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Monday, March 02, 2009 / 11:02 PM
suicide During one of my lectures today, my professor was talking about how this NTU student had stabbed his professor before committing suicide by jumping off one of the buildings in his faculty. I was shocked, but decided to ascertain the news by googling for it and ended up seeing it reported on Channelnewsasia. Apparently, the student was in his last year in NTU, and the professor was his project supervisor. Some of my NTU friends were speculating that he must have done such an act because he was upset with his FYP results, some were saying he was too stressed over school and his grades. The thing was that he must have been really upset, to the point that he would assault his professor, slit his wrists and fall to his death. In school. Gotta show his wrath, his hatred for the school to have died this way. Of course, the professor is now being treated for his injuries, sent to the hospital and all. Flowers and fruit baskets will start streaming into his ward, possibly even inviting a news team and journalists for interviews. Get well soon and speedy recovery cards will overwhelm his desk and all, and perhaps when he is discharged, people will understand him and then all will soon start to forget that such an incident ever happened. Honestly, no one will even report more on the student, except to generate more buzz and to take up the headlines. Quite apparent in this evening's Lian He Wan Bao, where the front page was splashed with headlines saying NTU STUDENT STABS PROFESSOR, BEFORE COMMITTING SUICIDE. Ah, the media. This could be the most newsworthy thing that happened in Singapore campuses, among various other kinds of news. This is definitely less shocking than shooting incidents in USA, but enough to make me sit up and take a good hard look at the report. What made this student so upset that he contemplated death? Was it necessary to have done the things he did? Why did he not seek help? Where were his friends? His family? Was the professor too harsh on him? Did he receive enough attention from the professor since he was the supervisor of his FYP? Were there any signs and symptoms that may have foreshadowed this? Of course, it is easy to formulate questions and castigate those who are in some way or another involved in this incident. Honestly, i feel that it is by no means isolated. In fact, there could be more such cases happening in varying degrees. School is depersonalised, too many students to keep track of, friends don't pay enough attention to friends... So it is no wonder that the student contemplated dying as a solution to all his problems. Problems that seem to have no solutions and having no one to help him at all. The feeling of being so alone and helpless and unable to get out of this rut. Being thrown down a muddy pit and left to die or left to be eaten up by tigers. And perhaps it is because everyone is so competitive and selfish and superficial. No one bothers to slow down and take a check at another person. Just like how road accidents are like. Most people slow down their cars and see what is happening, what is the number plate of the vehicle that got smashed, has the person died or not, got blood or not etc... They slow down to watch the show, but how many people SLOW DOWN and get out of their car to HELP? Most of them just want to rush to the nearest betting station and write down the lucky numbers in order to have a better chance to win 4D. To say that society is merciless and blind is not an understatement. The fact remains that most people look out for themselves, and most aren't that generous to help others. Why should i do that? What do i gain? It's a sad sad situation. Durkheim would probably be interested to study about suicide rates in Singapore, and credit it to academic anomie? Haha. Sociologists may have explanations, but we don't really need them do we? Quite obvious its the stress of school work and expectations. It could also be that he had a nervous breakdown, therefore doing irrational things and harming himself. It is not too difficult to have a nervous breakdown, since the way some of us live our lives is pretty conducive to the germination of that. Like mine. There are also some who pretend not to know homework even though you know they are just hiding. If you are really that smart, giving others a little help won't make you any less good than you are now, unless you are not that capable enough. Wonder how will the student's parents and family take it? Guess they will really be heartbroken that their son has chosen this way out. They must feel reproachful even though it is not entirely their fault. As to who was complicit, no one really knows. Grades are such sucky determinants of one's capability. Why should we all be defined by alphabets? Numbers? Or even the "papers" that we have? Despite all these lofty talk, nothing will ever change. Because we are all so institutionalised that we fail to see beyond the horizon. People are hard to figure out. I prefer words. Labels: NTU, people, school, society, stress |
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