When I was really young, I took a very great interest in the sciences. Very great wouldn't be a good word to describe it at that point in time, I was terrifically passionate about everything science. I still remember going over to my neighbour's house (an ACS Classmate!) regularly to delve through his entire young scientist collection of mini-encyclopedias.
I still remember buying all the general books of science, Dad got me various books on science as well as a few encyclopedias. Usually recess would be spent in the library reading the almost condemned 25 year old editions of the Groiler's encyclopedia. Till today, I still have one of those Groiler books with me, as a testament to my love for science at a young age. Its a discarded book that has the word "discarded" stamped in it dating from 1979. It even has the address of ACS listed as "60 Canning Rise".
My main interest was always in physics. All the experiments on balance, temperature, magnetism really fascinated me. I couldn't always picture chemistry in my head except for the fact that "acids mix with alkali become water". Biology was limited to crude examples from zoology. I remember my neighbour having this entire set of science apparatus bought for him by his dad. Ironically, it was me who played the most with his science equipment. In those days, my family was quite poor, so we couldn't really afford anything and had to make do with borrowing from my neighbour.
My neigbhour progressed with me in Barker and eventually ended up in ACJC as well. He took ARTS. Geography S-Paper no less. And I would always joke with him that we should have swapped families when younger. Dad and mom were always telling me how important literature was while his dad and mom where more or less emphasising on the sciences for him. One thing is for sure, I loved science more than chinese! (Haha!)
Then came primary three, when they had "science" as a subject. I remember actually reading through the entire science textbook in one sitting and proudly proclaimed to my mother that "science was easy". Though I had this horrifying pregnant-cum constant PMS "science teacher" in primary three that killed the enthusiasm of my whole class interest in science. I managed to do very well in the sciences. I topped my class in every test as well as every single exam I took.
I still remember in primary four. Every test, there would be competition between me, Alex Yeo (The Great) as well as this super-brilliant guy called John Solomon. Alex would later graduate third best student in Barker and head over to NJC. John Solomon I have no idea where he is today. We were always fighting to top the class. And thankfully, I won every single time save for ONE test where John beat me by 1/2 a mark. It was really funny, my science teacher HATED me and Alex, but loved John. So he would often try to minus marks from both of us somehow. Unfortunately, everytime he minused my marks, I got the HOD of science (who liked me) to add them back! (Haha!) Those were the days.
Dad always asked me what I would like to be when I grew up. And always the answer was "A Scientist!". Dad only told me that my "maths must be good to be a scientist" and I would be so ready to say "ya!". The hardest kind of maths I could conceivably think of on those days of primary school were three digit by three digit multiplications. Sadly, when algebra came in, I was in for a rude shock.
I still remember having to fight with a few GEPs and argue with them in science. They almost always looked down on me and Alex just because we were in the EM2 stream (bad chinese! so no EM1). To the GEPs, we were considered more of "subnormal students". Oh well, we always comforted ourselves by rebuking that we still played catching like everyone else whilst "you guys are busy listening to Nigel Wong talk nonsense - so you guys are the real weirdoes...".
Came Algebra in sec one and I had a horrific maths teacher. Can you imagine a teacher that comes in 25 minutes late, complains that the class is dirty, tells us to do area cleaning. Then when its not satisfactorily done, proceeds to ask the whole class to do 20 pushups over the period of 10 minutes. Then he writes a couple of x's and y's on the board and then scoots off early? I won't forget him, he was really funny. The push ups I guess were attributed to the fact that he was an ex-army Captain in the Commandos. And he would ALWAYS say that MGS girls are smarter than ACS boys. No thanks to him having a daughter in MGS! It was so insulting! But we often just sniggered it off "as we were richer than MGS".
Yes. I once asked my maths teacher to help me solve an extremely difficult question, at that point in time. And guess what. He couldn't solve a sec1 maths problem! And he told me flatly. "I can't solve it! But I know my daughter can! MGS girls are always smarter than ACS boys". Funny thing was that he too was an ex-ACS boy. And his daughter? My classmate's girlfriend! It was truly laughable! My classmate had a really hard time as he was constantly being referred to as "my future son-in-law". Very funny maths teacher. But he really couldn't make it. So much for my maths.
