Now that I'm in higher education, I thought I would just say something about it.
First of all, constraints.
Since we don't live in a world of infinite abundance, we have to live with constraints. Constraints of material resources, of human resources. With respect to education, it would be great if people could do what they really love to do, but of course there are sometimes, not-so-good teachers/professors, so we're a bit stuck.
Then of course, there are other contraints, of personal disposition, limited ability. We can only do a few things that we are good at. And the tragedy is, sometimes the situation doubly handicaps us - forcing us to do something we're not good at being taught by people not good at teaching.
But anyway, I'm encountering some problems in NUS, that the spirit of learning is badly deficient simply because in Singapore and the obsession for good grades is simply too much. The pragmatist attitude is still rather strong, and it impedes the quality of self-driven learning. I'm still trying to stick to my own generic passion for learning about everything, but there is the other problem that in academia, people don't do crazy things like jumping from biology to sociology to political science, or talk about the intersection of technology, philosophy and political science. It just doesn't happen.
It seems that the world has no taste for multidisciplinary thinkers, at least in academia. But at least the greater world out there needs holistic thinkers, in business, and in analysis. At least, that's what I hope...
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First of all, constraints.
Since we don't live in a world of infinite abundance, we have to live with constraints. Constraints of material resources, of human resources. With respect to education, it would be great if people could do what they really love to do, but of course there are sometimes, not-so-good teachers/professors, so we're a bit stuck.
Then of course, there are other contraints, of personal disposition, limited ability. We can only do a few things that we are good at. And the tragedy is, sometimes the situation doubly handicaps us - forcing us to do something we're not good at being taught by people not good at teaching.
But anyway, I'm encountering some problems in NUS, that the spirit of learning is badly deficient simply because in Singapore and the obsession for good grades is simply too much. The pragmatist attitude is still rather strong, and it impedes the quality of self-driven learning. I'm still trying to stick to my own generic passion for learning about everything, but there is the other problem that in academia, people don't do crazy things like jumping from biology to sociology to political science, or talk about the intersection of technology, philosophy and political science. It just doesn't happen.
It seems that the world has no taste for multidisciplinary thinkers, at least in academia. But at least the greater world out there needs holistic thinkers, in business, and in analysis. At least, that's what I hope...
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