In Singapore, there is a need to change our stressful culture. We always strive to achieve As and neglect our own emotional development. And most foreign students told me that they have never worked so hard until they came to NTU. Our stress levels seem to have a domino effect- if we see people studying hard, we feel guilty and study harder. When others see you studying hard, they panic and study even harder. Its a viscious cycle.

I don’t think there was a coverup or transparency on the part of the media or NTU. The matter is still under investigation. I don’t think it would right to issue statements based on opinion instead of facts. So we just have to wait for the investigation to be concluded and for them to issue an official statement.

Yan-Pete, the size of the knife doesn’t matter. Its where you aim for that matters. =)

So it seems like the ONLY way to go about living in this world is to be in this mad race of competition to keep up with everyone else and strive to be better than the rest. Looking at the lousy economy right now, competition has now increased by say, 3 folds? If we don’t face this ugly truth and accept failures as part and parcel of life, how are we to continue striving and living this life full of uncertainties and challenges? There are always alternatives in life. If you were to fail, retake and do it even better. If you did not get a grade you want, do you really need or want it? Or is it because of HIGH expectations and being hard on yourself?

Ultimately, I believe it boils down to one’s attitude. If we adopt a positive attitude, we can survive ANYWHERE. But if we don’t, we’re just gonna sink in to the endless black hole of negativity. Thus if we do not conquer our attitude, it will override us.

Coming from a student who has lived abroad in France and faced intense competition, racial discrimination of being an Asian and much more, all I can say is that no matter how hard times are, we are brought into this world for a purpose and it is not up to us to decide whether or not we should take our lives over matters that may not truly matter as you move on in life.

Think about our loved ones, those who care and love us, those who brought us to this world, those who we fail to appreciate but have quietly helped us, those whom we should be grateful to.

SEE, TRANSPARENCY. WHERE’D IT GO? DOWN THE DRAIN??

ugh. just looking at the way NTU handled David’s incident as well totally annoys me. all the information came out in the media long before the “revised” statement was made from the school -.-

and this isn’t any better. NTU students are reading the papers for information about the incident instead of hearing from their very own school. What kind of sense is there in that? What’s the point of being an NTU student when we know the same or even less than people outside?

this is not the only thingie we will not know.
and we accept. as always.

what is going on in that u?

luckily, they say the got some kind of system in place.

the next thing we know, another death.

sad.

This has to thanks the Singapore Armed Force for putting effort to train our boys to be more resilient !! can take stress and pressure more than the ordinary folks !

Don’t you think so ?

But what I do know is that I’ve found my closest group of friends in NTU, and have come to think of the college as a second home, as part of an extended family. It’s sad, that despite how nice people in school are, some poor staff/students see no better alternative than suicide.

I can attest to the fact that foreign students have it hard, being away from home for an extended period, sometimes finding it hard to fit in because of the language/cultural barrier, and having stereotypes against them etc. Perhaps that why it is important for us Singaporeans to reach out to them instead of griping about the way they carry themselves, the way they mess up hall kitchens (i’m sure we sometimes do too…).

Instead of establishing differences (Singaporeans=resilient v.s. Foreigners=easy to crumble under stress), shouldn’t we draw them into Singapore’s culture? After all, aren’t we all equal as schoolmates?

I don’t think it was an issue of resilience anyway. David was the president of a school club, and a whiz. If he really had low stress tolerance, he wouldn’t have achieved so much over the past 3-4 years.

Don’t say unitl lke that, as if S’porean students go no stress / difficulties in coping.

Just that somehow, maybe, more resilient.

Let’s just say
People, let’s not get inspired by any kind of suicide done by someone else who’s done it before.

I’m not saying that I’m sure the cause of both recent deaths in NTU was a real suicide. Let’s be careful. Watch our back. Think over and over about something so problematic. Try very hard to talk about it with someone or people which also can be done anonymously in some online forums. Take the positive responses and leave the negative responses far behind. It is very hard ’cause I’ve few times thought about giving up my life myself but if you really struggle and keep on struggling you still can make it. I’m not being a hypocrite here. I have my own problems and I do cry, hit my pillow, walk out the house calming down myself, get angry, shout, blog about it, but I do sometimes just think about the problems over and over until I realize there’s nothing I can do with it. SO, when I’m in that position I just have to live it.

My deepest condolence for the family and relatives.