Public Perception

It's the time of the year again, where everybody is asking the same questions:

"Where are you gonna go next?"

This one question can be applied for upcoming form 4s, recent high school graduates, recent foundation graduates and of course recent undergraduates.

Whether if it is science stream or art stream, Taylor's or Inti, Australia or the United Kingdom, Citibank or a master's, that age old question has become synonymous with people's curiosity.

I'll admit that I am one of those frequent users of that question. Just today, I met somebody at the gym and discovered that the person intends to do Maritime Engineering. Quite a vast difference from what I'm doing, but heck who am I to judge?

After reading XP's and Puan Chong's recent blog post, I have come to a conclusion that most decisions nowadays are made based upon public perception, which I find rather annoying.

I mean it's nice to hear your Aunty go "Wah doing medicine ah boy! Very good! Mummy and daddy sure very proud!" during Chinese New Year, but what if I'm doing a diploma in graphic design? Do I not deserve the same recognition as the medical student?

Degrees are mere certificates that represent what you have achieved to date. But it doesn't determine who you are or what you are capable of doing indefinitely. That is down to perseverance and determination.

(The Living Legend thinks that it is nice to have a Harvard degree hanging on his wall but it is also nice to be worth 26 billion dollars, think Facebook)