Another Unfortunate...

... incident bappened in school, which once again made me think again about the double binded knot that many of us trainees are in.

Unlike most other tertiary students, we are bound in a noose which is in danger of being tightened anytime. We do not have the freedom of skipping classes, lectures, and in the case of my coursemates, an abundance of free periods.

Making this worse is the breath of Big Brother down your neck, whispering coarsely the words, "Bond......"

And this is the deal with the devil that all of us signed. That we are bound to this institution with no earthly hope for escape, unless we 1) come into a lot of money suddenly, or 2) be involved in some accident which renders us incapable of physical activity altogether.

Is this bad? Some may say no. We are after all paid to study. This is a deal that is unavailable to a lot of students all over, and perhaps yes, we should be grateful in a sense for the chance we've been given.

But it is akin to a deal with the devil. Because at the same time, we sign ourselves into a gilded cage. Because once you sign on that dotted line, there is no hope for escape or respite. Bound you will be, till the course of your obligation is served, whether or not it really makes you want to scream.

People in the private sector have the freedom of leaving their jobs anytime they want. [let's not take job prospects and employment prospects into consideration for a while.] If the economy is good, or if their job sucks big time, there is room for them to escape. They can quit, change jobs, start afresh. They may envy us for our steady jobs, and our stable paychecks, but they don't see how we cannot escape just when we need to.

This, I feel, is the worse part about being here. Everyone here is a prisoner of their own making. Until one day someone snaps and tries to fly to better parts.

And what is the school doing about it? They opened a psychology clinic on campus, free to all students. All the tutors encourage the students to use it if they have to. But what's the use? Talking about it is NOT going to help you solve the main problem. It is not going to get the tutors to lessen your workload, it is not going to lessen your bond, and most damning of all, I do not believe it is going to lead to any positive change in policy, even if large numbers of students swamp the clinic.

So what's the point of it all, if I just talk about it to some nice lady in the clinic, but yet, when I come out, all my problems are still waiting for me? And I am still left with no solution for them?

I hope yesterday's incident serves as a signal to some people on top. That push us any further, and one day we will all break under you.

I know I'm deliberately being vague about the incident which happened on campus. I'm doing this because I don't know who reads this blog and whether I will get into trouble for violating some sedition act in NIE or whatever. :p But I believe if you read closely between the lines, you could deduce what it is that has happened.