High 5: 26 January 2018 by Ms Dolley Tan
Today’s High 5 continues on the habit of mind – persisting. To persist means to persevere on a task through to completion, looking for ways to reach your goal when you are stuck. Please jot down key points of my speech in your GESS Life Book. I am going to share a real account of Mr Tan Jun Xiang who had a score of 181 points in the PSLE, went into the five-year Normal stream in secondary school and made it to the NUS medicine faculty. He is among the rare few who do not fit the mould.
When he was younger, he never thought he would go to university – much less the highly competitive Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at NUS, where only about one in seven applicants get in. So what sparked his stunning academic turnaround?
A few things: seeing how disappointed his parents were with his results, getting into the secondary school of his choice, and discovering that he could indeed do well if he put his mind to it.
Jun Xiang was a lacklustre pupil at Anderson Primary School who never scored an A. He was more interested in playing on his Game Boy. A very playful person, studying was not on his mind. He only flipped through his textbooks a day before his PSLE.
He was unmoved by his poor score until he saw how much it disappointed his parents. He was also posted to a school that was not of his choice.
But Ang Mo Kio Secondary gave him a chance after his parents appealed for a place there. It was the school to which he had wanted to go and that acceptance marked the start of his path to academic success.
So the Normal (Academic) student started to pay attention in class. He was diligent about homework and asked his teachers about material that he did not understand.
He tried hard because he wanted to get into the school’s through-train programme, which allowed him to take the O levels in Secondary 5, instead of the N levels first in Sec 4 and the O levels a year later.He graduated at the top of his school cohort, scoring nine points for his O levels in 2011.
That gained him a place in the “highly competitive” biomedical science faculty at Singapore Polytechnic. While pursuing his diploma, he realised, through participating in an internship at a hospital that he wanted to be a doctor.
It was a lofty goal, considering that about 2,000 top students fight for 300 places at the NUS medical school each year. But he applied anyway and was accepted last year.
Jun Xiang is in the second year of a five-year degree course at NUS.
So Gessians, this true account shows that with persistence and staying focused in pursuing your goal, you will ultimately achieve what you want in life. Effort is the key. You can apply what I have just mentioned in your CCA. In your CCA, you show persistence by showing up for practices, training for competitions and not giving up in times of adversity. Even in everyday life and simple choices you make, you can show persistence. For example, if you decide you want to eat healthily, you need to show persistence in not being tempted by fast food, fizzy drinks and peer pressure.
I have 2 questions for you to reflect on:
- When was the last time you were stuck because of an obstacle to achieving your goal?
- How did you overcome the obstacles?
Remember to stay focused, make practical plans and do not give up. If you persist, you are able to work through challenges, deal constructively with failures and adversity, and achieve the goals you have set for yourself.
I leave you with a quote from Albert Einstein, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
Reference:
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/he-broke-the-mould-by-going-from-normal-stream-to-nus-medical-school