Operasi tak jadi lagi

Another thing that conspired in my mind during Chinese New Year... Operasi upgrade to Masters.

My maternal uncle told me this during our reunion dinner:

"Tua hoo tiok buey siew tua hai. Ah si loo si say hoo... Siang ka lay hoo, thor sat... boh huat lah, tiok buey siew say hai. Tua hoo eng kai siew tua hai. Ah see eh khee, tiok buey support hor ee khee mah."

Translation:

"Big fish must swim in big sea. If you are small fish, like lay hoo (still can't figure out what that is) or thor sat (catfish), then no choice la, must swim in small sea / river. But big fish should swim in big sea. If can go up, should support until can go up mah."

Coincidentally, a day after, Aiching said she dreamt I was doing an MPA. She asked me if it meant anything to me.

I said it must be Male Pessimist Award. I had no idea what it was.

Then, Mei Yee told me there is actually such a thing as MPA! Masters in Public Administration.

Hmmm... So I started toying with the idea....

In the end, operasi tak jadi again. Why?

Because if I ask my father to support me to get a Masters, I know his logic well enough. He'd ask me to take a loan and pay it off as I work. "It's not much mah. Just a few hundred bucks per month..."

Like I'm so willing to get into another debt. If a Masters degree costs approximately RM8k per year, I'm looking at an RM24k loan over three years. That's equivalent of the car loan that I took from Bank Rakyat. With a Masters degree, I'll be paying off something similar to two car loans every month, and drive only one. Not very smart for a Master's degree holder, is it?

Furthermore, promotions and increments in my vocation do not depend on how many paper qualifications you have. Promotions up the salary scale depend on how many Guru Cemerlang awards you win, and how fast you pass your PTK (Penilaian Tahap Kecekapan) exams. Why would I need an MPA for that?

Even if I set my eyes on switching to an administrative position with an MPA, here's the reality: It's not about what you know. It's about who you know. It's not about merit. It's about colour.

If I aim for advancement with an MPA, I'll get even more frustrated when I don't get it. So, why work myself up for an impending frustration? And later, make myself work harder to pay off a debt for something that did not serve its purpose?

"Why not get a Masters in something else, and switch to the corporate sector?"

The thing is, that is not what I want to do. I want to stay in public schools and be a school teacher. If I can gain advancement, I'd still want to stay in the area of education and make an impact at a different level. My motivation to get a Masters is to go up in the same field, not to get sidetracked into another field.

But if I know for certain that a Masters degree won't propel me in that direction anyway... Why bother.

After all, it's not as though I can comfortably afford to get another piece of paper qualification.

Even if the day comes when I can afford to do a Masters degree, I'll let Mei Yee do it. She's the nerdy one. I only look smart on the outside. But actually ah, bluff wan :)

Cis. Tak jadi lagi...