Thursday, March 27, 2008

Had 6 periods of GP today.. Repeat: SIX periods of GP today. On a normal usual week that consist of 5days, Monday to Friday, there's FIVE periods of GP a WEEK. It's like the March holidays where it rained non-stop for 5days.. Recording the ENTIRE of March's rainfall.. lol.. Over-kill.. Seriously.. hahaz..

Anyways, it's was quite interesting la.. Minus the going thru' of CT paper.. Even that, I've survived.. Rwar.. haha.. :P Was talking to Ms Wong about a couple of random topics after "official" GP lesson.. haha.. Stayed back for 2 periods after lesson ended to "discuss".. haha.. Issues like.. BGR.. Like religion.. It's quite interesting.. :)) I think, GP lessons these days are getting more lively.. :D

Here's what we've discussed about:
-Don't get into a BGR unless you're ready for it.
-What girls expect of guys
-What guys expect of gals
-How.. blahblah..
-Christianity as a religion
-Testimonials

Just a brief.. Casual and relax set.. (I think if we want to discuss such issues, it's best set in a out-of-classroom environment.. haha.. If classroom, it's rather formal.. And things don't flow so easily.. hahaz..

----------rant ends here. An after-thought of reading an article starts---------

Was reading e newspapers today.. (Yeah.. Somehow, I found an hour to go thru' the today's papers) Saw this article in the "Review" section.. Titled - Hearty need for lessons in love.

It's not really those mainstream type of article.. More of those articles on society.. Touching into the root of our society's problems.. Problems why, people these days (in particular, local context) are so unfeeling.

It really tells much about our education system. As what many researches have found out, who we are is formed when we're at a tender age of 7-8. That's about 80%. And the rest, will be formed by the time we reach 20. So, that's the schooling age which we go thru'. And in today's context, it means to spend alot of our time studying for exams, preparing for natinal exams. And as such, we give up on the opportunity to develop proper people-people skills. Mainly, trust in people. (Don't you agree? Especially in a BS world. and shocol.)

Here's what the author (Andy Ho) wrote:

"But while hormones may rage, two big hurdles stand in the way of our young people getting together. The first is our meat grinder of a school system, which makes them overly competitive. Thus, when they meet up in their late teens or early twenties in university, the optimum time to pair up, boys may find it a little hard to trust girls, and vice versa. Afterall, they are still competitors - for grades and jobs.

Also throughout their school years, a premium is placed on linear thinking (read: hard sciences and engineering). Human emotions and social interaction are not prime considerations. How then do young minds, subjected to such a system, get in touch with their feelings and open up to one another?

The school system is such because one of its main functions is to produce workers for business.
... the school system is driven by the need to produce workers for the capitalist system, itself another hurdle to our young falling in love.

When life though of largely in terms of market forces, most things - including relationships - come to be regarded as just means to some end, not ends themselves. We picture the market as
comprising self-sufficient individual colliding like likkard balls - competing with one another, keeping relationships at arm's length and free of emotions.

Love is a thing of comfort. Since time immemorial, humans have had a fundamental need for love, which leads us to form relationships. We never outgrow the need for others because it is only in human relationships that we can engage in mutal self-disclosure and consensual respect.

When there is intimacy in the relationship and nurture as well, we call that love. People who form stable love relationships are those who can balance the giving of affection, care and nurture with their own need for recieving them in return.

While things never satisfy permanently, opening ourselves to another and recieving the other unconditionally can. Only persons that can engage in this reciprocity, affirming and being affirmed by one another. I think the young may learn to transcend mistrust if they come to understand that in the communion with another one's individuality remains intact and is respected, even bolstered.

Relationships shape our identities. We are not so much atomistic individuals as beings in relationships. One becomes whole in relationships; and in an exclusive love relationship between a man and a woman, one becomes fully whole. Those transitioning from childhood to young adulthood need to be told of this. "

It's a long article.. It has no relation to GP.. haha.. Just something to think about.. Some food-for -thought. I only extracted parts that I think are related what I talked about above.

So, in this society, it IS hard to "find trust thanks to the competitive mentality fostered by society, to learn how to forge relationships".

I guess, I'm part of these "young people".