paradox of education and the underlying problem of society

My grueling midterm ended yesterday. Technically, i ended half an hour earlier than my fellow mates after leaving the exam hall with 30 mins to spare. I just have to breakfree from this suffocating "ed"mosphere. Within minutes, I immediately went to the computer lab and printed out the application form for the local exchange in the next semester.

Yes, I am taking this "break" from my school and perhaps stress as well. Well, for those who are not sure, every semester, the 3 universities from Singapore do provide overseas exchange programme with their respective partner universities all over the globe for students. Students can have the choice of studying in overseas universities for 1 or 2 semester depending on the course of studies and also availability. For those who financially incapable of going on the overseas exchange, the local universities do provide spaces for a local exchange.

According to my school's International Relations Office(IRO), going on exchange is for the following benefits. "Few experiences challenge and reward you like living and studying in another country. Through the International Relations Office (IRO), you can learn about the excitement of living and studying in another country. The knowledge that the experiences you had acquired during your overseas studies will be valuable to your future employers makes it all the more rewarding. With more than 1,000 placements being arranged for students yearly, IRO is dedicated to transforming students' lives through international exchanges."

However, is it the real case and do students share the same thought? Well, I do not want to dispel that some students really want to have an experience of studying overseas and also for valuable asset for future employer. Nonetheless, the general consensus is that students going for such exchange programmes for 2 main things. First, to "freeze" their Cumulative Average Point (CAP). Second, to study less stressfully.

Exchange programmes allows students to "freeze" the CAP and study less stressfully because modules of partner universities are not counted towards the overall CAP and students just have to pass the modules in order to gain the credits for graduation.

So in this case, an exchange student actually have the tendency of not putting in a full effort knowing that the final result he or she just have to get a minimum of C or D for a pass instead of aiming for an A grade. Hence, despite their experience and exposure, it is likely these exchange students might just be learning and absorbing less than those students who have conscientiously work hard to get the A grade.

Well, like my hypothesis and the general understanding from the discussions among students, the reason is to study at a less stressful environment. Hence, it is only certain that they will not put in the same amount of effort overseas than in Singapore. As a consequence, they are less wholesome than the dutiful local student in terms of knowledge.Moreover, this goes in opposite direction of the concept of education, where people learn and be enlightened.

Paradoxically, this is the result of the pursue of recognition and reward wieded by a certain piece of paper which determines how successful a person is. It has also become a parameter for employment, future and how society judges you. The buliding of pressure for people to do well in education has certainly taking a turn on how an positive exchange programme can become an escape from the reality. Sadly, and inevitably, all of the students are taking advantage of this, including me if my application is successful.

Addressing my concern for studying in a less stressful environment, which allows student to take a easier option for completing the semester, I would like to suggest that students can have the option of using the results in partner universities to contribute towards their CAP. This can allow the students to take a positive attitude towards studying in partner universities rather then acheiving the bare minimum pass.

Nevertheless, the ultimate problem remains. It is high time for the society and employers to shift away from the paradigm of judging the success of a person based on the certain piece of paper. After all, the character and talent of the person are not found anywhere on it.