A little cover on the head

our educational circus comes to town!!!

standards going downhill

quality going south

brilliant lecturers given Hobson's Choice

when applying leave for international appointment

researchers migrate

foreign students going elsewhere

best students leave and never return

students' frustrating job-hunt after graduating

teachers falling through floorboards

students in gang fights

or get pregnant without knowing how it happened

teachers punching each other in front of students

ad infinitum

feeling more and more hollow inside

and yet

here we are STILL wasting our energy

on a little cover on the head

 

Dale Carnegie once wrote about Scott's expedition to the South Pole. Holed up in the cramped living quarters, freezing under the extreme cold weather, the carefully rationed food, and the carbon monoxide from the burning oil lamp slowly poisoning them didn't freak out the members of the team. Scott wrote about the constant quarreling among the members of the group, each suspicious of others edging their belongings into his area, shoving their rubbish under his mattress. etc... These are the little things that almost broke the spirit of the expedition team members. Silly little things but deadly if allowed to fester.

Take that little anecdote above and think about our national agenda. Does it seem like we're still chasing our own tails, wondering why everybody's moving ahead while we're going round in our little circle?

Don't you think that, while those refusing to wear that little headscarf seem a trifle too sensitive, those imposing that ruling are apparently going overboard with silly, unnecessary regulations? Once again, we rise to the wrong occasion of showing we are still good at exhibiting the narrow-minded emphasis on Form Over Substance. Talk about missing the woods while staring at the trees, this is one huge example.