like most other teens, has no idea what she wants to do in the future. And frankly speaking, as her brother for 16 years, We're a little ashamed that we don't know what's best for her either. Nonetheless, we broke down and analysed the possibilities for her based on our experience (my brother went to junior college, while I attended Polytechnic).

1. Junior College

Knowing that she is the memorise-and-vomit type of student, junior college's system seems like something that she can thrive in. However, she isn't the smart type (no, having good academic results by memorising your textbook doesn't mean you are smart) and she knows that herself, so she tends to get very tensed up whenever she's mugging for her examinations. The pressure that she gives herself is so great that at times she looked like she's on the verge of breaking down. If she's already unable to cope with the pressure at secondary school level, I worry for her health if she goes into junior college.

The advantage of junior college is that it is the fastest and easiest route to go into one of the 3 government universities (NUS, NTU, SMU). If my sister can cope with the pressure, she should have no problem going into one of the universities through junior college.

2. Polytechnic

Polytechnic, unlike junior college, do not run on a show-hand-in-one-examination system. The students are required to consistently perform well in their assignments and examinations. It is not so much of a do-or-die for the students. However, the students need to constantly be on their toes and maintain a high level throughout the 3 years. Polytechnic's syllabus, generally, are more application-base and pure memorising will not secure an excellent result. This is something that my sister is weak in.

Going to Polytechnic also requires the students to decide on a field to take on. At the tender age of 16, my sister still has no idea what she likes or she is good at. Asking her to choose a field that may likely be her future career right now seems to be a tough choice for her.

The advantage of taking a diploma is that if she do get her degree thereafter, she is more "valuable" than her peers who went to junior college and then university.

After weighing the pros and cons, we still weren't able to decide what's best for our sister. After the conversation, I continued to reflect on the conversation, and I realised that it was only right that we couldn't decide what's best for her. She is the only one who knows herself best and able to decide what's best for her. And this is where an individual  is being defined.

It takes a certain maturity level for one to know what they want, what's best for them, and strike a balance between these two aspects. Truth be told, what you want may not be what's best for you in this practical world. Most of the teens do not have that maturity to make that decision yet, but they are forced to regardless. Those who are able to make that decision, they are the one who can and will succeed in life.

Many people complained about our education system for forcing our youngsters to decide on their future when they are not matured enough to do so. However, if you look at it in another way, it pushes the youngsters to make a mature decision for themselves early instead of continuing to guide them through their life, and delay their maturity.

Whichever path the students decide to take on, as long as they make their decision base on sound and logical reasoning, they will likely to achieve a certain level of success and self-satisfaction. For those who choose where to go for childish reasons, such as following where their best friend goes, will have a mountain to climb.

-The god has spoken