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I remember the Red Queen from Alice in
Wonderland who took Alice by the hand and urged her to go faster and
faster. Today, as a child, I am ordered by adults to hurry, to go faster
and faster, to rush into adulthood, while I am still a child. I am denied
the pleasure and time to be me - a child. I do not think as a child
thinks, or looks at the world around me through a child's eyes. I am not
allowed to dream a child's dream and to know childlike wonder.
Instead, children of my age are ordered to
excel, to be very good in studies; to enrich our lives with music lessons,
ballet lessons,computer lessons, swimming, knitting, sewing, cooking,
painting and whatever lessons the adult mind can burden us with.
Children are repeatedly told:
"If you can't get high marks,
you'll never get into a good secondary school.
You'll never get into junior college.
You'll never get into university.
You'll never get a good job.
You'll be a failure."
We must be successful. Nothing else
counts. Honesty, compassion, understanding are given lip service;
but all that counts is to be the best in material things. I am
growing in such a Singapore...
From Primary 1, I was under stress to get
thorugh the streaming in Primary 4. Then came the pressure to pass
the Priamry School Leaving Examination. I am pushed to increase, to
do well, to stay in school and get to junior college. Very soon, I
shall be an adult without the knowledge what childhood was really like.
The Singapore I would like to live in when
I grow up would be one which gives childhood to the child, where there is
not so much pressure - and a child can savour this precious time of dreams
and hopes without Red Queen urging children to rush faster into adulthood.
It would be nice to live in a Singapore
where conscience takes first place over excellence; where the quality of
caring has much more value than success; where failure is not a sin to be
shunned like Aids victims; where one is loved and accepted as a human
being and not a piece of property wanted and rejected because of its
value.
I have never enjoyed a walk down a rural
lane or listened to the call of birds, nor lay my back looking at clouds
to build in the air. I don't have the time. There is schoolwork,
extracurricular work, homework, holiday homework and work to
"enrich" my life. They have taken away my time.
The Singapore I would like to live im when
I grow up would be one where children are not stunted images of adults,
where I am loved for myself and not for what I am worth. |
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