..:: ZOMBiE Destinee ::..

Monday, December 26, 2005
Adolescent Prison Theory
[ZOMBiE CyGiG] ranted at 1:32 PM --- Post#113557516293189231

While Robert is yanking away on muggers, i shall spend a bit more time talking about the life of the so call "young adults", there might not be a specific age specification, but im referring "young adults" to teenagers, from age 13 to 19 from Dictionary.com. But i would wish to extend this age, instead of 19, I shall make it 21, as that’s the official "Full Adult" age in Singapore. Kids refer to those below 13 and full adults, as mentioned earlier, those above 21.

In Singapore, we go in a (vicious) cycle, you start off as a sperm, arrive in KK Hospital (or any other hospital), you get some jabs on your butt to vaccinate against some diseases. Later on, your parents will send you to Kindergarten, and then they will try to squeeze you into a famous primary school. After that, they will demand for a good T-score and send you to a good secondary school. After that, they push your for O levels and they want their teens to go into a JC and then a Uni.

Behind your back, your parents will more or less start to brag around and looking down on their relatives or friends whose children could not do as well in studies. They will also take into account skills like Piano, Swimming, Ballet, and Violin. And when they encounter someone with a better result than you, they will tell you with that stupid look,
“see lah, see lah., people result so good”

In schools, you must learn certain subjects. In fact, most of those “good” subjects (as considered by many principles and parents) are rather dull. Like math and physics. They are dead. The formulae are there, you memorize and you apply. I do not have reliable source but I was once told by a secondary teacher that we use no more than 5% of what we learn in school.

Even subjects like English and GP have a very strict structure and certain facts to memorize. Yes our GP teachers say, “We do need to know about what’s happening around us”. Knowing and memorizing are different. I can know through relaxing half hour Channel 8 news or read the newspaper at our leisure, but forcing us to do that will create pressure. Of course this will in the end drill some facts into our mind, but will also be forgotten as long as the syllabus is over. Useless right? No really, at least we get to know about the world during that period of time lah….only that some will get newspaper phobia and use cockroach to wack newspaper.

Of course if you want recognition and a certificate leading to wealth, all those above are necessary. But what if you want to seek an alternative approach? A subject with more creativity space? Like Arts Elective or Design and Tech and perhaps computing? My principle once said, “…your L1R5 might be the same as the other guy, but your 8 points contains DnT or AEP or Home Econs, while his 8 points contains Bio…..” Creativity is treated like shit. Even those taking Arts in JC are SOMETIMES considered less useful. To a lot of them “Creativity” is just a noun with two quotes and a capital “C”.

That’s so much for school, now the next closest people to those young adults are their parents. There are some parents who are very stubborn, including mine, they insist on what they want for their children, they can go to the extent of making them lose whatever they love as deterrence. My mum kicked me out of my house when I was only a kid and when I want to starve myself to death she instead forced me to eat angrily. They get very upset when I say I do not want to go to University. So whatever you tell them is of no use.
So as you can see, there is a limited boundary of being a young adult. Be it in school or at home, you will face a strict pattern. A lot of people do not mind as they think this is part of growing up, young adults should listen to full adults and follow around the trend in society. But some people are not that lucky, their parents are much stricter, and their schools do not appeal to them.

“I tot schools with a good result means good?” No. Some schools not only offer good results, they offer good “life” too, they are more enriching and has good school bonds and the students feel that they belong there and are willing to work for the school. Motivation ba….While other schools offer none of these, si bei no motivation, and yet have an equally good result. Why neh? Because they hard train their students like animals in the zoo. Yes they get good results too but are the students happy? No lah….happy my ass…

That’s when the point comes in. When you know that you are unhappy bounded in those restrictions by the society (listening to your parents and get controlled by them, mugging for subjects you feel you needless in school, feeling sian in you school, thinking that your talent is wasted there, rejected by everyone cos you are the odd one out…), you may react the follow ways:

If you are those more subjective kinds, “Perhaps those adults are right, perhaps im too childish to think this way, perhaps mugging is good, perhaps my parents are always right, perhaps im too lazy that’s all, perhaps im lousy not the school’s fault. But im unhappy, I do not what this kind of life….but am I making excuses for myself?”

If you are more objective you will think that “Fuck lah, everyone fuck off, I want the way I want, why the world liddat one….mugging is 100% wrong, my school is a chee bye…teacher all lan cheow…”

If you are more self-confident, “I know myself best, even I know I cant do a shit for my life, no one is changing my views.”

But whatever you feel, you have got very limited power, you know you will get heavy punishments for defining the nature of the current society and you are not that brave. You had seen those brave souls thrashing their way out and some are successful while the rest lying in blood…You feel a bit sad and disappointed and a bit hopeless also. You know this kind of life is not for you but you cant control. This is call the Adolescent Prison Syndrome (APS). And this whole thing is the Adolescent Prison Theory.

In short, APS is a condition faced by teenagers or young adults where they are strictly bounded by the typical society cycle while they are not meant for living in the cycle but rather more useful if they can venture out. But the restriction is too strong for them to break loose but to suffer in the vicious cycle like a prisoner. Not all teenagers will face APS as most could be easily suited to the current trend and flow with it.

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