I have always emphasize the difference between our university
and those overseas. I told my friends that NUS and NTU will never
make it to the elites simply because they are solely result
orientated that they lose their focus on cultivating
undergrads.
To the local university, the place is like a assembly line moulding
every man and woman into a degree holder. In overseas university,
you learn to research and question. In lectures and tutorials, the
interactions are spontaneous. You grill the lecturers and tutors to
get different opinions and new area of knowledge. In local
university, it is sadly only one way communication most of the
time.
That is why I always believe our local university will never
discover a John Nash or any nobel prize winner, simply because we
are churning out a bunch of knowledge administrators rather than a
bunch of thinkers. During my time, my school mates and I jointly
tried to crack a few old unsolved mathematics formulas with some
success. Unfortunately for me, I've to return back to singapore at
that time and stopped my research on thermothology physonosis
theory. It's a pity as nobody came close to it, not even John
Nash.
