Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The tragedy in the NTU Stabbing

News like this is always a tragedy. There are very little details as to why the student stabbed his lecturer supervisor and then took his own life. What has been sketched is it is something probably related to his Final Year Project. He was about to fail and had gone to see his lecturer, presumably to appeal but it didn't go the way he had hoped.

There is always some soul searching after an incident like this. Where do we go from here? Should the university have been more relaxed? Should the students be given more time to finish their FYP?

Or is there something to do with our generation of young? I don't know whether it's because of the way we are connected these days that allows news to travel fast or that there is actually an increase of such unpleasant incidents... during my university days, if there was a lost of life involved, it was usually due to suicide; you inflict it upon yourself and only yourself.

These days, it seems like if we have to suffer, then others too must suffer the same fate too.

We have a generation used to quick fixes for their problems. A generation used to having things their way. All made possible by the 'better' life we are having. But we fail to take note that the quick fixes do not teach us the skills of coping. We have no time to dwell on the consequences of our actions... or even reflect. We live lives of whirls... from one event after another, one activity to another... one success to the next one. And so perhaps, when things fail to 'jive' in, without the skill of coping, with the intense emo upheavals, moments of stark raving madness set in... and that is when you lose it all.

Today, my colleague and I talked about the problem of students not using the school test pads for their exams. As a result we get answers in all kinds of papers. Some solutions offered.. the school provides the papers, the teachers collect the money from the students and buy it for them...... in all the solutions... there was not one that made the students responsible. What are we teaching them??? No test pad... never mind.... it will be made available for you. Then the next problem crops up... we cannot solve it... and they point finger at us and say it is our fault that we did not solve the problem for them.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, that's the price you pay for progress...

in the usa, it's much worse ah...

so you prefer to live a good old kampung life? or a modern rich city life?

AJ7 said...

I'm not certain daboss... the kampung life that I knew is certainly more appealing. But I guess life up here is still not as frenetic as many places though it is edging there by the day. The price for progress... if progress means losing the skill of coping.... that's an awfully high price to pay. The problem lies with us... Man in his greed... got no commas or full stops! 8(

Ning said...

this is why i dowan to do FYP. =p

not in this country anyway. ugh.

i really will end up slitting my wrists

♥ debbie ♥ said...

There's been a second suicide in NTU. Happened last night... A project officer from the same lab as the guy you committed suicide on Monday hanged himself. Talk about lightning striking at the same place in less than a week!

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