Speaking out

Got this from mogilan's blog.

Quote: "well, just wanted to talk about pointers, or people who seem to be /are motivated solely by the attainment of CCA points... seems everyone is crazed about getting CCA points.

but u can't blame them. that's what PEARLS demands of all of us. Your CCA points will somehow play a role (how significent i don't know) in your A level results and hence your suitability/eligibility for the university of your choice. Don't really know how the whole crap works... don't really care... for the moment at least.

To me, i don't think that its a really fair system. For one, not all chairpersons do the same amount of work. Based on this principle, we see that the amount of points we earn usually will not equate to the amount and quality of work we produce.

The issue of doing comm. service for points is also a very shallow thought, but that's the situation in our lives today. Honestly, I must say that i really do not have time to engage in such comm. service. I don't even have time to sort out my studies, my CCA and other stuff. At this level, how can we be expected to perform comm service without any other ulterior motives, like the attaintment of points in mind? The materialistic and competitive nature of our modern society certainly does nothing to alleviate this problem and only serves to reinforce it. This is why i really admired my friend who did super lots of comm. service hours in secondary school, way past any MOE set limit. His involvement in his comm. service was sometimes at the expense of his academic work. When i asked why he spends so much time, he said, "you never waste time when u do comm. service". True indeed, well said, good friend.

If only the rest of the world thought like u.

back to the issue of the "pointers" i really detest such people by they are but victims of a vicious societal problem. They are not the cause, they are the products of a trend that will eventually lead to comm. service being known only a means of attaining other things. This will certainly degrade the fibres of our society and probably lead humankind to its destruction." End Quote.

I wholly agree with him. Not a lot of people understand his position, as he is in charge of an external cca from RJC and it is hard on him to try and juggle everything. I also know the friend he is talking about, and asked him the same question before. These kind of people are just rare, and I really admire him for his big heart, but I would never be able to emulate him.
As for the "pointers", I really don't blame you, as we are all victims of this system. Seriously if you remove the cca points incentive for doing comm service, not a lot of people will do comm service. I admit I don't really like doing comm service, but at least I make the effort to take it seriously. I really cannot stand people who do comm service only as an obligation, and then kaobeh about it, or even worse try to cheat. If I am one of those people receiving their "help" I would rather not receive then.
I still can't understand why MOE must quantify everything... after all, comm service is supposed to be voluntary, but now we are "persuaded" to do comm service, how can it be called comm service then? The irony is not lost on me.