The Right Choice - is there one?

I have always prided myself in knowing what I want to do. I always knew which direction I was headed and what to expect. You could say that I had it all figured out – at least that was what I thought. The last few years have almost completely blew that notion away, leaving me in an embarrassing situation and a question that leaves me questioning myself, and everything else with it.

What is the right choice? Am I making the right choices? Am I on the right track? It seems everyone has a plan in life. I am no different. I plan to be successful. But what is success? What constitutes success and what are the right steps to take?

In Singapore, it seems quite straight-forward. Success is the amount you take home. Success is owning the 5Cs – Car, Cash, Condo, Country Club, and Credit Card. Before that however, we all have to follow a certain plan in store for us. Attaining all that is easy, but working for it is difficult and for many of us, impossible.

It is a harsh world out there. If you don’t have a degree, your chance of getting a good or even decent job is limited. Even so, a degree might not suffice. Nowadays, degrees are a dime a dozen and everyone seems to have one. Unlike the days of our parents, degrees are rare and only the rich have it. A degree back then would guarantee you a job. But times have changed and a degree is only a piece of paper. In order for that piece of paper to be worth anything, it has to be from somewhere prestigious. Image is everything. If you are from a small unrecognized tertiary institution, you are nothing. Your degree would be almost worthless.

To be stumped there would mean your dream of attaining the 5Cs would be delayed or be what it is – merely a dream.

So does that mean you made the wrong choices?

Alternatively, would the right choice be working hard to get a scholarship to a prestigious overseas university and then get employed by a Fortune 500 company immediately? You slave over enormous amounts of paperwork everyday. Your hours are not 9 to 5 but rather 5 to 5 as you work way past overtime even after you return home. You loathe the paperwork and you are not enjoying your job. However, you tell yourself that if you were to endure the hardship long enough, you would soon reap the benefits in a few years time. Your goal is your promotion, and with it, the money. All you care about is getting that promotion even if it kills you. How else would you attain your dream?

Before even joining the workforce, perhaps the biggest decisions would have to be made in school. It is then, that we hit a fork in our plan in life. Most of the time, the decision seems to be between doing what we enjoy and doing what would be deemed as the right path. You may be a gifted artist and have your work published on a regular basis, but that will not bring you success. Do you think you would be able to survive trying to sell your paintings? Perhaps you might use that gift to be an art teacher. Still, that will not bring you your 5Cs.

So you choose to go against your interests, and take up a path that might bring you this perceived success – Engineering, Medicine, Business, or Law. I was at a university seminar in Singapore once and at the end, the prospective students were to break up into groups according to their faculty. I was there as a volunteer and was having a chat with a new student. She was a foreigner but lived in Singapore for more than a decade albeit in an International school. She remarked that she was not surprised at all that the majority of the students were clustered around in the faculties of Engineering, Medicine, Business and Law, claiming that it was very “Singaporean”. I could only nod in agreement.

In contrast, the groups for Social Science and Arts consisted of a mere 2 individuals, of whom only 1 was local. Even so, that student was doing a combined degree with Business. The mentality in Singapore seems to be that Arts is as a friend of mine once described as a “toilet paper degree”. It is deemed practically useless to the extent that another friend of mine upon completion of his Arts degree has decided to pursue a MBA in Business. Is that the right choice?

I have long been questioning my choices in life. I too have been infected by the “Singaporean Dream”. During my secondary education, I aspired to be a lawyer. I had always perceived lawyers as respectable and successful people. I desired to be like that. However, it all changed when I realized the kind of life they lead. I did not want to do that.

Still with the mindset that the prerequisite of success was to do something that is regarded as the ‘right choice’ I eventually ended up doing a degree in Business and Economics in university. I hated it and I could not grasp it. Still, I convinced myself that it was necessary.

Thankfully it did not last long, and I duly ended the façade by transferring to another degree. I decided to do something I have an interest in – Psychology. Still, I question my decision as my real interest lies in the Arts. I have always enjoyed my history classes and I have always loved traveling to different countries. Whenever I went on a tour to a foreign destination, I would always stick by the tour guide, listening intently to his descriptions and historical information. So why did I choose Psychology? Is it because I feel that I might have a better chance of making money compared to whatever career an Arts degree would lead me to? Have I weighed the opportunity costs of both these prospects and once again decided on the basis of success? Inevitably the notion of success has been heavily influenced by my ability to attain the 5Cs.

I have often told people that the reason why I am taking Psychology is because I have an interest in it, yet at the same time I could be have a decent job in the future. I may have found a balance although the latter could be the more decisive of the reasons. Perhaps that is the reason why I am anxious and in a certain sense, desperate to do well and qualify for honors so that I would be able to take my MBA in order to be registered as a practicing psychologist.

So am I making the right choice or am I simply fooling myself?

The Singapore dream is comparable to the American Dream. Immigrants flocked to America to make it big like some others have. They only hear of success stories, never of failure. After all, no one wants to hear those. So they try to follow their footsteps. Singaporeans are no different. Singaporeans crave for this perceived success. We envy those who cruise around in their SUVs and live in condominiums in the city, funded by their huge wage packets. Therefore we try to make the same choices they made. We try to follow their paths to success. Sadly, it seems that we are all too busy trying to adhere to the path trying to make these ‘right choices’ that we lose track of ourselves. If everything is pre-planned, what is the point of living life? This Singaporean Dream is our dictator. Our obsession with it leads to an impairment in volition. We become like robots, all programmed to complete a certain task, because that is the ‘right choice’ and that is the choice.



This entry was written in acknowledgement of an essay by Colin Goh and Joycelin Woo, as well as the movie "Singapore Dreaming" directed by Woffles Wu.

Read about it here: http://singaporedreaming.com/blog/?q=node/6