Unusual scholarship gives dropouts hope - Home, The Straits Times, 7 April 2008
Unusual scholarship gives dropouts hope
S'pore company starts scholarship scheme for troubled teens keen on IT
The article is about scholarships worth up to $10000 being handed out by Evohub, a Singapore based company, not to high achievers, but to school dropouts and teenage video game addicts. This is done so as to offer a lifeline to those who gave gone astray by "gaming their lives away", allowing them to adapt back into society and to obtain the necessary education required to secure jobs to contribute back to the community.
Often, teenagers dropout of school for a wide variety of reasons, one of which is video game addiction. As they begin to get hooked onto their video games, they begin to neglect their studies, allowing their grades to slide to the extent of dropping out of school. Once they have reached this level, it is sad to notice that the majority of society labels them as incapable of studying and that they have no further use to society.
Obviously that is not true.
I feel that they had just set their priorities wrong. Yes, they made a mistake, but we should not condemn them forever because of that. They are still intelligent and a second chance should be given to them, hence the creation of this scholarship. I am glad to read that so far, 3 teenagers have recieved this scholarship to study Information Technology (IT).
Personally, I feel touched that Evohub has come up with this scholarship. It is unique in its sense as a scholarshiped catered solely for dropouts is unheard of anywhere. The mere act of restricting this scholarship only to school dropouts serves as a message to those who have dropped out of school that the community has not abandoned them and have not discarded them as 'wasted students'.
Given the description in the article, it is clear that the scholarship, which will fund an advanced diploma in IT, has been specially crafted to suit the ex-gaming addicts. For a start, an education in IT will definitely appeal to them more as it is related to computers, something which they would be very good at given the amount of time they had spent on it. This would, in turn, convince the dropouts to reconsider entering back into the education. Indeed, no other factor can be more attractive than pursuing an interest.
Secondly, the diploma courses have been specially tailored to suit the habits of the students. For instance, school hours are from 10am to 6pm, the reason being that these students have gone too long without formal education and as such are not used to waking up early. Of course, this diploma includes some form of discipline to ensure that these students would not reverse to their old ways. One of which is giving them very little days' leave to ensure they would not spend entire days playing games as before.
Overall, offering a lifeline to gaming addicts is a sign that society is beginning to accept them for who they are despite the mistakes they have made. Singaporeans are beginning to shift away from the elitist mentality and have begun to help those who have been otherwise neglected in the past. A supportive community is the ultimate key in helping these dropouts back to their feets. This way, they would be able to once again recieve the education they deserve and eventually, enter the workforce to contribute back to society.
JonTan
S'pore company starts scholarship scheme for troubled teens keen on IT
The article is about scholarships worth up to $10000 being handed out by Evohub, a Singapore based company, not to high achievers, but to school dropouts and teenage video game addicts. This is done so as to offer a lifeline to those who gave gone astray by "gaming their lives away", allowing them to adapt back into society and to obtain the necessary education required to secure jobs to contribute back to the community.
Often, teenagers dropout of school for a wide variety of reasons, one of which is video game addiction. As they begin to get hooked onto their video games, they begin to neglect their studies, allowing their grades to slide to the extent of dropping out of school. Once they have reached this level, it is sad to notice that the majority of society labels them as incapable of studying and that they have no further use to society.
Obviously that is not true.
I feel that they had just set their priorities wrong. Yes, they made a mistake, but we should not condemn them forever because of that. They are still intelligent and a second chance should be given to them, hence the creation of this scholarship. I am glad to read that so far, 3 teenagers have recieved this scholarship to study Information Technology (IT).
Personally, I feel touched that Evohub has come up with this scholarship. It is unique in its sense as a scholarshiped catered solely for dropouts is unheard of anywhere. The mere act of restricting this scholarship only to school dropouts serves as a message to those who have dropped out of school that the community has not abandoned them and have not discarded them as 'wasted students'.
Given the description in the article, it is clear that the scholarship, which will fund an advanced diploma in IT, has been specially crafted to suit the ex-gaming addicts. For a start, an education in IT will definitely appeal to them more as it is related to computers, something which they would be very good at given the amount of time they had spent on it. This would, in turn, convince the dropouts to reconsider entering back into the education. Indeed, no other factor can be more attractive than pursuing an interest.
Secondly, the diploma courses have been specially tailored to suit the habits of the students. For instance, school hours are from 10am to 6pm, the reason being that these students have gone too long without formal education and as such are not used to waking up early. Of course, this diploma includes some form of discipline to ensure that these students would not reverse to their old ways. One of which is giving them very little days' leave to ensure they would not spend entire days playing games as before.
Overall, offering a lifeline to gaming addicts is a sign that society is beginning to accept them for who they are despite the mistakes they have made. Singaporeans are beginning to shift away from the elitist mentality and have begun to help those who have been otherwise neglected in the past. A supportive community is the ultimate key in helping these dropouts back to their feets. This way, they would be able to once again recieve the education they deserve and eventually, enter the workforce to contribute back to society.
JonTan
posted by JonTan | 7:52 AM
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