As a student it pains me how many of my teachers are now ironically seeking to fire us up to dream and encourage us to leave aside our GPAs and look beyond the tiny prisms of our worksheets.

Maybe the rot’s set in too deep.

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them (Henry David Thoreau)

I wonder if the sterotyped pragmatism might be a result of our level of economic development back then.

Whatever the reason, there’re more and more young people pursuing their dreams.

Give it time.

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody’s looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused

And believe me, getting parents’ approval is the LEAST of your worries. The next hurdles are professional criticism, whether the existing industry accept you, finding good teachers to train you in that dream profession etc etc. The list is endless. And if you are not blessed to be in a rich family, you may have to work a day job and still fuel this dream.

I’m not discouraging anyone. I’m just telling the truth and giving a good picture of the odds one will face. i hope more will have the guts to face them.

Constantly pushing the blame to other parties. Such anger, resentment, vindication!

Such cold pragmatism at its pinnacle:

“Well written nonsense. Indeed, this must be a literature teacher, to be so divorced from reality. If those boys, those would-be musicians were from wealthy families, maybe they could have tried to live their dream. Or maybe if their parents were of the rare sacrificial breed. But in the end, life happened.”

Life happened? Life is more than just merely living. Your life is in your hands – you are the one who gave up your dreams, gave in to “life”.

I agree with this article – it’s truly well-written and inspiring.

i asked her this question, “anyone can study to become an engineer by sheer hard work but do you think everyone has the talent for design?” i told her i wish that one day she will pursue her talent and become the next vera wang or tan yong. i also shared with her that with a change in economy, most of my peers who were in the ‘good’ courses (engineering) have left the profession. they end up same-same (teaching) as someone like me from the ‘lousy’ courses (arts/social sciences). engineering no longer guarantees a ’stable’ job. i told her with globalisation, talent can be maximised anywhere in the world and not just in singapore. as an educated person, she should start to think global.

its been quite a fews years already. i’ve lost contact with this student. i hope she had pursued her dream.

The boy who jumped? A weakling. Those who eventually fulfill their dreams are also those who are courageous, those who are resilient. To try to succeed even of the odds are stacked against him. This boy was not it. He took the cowards way out and the world is rid of a useless weak human being. All the better for the gene pool.

Many are so myopic that they only focus on themselves and not even know how many new citizens are in our midst already.

make a guess why.

He questioned me, “Why not you take a proper course like engineering?”

Singaporeans aren’t the only people in the world grappling with dreams and reality. Even in the most developed countries, a small percentage of people actually get what they want in life, and most come to grips with a dream and what is really achievable.

The larger issue is how singaporeans deal with setbacks or find a compromise between what is possible and a mere dream. I’m going to give the other side of the story, as someone who has dealt with the pains and trials of cradling an unrealistic dream in singapore -

When your parents and friends oppose your wishes, it might be because they CARE ABOUT YOU. They look at your dream profession, and look at how many people live comfortably in this job, and know what you’ll be in for a very rough time. They can’t bear to see you suffer, doing something few respect and turn professional in, so they give you an outright NO.

Cheers, Michelle

That’s just your reading of it, but I don’t find it persuasive. Anyway, if there’s one person whose words we need not read between the lines, it is the PM (other than the holy MM himself lar). It’s only the lesser ministers and the ST that u need to read betw the lines. Or listen with a huge pinch of salt.

U left out the most important point in your list also:

PM Lee said all that so that dreaming Singaporeans can achieve happiness, prosperity, and progress for the PAP.