Dear Junior

I had a talk with Abraham Choong last week, and with John Khor yesterday. From the two conversations I had with them, I am prompted to write a letter to my unborn kid.

Dear son/daughter,

Get an education. Maybe you have plans to start working after your secondary education. But these days, if you don’t have a degree, you’re gonna get stuck. People won’t hire you easily because in the end of the day, they still wanna see some kind of paper qualification. Even if they do hire you, they won’t give you a graduate’s pay. Getting increments to make up for your lack of a degree is a long and hard road. Be smart. Go study.

I won’t be able to afford to put you through some fancy college to do the course of your choice. So you’re gonna have to take life the hard way. Go take Form 6. You may not end up doing the course of your choice in university. But do it anyway. Get in there, get a degree, and get out.

Here’s the thing. University education does not sufficiently train you for the working world nowadays. Since no one will do it for you, you got to do it for yourself. Train yourself for your job! Do things that are outside your academic requirements. Take up big projects. Dare to imagine. Take up challenges that you never thought possible. Expand your social circle and develop yourself as a balanced individual. Learn to be wise.

Get your nose buried only in your books, and I’ll cut your allowance.

Take up temporary jobs when you can. If it pays well, good. You can do whatever you want with your own money. Go buy that 1000 Ringgit handphone if you want to, because I’m sure as heaven I won’t get one for you. It doesn’t register with my logic.

If the temporary job is non-profit, do it anyway. It’s not the money you should be after at this point of time. It’s the experience. If what you do for non-profit can give you invaluable experience for your job, what seems like foolishness today will be great wisdom tomorrow. Trust me on this. On-the-job experience with a finished product to show beats a purely academic resume anytime.

Let your friends go nuts over their 4.0. Get yourself a 3.0, and the confidence to take on the world. Then we'll see who really goes nuts.

Always remember. Your paper qualification will get you a job. Your experience will let you keep it.

Graduating with the course of your choice is only an added bonus in obtaining a degree. In reality, almost everyone starts from zero when they start working. Most people end up working in a job that has no relation at all with what they studied. So, if this is the case, why be picky over your course? That’s why I’m saying – get in, get a degree (any degree), and get out.

If you know the system, beat the system.

Oh yeah, while you’re doing all that, remember this: Don’t sleep around. Don’t drink. Don’t do drugs. Don’t think you’re too smart. I may be from the dinosaur generation by the time you’re old enough to read this. If you don’t want to take it from me, then don’t take it from me. Take it from the guy who was way smarter than any of us:

This guy slept with more women you can imagine, got more money than you can think of, and was more power hungry than your university’s pak guard. But in the end of the day, he had this to say:

“Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all” – Solomon.