The unfortunate suicide of A*Star scholar Mr Lin Zhi Qiang
purportedly over rejection of love by a China woman has shocked not
only his family and friends who are still going to terms with his
unexpected demise, but also ordinary Singaporeans from all walks of
life.
A*Star stands for the Agency for Science, Technology and
Research, a premier research company which is started and funded by
the Singapore government in its ambition to make Singapore the
research hub of Asia.
The Singapore government has a long history of awarding
scholarships to the creme la crop of junior college students for
them to pursue their tertiary education either overseas or at local
universitites. Most of them are awarded on the basis of their
academic grades in the GCE ‘A’ levels examinations though there
have been a shift of late towards non-academic attributes such as
creativity and leadership skills.
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The present “scholar system” has done grave injustices to both
the scholars themselves and those who have failed to qualify for
it. To the former, the artifically cloistered environment in
which they are put in deprives them of a chance to fulfill their
full potential in the outside world. To the latter group, the
limits placed on their career advancement does little to recognize
or reward their hard work, talents and contributions.
It is time for the government to relook into its policy of
giving out scholarships funded by taxpayers to the most
academically gifted students regardless of their socio-economic
backgrounds. Only by levelling the playing field between
the scholars and the non-scholars will there be real meritocracy in
the state bureaucracy instead of a half-baked segmented meritocracy
for the two different groups which is the reality on the
ground now.
Read rest of article here:
http://wayangparty.com/2009/01/19/scholar-suicide-raises-serious-questions-about-selection-process/
imo, there is nothing any estd. can do if a lovelorn guy wants
to end it all, genius or not.
he may be brilliant in books, but definitely not a*star in
relationship.
may he rest in peace.