School is really fun! If you know how to ask the right questions... if not, you can still make it fun by behaving like an absolutely insensitive moron ragging your peers or just a moron being ragged by your peers, video captured and posted online and laughed about it.
If only ape had been like them (ape meant the two mentioned below, not the morons above) during his younger days...
If only ape had been like them (ape meant the two mentioned below, not the morons above) during his younger days...
"TWO Singaporean teenagers have designed a 'sponge' that can possibly mop up massive oil leaks at sea.
Hwa Chong Institution student Tan Ding Jie and River Valley High School's Gu Tianyu, both 17, spent their year-end school holidays last year experimenting with a 'superhydrophobic membrane' that repels water, like a lotus leaf, while absorbing organic solvents such as oil.
Their project was one of 59 developed last year under the Young Defence Scientists Programme (YDSP), a joint effort between the Defence Science and Technology Agency and DSO National Laboratories.
The annual programme, begun in 1992, helps students venture beyond textbook theories by working with defence technology professionals.
Instead of enjoying time off during the holidays, Ding Jie and Tianyu holed themselves up in the laboratories of the National University of Singapore (NUS) to find the most cost-effective material to absorb grease or oil leaks. They were mentored by scientists from NUS and DSO. ..." (Straits Times, March 16, 2009) Click here to read more.
You see, ape was once a very bright kid. If ape had been better, he would be a lawyer or doctor... or a doctor who desperately need a lawyer or a lawyer desperately needing a doctor. However, when ape reaches that weird period in life called "teenage", ape became... weird. (Maybe ape has never grown out of teenage... or perhaps he did but had not loose the weirdness... whatever?!?!)
Interests in being curious was lost and curiosity took a turn in interest towards, erm other more sociological and biological subjects. The problem was, sociology and biology was not taught in secondary school - at least not then and biology was offered to smart students only if they can cope with physics and chemistry. Come to think of it, this arrangement makes sense. You have to have some chemistry before getting physical and only when you know what you're really getting into then the biology of life takes place... but again, with or without you knowing what you're really into, biology of life will take place... know what I mean? Don't? Told you I am weird, didn't I?
Anyway, ape's academic performance took a dive. In case you're wondering if the cause of ape's falling grades had something to do ape's independent venture into chemistry, physics and biology out of school's curriculum, nope, that was not the cause... ape didn't get lucky.
You see, studying has to be enjoyable, education has to be fun! Ape had lots of fun in primary school. There were no stress, no targets to meet and between ape and his primary school friends, never once did we compare our grades. Most of us lived in a small humble town called Taman Jurong and our parents mostly blue collar workers.
However, in secondary school, things took a different turn. Ape enrolled into one of the top schools. Competition was high. Teachers are worried about our grades. Students are worried about their grades. The parents are worried about their grades. ECA (now called CCA) was also a competition... with other schools. Ape was thrown into a very competitive environment but ape has never been a competitive sort of person. As if academic performance and ECA was not enough, there's a certain subtlety within the students and teachers to compare the family backgrounds of students.
Ape certainly didn't score on that either. But this is not want ape want to say, especially to my teenage or weird readers. The point is, when you feel stressed about school and studies, and you lost interest... beat up your teacher, rag your peers and burn the school down... ... ... no, just joking, don't do that... maybe just beat up your teacher. No seriously, don't beat up your teacher, rag your peers and burn the school down.
Seek knowledge that interests you. I mean knowledge, and not subject, that you can relate too and interested in. Ask your English literature teacher why people in Shakespearean time talk funny with Dees and Daos anon. Or 500 years from now,will the students then ask why is it students in the 21st century talk funny with words like OMG, LOL, XD? :p
Ask your biology teacher about the birds and bees... and why, even though you took protection, your girlfriend got pregnant! If you're taking history, ask why was World War II started and not when it started. Ask how did it end and not when.
Ask your mathematics teacher if he had ever used Fourier Series, other than teaching it. And how can maths help you solve the equation of,
John+Jane)=unwanted x preganacy
where,
protection ≠ broken ≠ expired
Ask yourself what would you like to know about the subject and not what is going to be delivered to you in the curriculum. Don't be afraid to ask questions and questions don't have to be smart... only answers need to be smart. In case your teacher gives you stupid answers such as "That's not in the exam" or "You don't have to know this", well, you can still try ragging him/her... or substitute John or Jane and see if equation proves true.
Interests in being curious was lost and curiosity took a turn in interest towards, erm other more sociological and biological subjects. The problem was, sociology and biology was not taught in secondary school - at least not then and biology was offered to smart students only if they can cope with physics and chemistry. Come to think of it, this arrangement makes sense. You have to have some chemistry before getting physical and only when you know what you're really getting into then the biology of life takes place... but again, with or without you knowing what you're really into, biology of life will take place... know what I mean? Don't? Told you I am weird, didn't I?
Anyway, ape's academic performance took a dive. In case you're wondering if the cause of ape's falling grades had something to do ape's independent venture into chemistry, physics and biology out of school's curriculum, nope, that was not the cause... ape didn't get lucky.
You see, studying has to be enjoyable, education has to be fun! Ape had lots of fun in primary school. There were no stress, no targets to meet and between ape and his primary school friends, never once did we compare our grades. Most of us lived in a small humble town called Taman Jurong and our parents mostly blue collar workers.
However, in secondary school, things took a different turn. Ape enrolled into one of the top schools. Competition was high. Teachers are worried about our grades. Students are worried about their grades. The parents are worried about their grades. ECA (now called CCA) was also a competition... with other schools. Ape was thrown into a very competitive environment but ape has never been a competitive sort of person. As if academic performance and ECA was not enough, there's a certain subtlety within the students and teachers to compare the family backgrounds of students.
Ape certainly didn't score on that either. But this is not want ape want to say, especially to my teenage or weird readers. The point is, when you feel stressed about school and studies, and you lost interest... beat up your teacher, rag your peers and burn the school down... ... ... no, just joking, don't do that... maybe just beat up your teacher. No seriously, don't beat up your teacher, rag your peers and burn the school down.
Seek knowledge that interests you. I mean knowledge, and not subject, that you can relate too and interested in. Ask your English literature teacher why people in Shakespearean time talk funny with Dees and Daos anon. Or 500 years from now,will the students then ask why is it students in the 21st century talk funny with words like OMG, LOL, XD? :p
Ask your biology teacher about the birds and bees... and why, even though you took protection, your girlfriend got pregnant! If you're taking history, ask why was World War II started and not when it started. Ask how did it end and not when.
Ask your mathematics teacher if he had ever used Fourier Series, other than teaching it. And how can maths help you solve the equation of,
John+Jane)=unwanted x preganacy
where,
protection ≠ broken ≠ expired
Ask yourself what would you like to know about the subject and not what is going to be delivered to you in the curriculum. Don't be afraid to ask questions and questions don't have to be smart... only answers need to be smart. In case your teacher gives you stupid answers such as "That's not in the exam" or "You don't have to know this", well, you can still try ragging him/her... or substitute John or Jane and see if equation proves true.
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