I had horrible E-Maths teachers all my life in ACS. But one thing's in common - They were all really funny! Only my Add-Maths teacher in sec 4 was good! The rest couldn't make it! Too bad she's retired now! What happened was that I did rather badly all my life in maths. So my "childhood ambition" can never be realised. I almost gave up on physics and add maths as well as chemistry in secondary school and decided to become either an Arts student in JC or just a guy studying computer programming at Singapore Poly. Chinese was a major pressing factor as well but Thank God I didn't do that!
Now I come all the way back to where I am in my life now. I realise that I can still fulfil my childhood ambition to be a scientist. But its just not practical. I would love to understand everything a scientist understands purely out of self-interest and personal passion. I can see myself as either a maths or physics teacher. Maybe even a lecturer. But I realise that's just not me. To be stuck in a rather cushy academic desk job doing teaching. I would rather share my passion with other people.
Maybe I'll get my Ph.D in Physics someday. One things for sure, that Ph.D is coming from MIT. "Die Die I will get into the post-graduate course!". I won't rush my Ph.D. Its too silly. I dont' need it for anything professional. I only want it to supplement a hobby, an interest, a personal passion. And what would I do with it? I'll be happy just to be a freelance tour guide at the science centre's planetarium as well as telescope that can explain everything about the stars and their orbits to primary school children - hopefully sparking an interest in them as well. And yea, so that I can always pick up a science journal anytime and actually understand what the writing in there is all about.
Mathematics is the foundation. Physics is just a exemplified applied portion of mathematics. After all, physics is expressed in mathematics. Studying maths in WashU will be the first step to satisfying the part that "my maths needs to be good" as well as being a foundation for my personal interests later on. And I definitely won't forget about the arts either. I found out that I will graduate from WashU with an A.B degree. Not really a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) or a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) even if I major in mathematics. I'll be doing the liberal arts at the College of Arts and Sciences and explore what I really might have been should I have been an arts student.
A liberal arts education is really wonderful! I get to study ANYTHING I want and no one is going to complain! I'll only do my major towards the end of my second year in university. And I'll get to study everything I've wanted to learn about in the arts for my first two years. I'm amazed at the American University system! I'll get to do Jazz Studies! Photography! Drama & Theatre Studies! Dance! (although I'm not much of a dancer) Singing Classes! (even though I croak like a frog most of the time). And to compound all of that. There will be Politics, Philosophy, Economics, Biology, Chemistry, East-Asian Studies, Literature, Geography, Modern world history, the Renaisannce, Art History, Law & Justice, sociology, psychology, neurology and it just goes on and on.
I thank God for this opportunity to at least learn about everything that I have heard about or learnt about, or read about. I feel that it is no longer necessary to push myself for a double-degree program. Just a Major-Minor combination would be sufficient. And I'll join as many Clubs, Societies as possible to meet people, gain insight into other cultures, learn about other people. Mix around with all groups of people. I don't really see my time in university just as a mugging period to get that sheet of paper. But an opportunity to discover myself, discover the world through other people's eyes as well as to widen my knowledge from just the sciences and a little bit of the arts to being more heavy on the arts whilst focusing on a major in the sciences.
I believe that this will change my life. And I thank God for this opportunity. More or less, everything is settled. I only need to send them a certified-true copy of my leaving cert and everything will be more or less finalised. I might stretch myself to take 5 modules per semester. And I'll insist that I'll chose the subject furthest away from my area of concentration. It doesn't matter if I don't do very well. The fact is that I've gain a broader base of understanding instead of restricting my knowledge solely to areas around my concentration plus a few outside. I'll do what the American Universities have been championing for decades. "Do everything furthest from your major and discover yourself".
As much as I am still passionate and interested in the sciences and that Ph.D in physics will be one of the academics goals in my life solely devoted for the purpose of pure self-interest, understanding and FUN. I believe that it is very important to delve deeply into as many aspects of the ARTs as I can. Perhaps I'll be a person in the business world one day with great understanding of Mathematics/Physics and who can freely discuss Emmanuel Kant as well as Ralph Waldo Emmerson. John Forbes Nash wouldn't be very far from the completed philosophies of Nietzche & Voltaire.
