The student I talked to didn't manage to progress. So I asked very simply, what are you going to do now? She just said, I don't know, I no longer feel like studying, are you disappointed/angry that I didn't make it? Of course I said no, but it got me thinking really really hard.
We keep complaining about our education system, about how competitive it is, and how hard it is to secure spots just to further our education.
Putting it in perspective now, I realized how lucky we are. Apart from a much smaller population, our abundance of schools and institutions allow us to keep studying even if it isn't what we want. After secondary school, if you can't go to Junior College, there are Polytechnics, and if not, there are still the ITEs.
In China, sure their population is exponentially larger than ours and they are still a developing country, but if you fail to further your education, it means you enter the workforce, and in the case of the student, at 16 years old.
I remember in 2008 when I was sitting for my O Levels to decide where I fill continue my education, there was a small debate on forums about how the government wasn't doing enough to give students equal opportunities to study in the JC/Poly course of their choice. Right now, all I can say is be glad that we are still studying, because no matter how tough it gets, working life is way harder than a student's life.
Even if you can't climb the ladder as high as you would like, be thankful a net is there to catch you in the end, and you can continue climbing again.
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