Seeya Kenson

I guess I should start by a short intro of Kenson. This is a young man of only 15 years of age. Yet I have known him for a good 5 years now.

When I first met him, he was just a cub scout. He and others from his batch were marked out by myself to be the future leaders for the scouts. Gradually they all come thru the ranks and slowly progress from primary school to the seconday. Training and support were what we offered them and in return they became our Patrol leaders.

They were all a special batch for me indeed. They grew up knowing and loving the SA scout traditions. They were a great bunch who kept together thru the years. But most of all they were my little brothers who I saw growing up.

Sad to say, little Kenson here have to part. (by little I mean he is as tall as me and as wide as Ian)

Due to his playfulness which resulted in dropping to the Normal stream, his parents had decided to take the safer route by sending him to aussie for 2 years. In which they hope he can complete his A levels and come back a better person.

Its rather rush for him to leave. He barely said his goodbyes to many of us. Not to mention he has left my caroling project without an external sec. sighs. groan. sighs

Anyhow I am pondering on this, is it a wise choice to send him overseas? Of course I am not here debating on his parents wishes but I am curious to learn about the social pressures.

Going to N stream is a scary thought for many out there. Most of my frens are from the express stream and would be afraid to end up dropping a level. But honestly is there much to be fear? I am proud to admit that I was from the N stream but look where I end up. I gotten my education, a stable job and so on.

Of course few might argue out there that I am the selected who did well. Unfortunately that is not true either. To set the record straight, I was among the top 5 of my batch but I aint the brightest no more. A good number of us (probably 40%) have gotten or getting their degrees. I do know about 5 of us are going for Masters and so on. The remaining all had a minimum of a poly diploma and are earning well. Some are making more money than myself.

So what measure success here? Definately it has nothing to do with the N level cert. Oh I should probably get it frame up since its the last document which has a Pass on my chinese lang. Success is what we make of it. Those who knew they aint academic inclined ends up finding a niche which they are good at and found success in it. Those who are neither, choose a path which most of us detest by signing on as NS regular.

Anyhow, I dont want to get too naggy during my working hours. I just brought this up because I felt that N level aint the end of the road. Its probably the beginning for some. Now that Kenson is away from his family and friends, I do hope he turns out alright. Do come back soon.