I still remember buying all the general books of science, Dad got me various books on science as well as a few encyclopedias. Usually recess would be spent in the library reading the almost condemned 25 year old editions of the Groiler's encyclopedia. Till today, I still have one of those Groiler books with me, as a testament to my love for science at a young age. Its a discarded book that has the word "discarded" stamped in it dating from 1979. It even has the address of ACS listed as "60 Canning Rise".
My main interest was always in physics. All the experiments on balance, temperature, magnetism really fascinated me. I couldn't always picture chemistry in my head except for the fact that "acids mix with alkali become water". Biology was limited to crude examples from zoology. I remember my neighbour having this entire set of science apparatus bought for him by his dad. Ironically, it was me who played the most with his science equipment. In those days, my family was quite poor, so we couldn't really afford anything and had to make do with borrowing from my neighbour.
My neigbhour progressed with me in Barker and eventually ended up in ACJC as well. He took ARTS. Geography S-Paper no less. And I would always joke with him that we should have swapped families when younger. Dad and mom were always telling me how important literature was while his dad and mom where more or less emphasising on the sciences for him. One thing is for sure, I loved science more than chinese! (Haha!)
Then came primary three, when they had "science" as a subject. I remember actually reading through the entire science textbook in one sitting and proudly proclaimed to my mother that "science was easy". Though I had this horrifying pregnant-cum constant PMS "science teacher" in primary three that killed the enthusiasm of my whole class interest in science. I managed to do very well in the sciences. I topped my class in every test as well as every single exam I took.
I still remember in primary four. Every test, there would be competition between me, Alex Yeo (The Great) as well as this super-brilliant guy called John Solomon. Alex would later graduate third best student in Barker and head over to NJC. John Solomon I have no idea where he is today. We were always fighting to top the class. And thankfully, I won every single time save for ONE test where John beat me by 1/2 a mark. It was really funny, my science teacher HATED me and Alex, but loved John. So he would often try to minus marks from both of us somehow. Unfortunately, everytime he minused my marks, I got the HOD of science (who liked me) to add them back! (Haha!) Those were the days.
Dad always asked me what I would like to be when I grew up. And always the answer was "A Scientist!". Dad only told me that my "maths must be good to be a scientist" and I would be so ready to say "ya!". The hardest kind of maths I could conceivably think of on those days of primary school were three digit by three digit multiplications. Sadly, when algebra came in, I was in for a rude shock.
I still remember having to fight with a few GEPs and argue with them in science. They almost always looked down on me and Alex just because we were in the EM2 stream (bad chinese! so no EM1). To the GEPs, we were considered more of "subnormal students". Oh well, we always comforted ourselves by rebuking that we still played catching like everyone else whilst "you guys are busy listening to Nigel Wong talk nonsense - so you guys are the real weirdoes...".
Came Algebra in sec one and I had a horrific maths teacher. Can you imagine a teacher that comes in 25 minutes late, complains that the class is dirty, tells us to do area cleaning. Then when its not satisfactorily done, proceeds to ask the whole class to do 20 pushups over the period of 10 minutes. Then he writes a couple of x's and y's on the board and then scoots off early? I won't forget him, he was really funny. The push ups I guess were attributed to the fact that he was an ex-army Captain in the Commandos. And he would ALWAYS say that MGS girls are smarter than ACS boys. No thanks to him having a daughter in MGS! It was so insulting! But we often just sniggered it off "as we were richer than MGS".
Yes. I once asked my maths teacher to help me solve an extremely difficult question, at that point in time. And guess what. He couldn't solve a sec1 maths problem! And he told me flatly. "I can't solve it! But I know my daughter can! MGS girls are always smarter than ACS boys". Funny thing was that he too was an ex-ACS boy. And his daughter? My classmate's girlfriend! It was truly laughable! My classmate had a really hard time as he was constantly being referred to as "my future son-in-law". Very funny maths teacher. But he really couldn't make it. So much for my maths.
