The latest issue of Broader Perspectives was really well received for its content, though many simply enjoyed the cover with a large 'SCHOOL SUX!' that seemed so 'Paint'-like.
But the topic I was most interested to read about was on pg 21:
Is the Study of Humanities and the Arts a viable option today?
Broader Perspectives called for views from an Asian parent, and a head-hunter, people who recruit talents constantly, to see if Humanities and the Arts are really 'impractical subjects that lead to financial nowhere'.
The Asian parent speaks, and says he is 'well aware of the merits the Arts and Humanities offer, but what they do not promise is staid and surefooted pragmatism.'
Once again, pragmatism seems to be what the universe revolves around, or at least Planet Earth, that's for sure.
The Asian parents says that people of the Arts and Humanities 'merely form a diminutive part of the population'. His basis was that professional degree holders in fields such as Medicine, Law and Engineering would be more 'occupationally mobile', 'pay well and are economically sustainable and safe; they will never be obsolete'.
Never obsolete yes, but not everlasting either. As 'degree inflation' head towards its soon to be all time high, you ought to start preparing 'job insurances' lest your adamantium rice bowl gets obliterated. There's always someone whose better than you, and in this case, many fall into that category. We're no longer existing in the era where being a doctor or a lawyer guarantees you a life of luxury and stress-free retirement.
He continues the case by bringing up the 'stereotype of the starving artist', he calls people who attempt to escape cubicle-slavery-ism with Arts and the Humanities as having 'lofty dreams', and say that the 'starving artist' has his limits and will, eventually, 'move on with life'. Quoting him: Rather be a cubicle slave than a pauper, really.
Not every artist starves, that's one thing for sure. Not every artist gives up, that's one more thing. Moving on with life is subjective, and you cannot say that getting what is termed a 'stable and realistic' job is moving on. You could just be running away cos you failed to succeed. If the world had 6,704,845,726 cubicle slaves, the no. is according to Wikipedia, then just let apocalypse take place. There's no point in anyone living anymore.
Found in his last paragraph, which angered me most was:
Ironically, this could well be the case for the Arts and the Humanities; they are all talk and no action. Holding oneself up in such an ivory tower debating about thought and life is certainly intellectually gratifying, but ultimately naive, self-indulgent and meaningless.
Die bitch. (I usually do not resort to vulgarities, I assure you.)
Every man is born for a different reason, just like every flower is born to give a different scent, whether fragrant or pungent, that is subjective.
You cannot crush people just by saying that if they have a love for the arts, or a talent for humanities, they are doomed to fail. Or even 0.0000000000000001% chance of survival.
This is why we're not moving on. This is why the West still wins us in the rat race of development. This is why Asia can only be as such.
The Asian parents of today are preventing the next generation from galloping ahead with great ideals and successes, all because of their conservative/old-fashioned/pragmatic/whatever mindsets.
I'm not continuing this argument because its a freaking waste of paper and print. Or maybe its only purpose was to show how backdated Asians really are.
We don't need a hoi polloi of intelligentsia or a world consumed by elitism. Exciting as it sounds, its not what's best.
I'll just say one thing; Right brainers are no less human than left ones.
We're all of the same race, and deserve equality, dignity and mutual respect.
We need a balance.
*
On a side note, I just finished watching Power Rangers Mystic Force about half an hour ago and I think it's one of the best seasons so far.
Well, let's just say I'm biased.
I don't care.
Well, let's just say I'm biased.
I don't care.
1 comment:
just in case the parent doesn't know, the people who decide how much his progress package is, what erp prices to increase, people who lobby for funds for new mrt/lrt/bus lines, how much the taxes for whatever income group are, people who fight for him in court if he's wrongly accused, people who ensure that pedra branca goes to singapore instead of malaysia, people who fight for FTAs with the us and jpn so that his company can invest more cash there and drown in capitalism, people who help invest millions of taxpayer money under temasek holdings, individuals who plan the skyline at marina bay, ambassadors who ensure he doesn't get killed and has his rights protected when he is in a foreign country and finds that they are suddenly at war, people who ensure that singapore's economic strategies are pro enough to sustain themselves in a china-us-india-germany-russia-vietnam dominated world are all people who study PUBLIC POLICY and HISTORY and ECONOMICS and GEOGRAPHY and LAW and INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS and whatnot which really is humanities and art. so if he thinks that these people make up a minute singapore, then he can go fuck himself.
ANYWAY, i think that article is under "a matter of opinion", correct me if i'm wrong. and that column uses "method writing" so usually such views are rather cliche and stereotypical which i doubt really exist in singapore today- but should they really do, then they're really pathetic because singapore will be worst then the fishing village we were without the arts&humans
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