STI: Tears of the sun

Jul 7, 2004

Tears of the sun
by Carl Skadian

THE Acting Education Minister says Singapore's youth are becoming more individualistic and soft.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Sunday that students are increasingly concerned only about themselves, and they don't like taking part in tough activities like sports, uniformed groups and outdoor activities.

Now, I don't know if the problem of people being increasingly concerned about themselves is restricted to students because it seems to me that, as a whole, Singaporeans are guilty of this sort of behaviour too.

The fact that we have to draw attention to simple things like standing to one side of the escalator and allowing alighting passengers on trains to get off first - behaviour that should be automatic - tells me that something is not quite right.

But that's another story. I couldn't agree more, however, with Mr Tharman's observation that students here are getting soft.

I'll take a large share of the blame myself.

There have been afternoons when the kids clamour to be allowed to go for a game of football, only to be told by me that it's too hot, and that they should wait till later in the evening, when the sun has gone down.

On some weekends, Mum and Dad feel they need to get some rest, too. So the kids are left playing on the Xbox in an airconditioned room for hours on end, rather than going out for some serious outdoor activity.

Speaking of outdoor activity, a lot of people seem to confuse it with shopping and eating in restaurants.

Of course, if it comes down to a contest between any sort of activity and school work, the latter wins, hands down.

I can't argue with the fact that these days, overprotective parents and grandparents have a lot to do with children being pampered, soft, and practically useless around the home.

It's hard not to be when my mother treats them like princes, and I reinforce that message by admonishing them for not clearing up after themselves while doing it myself.

But I have to say that when it comes to things like sports, school has a lot to do with children not taking up such activities.

Much as I enjoy the occasional game of one-against-two soccer with my kids, or competitive laps in the pool every now and then, it doesn't help that they cannot do much of this in school from Monday to Friday.

There was a time when everyone in school had a chance to play games.

As far as games go, soccer is the big thing here. Almost anyone can play it, and even if you're not very good at it, it's a chance to run around, work up some sweat and have fun with your classmates.

Now, students in some schools don't even get a chance to play it for fun, let alone competitively.

In schools which excel in the sport, as one colleague pointed out, only a handful of students can play it well enough to make the school team. The reason, I suppose, is that to win a tournament, you need the best players, which is something I can live with.

But what about the rest? Don't they have inter-class matches anymore? During PE lessons in the past, we had 20 players on each side going at each other.

Sadly, in my kids' schools, soccer isn't even part of the physical programme.

And that's just soccer. Sports days are a drag for my children too, because they're deemed not fast enough for sprint events, don't have enough endurance to beat everyone else in the distance events, and don't have the sheer strength to hurl metal balls or javelins far enough.

So, they're reduced to being spectators - forced to attend sports days just to sit in the stands and cheer for people they don't know in sports they couldn't care less about.

What happened to competition for competition's sake?

Didn't school sports days mean everyone had a chance to take part, never mind that you had a snowflake's chance in hell of winning?

Sure, parents are as much to blame as anyone else. I'm determined now that if my kids want to play soccer at noon under the blazing June sun during the upcoming school holidays, I'll okay it.

If they want to do it on weekends, I'll join them.

That's just for starters. I'll take Mr Tharman's advice to encourage them to work at home and in the community, to care for others and to do well in things apart from their studies, too.

But I think schools can do more too.

For example, my sons have to stay behind in school for supplementary or enrichment classes practically every day.

Can't one of those afternoons be set aside for sports? For students to play games together or something, or maybe get them to compete against other classes? Just for the fun of it.

And while they're at it, schools might also want to think about getting a few more soccer balls for their PE stores.

Otherwise, I'm going to have to keep quoting Bruce Springsteen to my guys.

In a memorable concert in New Jersey about two decades ago, the singer related how his father hated the fact that he spent a lot of time on the phone, stayed out late and played music.

Fed-up one night, he told the young Boss: 'I can't wait till the army gets you. When they get you, they'll make a man out of you.'

The writer is Deputy News Editor of The Straits Times