I had horrible E-Maths teachers all my life in ACS. But one thing's in common - They were all really funny! Only my Add-Maths teacher in sec 4 was good! The rest couldn't make it! Too bad she's retired now! What happened was that I did rather badly all my life in maths. So my "childhood ambition" can never be realised. I almost gave up on physics and add maths as well as chemistry in secondary school and decided to become either an Arts student in JC or just a guy studying computer programming at Singapore Poly. Chinese was a major pressing factor as well but Thank God I didn't do that!
Now I come all the way back to where I am in my life now. I realise that I can still fulfil my childhood ambition to be a scientist. But its just not practical. I would love to understand everything a scientist understands purely out of self-interest and personal passion. I can see myself as either a maths or physics teacher. Maybe even a lecturer. But I realise that's just not me. To be stuck in a rather cushy academic desk job doing teaching. I would rather share my passion with other people.
Maybe I'll get my Ph.D in Physics someday. One things for sure, that Ph.D is coming from MIT. "Die Die I will get into the post-graduate course!". I won't rush my Ph.D. Its too silly. I dont' need it for anything professional. I only want it to supplement a hobby, an interest, a personal passion. And what would I do with it? I'll be happy just to be a freelance tour guide at the science centre's planetarium as well as telescope that can explain everything about the stars and their orbits to primary school children - hopefully sparking an interest in them as well. And yea, so that I can always pick up a science journal anytime and actually understand what the writing in there is all about.
Mathematics is the foundation. Physics is just a exemplified applied portion of mathematics. After all, physics is expressed in mathematics. Studying maths in WashU will be the first step to satisfying the part that "my maths needs to be good" as well as being a foundation for my personal interests later on. And I definitely won't forget about the arts either. I found out that I will graduate from WashU with an A.B degree. Not really a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) or a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) even if I major in mathematics. I'll be doing the liberal arts at the College of Arts and Sciences and explore what I really might have been should I have been an arts student.
A liberal arts education is really wonderful! I get to study ANYTHING I want and no one is going to complain! I'll only do my major towards the end of my second year in university. And I'll get to study everything I've wanted to learn about in the arts for my first two years. I'm amazed at the American University system! I'll get to do Jazz Studies! Photography! Drama & Theatre Studies! Dance! (although I'm not much of a dancer) Singing Classes! (even though I croak like a frog most of the time). And to compound all of that. There will be Politics, Philosophy, Economics, Biology, Chemistry, East-Asian Studies, Literature, Geography, Modern world history, the Renaisannce, Art History, Law & Justice, sociology, psychology, neurology and it just goes on and on.
I thank God for this opportunity to at least learn about everything that I have heard about or learnt about, or read about. I feel that it is no longer necessary to push myself for a double-degree program. Just a Major-Minor combination would be sufficient. And I'll join as many Clubs, Societies as possible to meet people, gain insight into other cultures, learn about other people. Mix around with all groups of people. I don't really see my time in university just as a mugging period to get that sheet of paper. But an opportunity to discover myself, discover the world through other people's eyes as well as to widen my knowledge from just the sciences and a little bit of the arts to being more heavy on the arts whilst focusing on a major in the sciences.
I believe that this will change my life. And I thank God for this opportunity. More or less, everything is settled. I only need to send them a certified-true copy of my leaving cert and everything will be more or less finalised. I might stretch myself to take 5 modules per semester. And I'll insist that I'll chose the subject furthest away from my area of concentration. It doesn't matter if I don't do very well. The fact is that I've gain a broader base of understanding instead of restricting my knowledge solely to areas around my concentration plus a few outside. I'll do what the American Universities have been championing for decades. "Do everything furthest from your major and discover yourself".
As much as I am still passionate and interested in the sciences and that Ph.D in physics will be one of the academics goals in my life solely devoted for the purpose of pure self-interest, understanding and FUN. I believe that it is very important to delve deeply into as many aspects of the ARTs as I can. Perhaps I'll be a person in the business world one day with great understanding of Mathematics/Physics and who can freely discuss Emmanuel Kant as well as Ralph Waldo Emmerson. John Forbes Nash wouldn't be very far from the completed philosophies of Nietzche & Voltaire.
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