The Future - Feb 13/83 days left

My mom called me in the middle of Intellectual Property class this morning. She was sobbing and begging me not to go on JET.

I squirmed on my seat and waited eagerly for SL to declare a break. I told her I had some personal matter at home and had to rush off.

My mom wasn't around when I reached home. After calling her, she came back after a while empty-handed though she told me she went to get groceries. She looked composed but the tears came once we entered the house.

The main vexation was that they were wondering why can't I stay by their side and live a normal life in Singapore. To them, they see my education as a bane, a necessary sacrifice to put through in order for me to get a comfortable job in Singapore after the whole ordeal of studying. Since I entered pre-university, since I entered university and stayed on campus.. they have been increasingly wondering why are they more and more distanced from their son as the son becomes increasingly stressed and has to spend more time on his studies.

However I think the world today is a very different one from what they have lived through. We're steadily talking about globalization and dealing with other cultures. So what if I have a degree in the end? I join the countless other graduates out on the streets fervently scouring the classifieds for jobs that are oh-so-same. Why does 'going into the society' indicate the crux of the maturity process? Can't going on JET be considered as the epitome of the maturity process too? What is wrong with equipping oneself with another language and skills to deal with another culture? Those sound like good skills to have that can distinguish one from the rest of the graduates out there.