Someone sent me an interesting article by Adam Khoo about our kids:
"Unfortunately, I have found that more and more young Singaporeans lack this hunger for success. Instead, they like to complain, blame circumstances and wait for others to push them. Some hold on to the attitude that the world owes them a living. I shake my head when I see local kids nowadays complain that they don't have the latest handphones, branded clothes and games. While I acknowledge that the kids of today are much smarter and well informed than I was at their age (my 4 year old daughter can use my Macbook computer and my iphone), I find that they lack the resilience and tenacity they need to survive in the new economy. Some kids nowadays tend to give up easily once they find that things get tough and demand instant gratification. When they have to work first to get rewards later, many tend to lack the patience to follow through."
It appears that our next generation may have lost the hunger according to Adam. How can we correct this trend?
Introducing competition obviously hasn't helped as I feel that many will live in denial that the expats will soon replace us in our workplace in time to come. Does that mean we must introduce deprivation into our children's lives in order for them to acquire that hunger?
I would say it may be time to introduce role models. Not necessarily feature someone who's a prodigy, but rather someone who has the traits of tenacity,mental toughness,resilience and the ability to self-learn from his mistakes. I am sure that many of such are abound in our midst of chess-players. It would really be good to highlight such persons to the chess community. In this way, the young will have good role models to emulate from and understand what it takes to succeed not just on the chessboard, but in life as well.
Grooming an international chess icon may take years, but searching for a successful person who's a chess-player may be easier. Malaysia has Datuk Tan Chin Nam - I wonder who do we have in Singapore??
"Unfortunately, I have found that more and more young Singaporeans lack this hunger for success. Instead, they like to complain, blame circumstances and wait for others to push them. Some hold on to the attitude that the world owes them a living. I shake my head when I see local kids nowadays complain that they don't have the latest handphones, branded clothes and games. While I acknowledge that the kids of today are much smarter and well informed than I was at their age (my 4 year old daughter can use my Macbook computer and my iphone), I find that they lack the resilience and tenacity they need to survive in the new economy. Some kids nowadays tend to give up easily once they find that things get tough and demand instant gratification. When they have to work first to get rewards later, many tend to lack the patience to follow through."
It appears that our next generation may have lost the hunger according to Adam. How can we correct this trend?
Introducing competition obviously hasn't helped as I feel that many will live in denial that the expats will soon replace us in our workplace in time to come. Does that mean we must introduce deprivation into our children's lives in order for them to acquire that hunger?
I would say it may be time to introduce role models. Not necessarily feature someone who's a prodigy, but rather someone who has the traits of tenacity,mental toughness,resilience and the ability to self-learn from his mistakes. I am sure that many of such are abound in our midst of chess-players. It would really be good to highlight such persons to the chess community. In this way, the young will have good role models to emulate from and understand what it takes to succeed not just on the chessboard, but in life as well.
Grooming an international chess icon may take years, but searching for a successful person who's a chess-player may be easier. Malaysia has Datuk Tan Chin Nam - I wonder who do we have in Singapore??
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