People tend to view themselves as individuals and as such put
out their own individual interest ahead of what is so called
'common interest'. I guess the way the world is today certainly
does not help our cause, we live in a globalized world with open
markets, as such competition for jobs and opportunities are steep.
Thus, the conscription armies of today have to factor this in and
find ways to allow individuals to serve their nation and at the
same time not lose out in this 'rat race'. One way would be to set
up a fifth university solely for full-time national servicemen,
based on the model of Amercian and Canadian colleges which allow
students to do certain credits of their univeristy programme and
transfer their credits over to say NUS or NTU or any other foreign
universities come the end of their term of service. I believe
doubts will be raised as to feasibility of this vis-a-vis to our
nation's defence, especialy for those in the combat side. However,
I believe that with shrude man power management and streamlining of
operational and training needs, with the innovation of new
technologies, our men will be afforded the time to do their studies
while serving. Furthermore, we aren't talking about a regime of a
full degree, but rather credits that will allow soldiers to attain
academic knowledge while serving their nation. Of course it'll be
tough, but it'll certainly bridge the knowledge gap which most NSFs
face after a two year haitus from academia.
Not fogetting soldiers who aren't persueing a univeristy degree.
Individuals who are thinking of persueing a poly diploma or an ITE
or O-level cert can also benefit from this. A insitution can be set
up to tailor courses which will assist these indivudals in their
academic persuance. I mean it is a novel idea, a school drop out
enters the army, does his O-levels while serving ns and gets
reasonable results which gets him into poly or an ITE
course.
