the Drop Out
Well my journey started rough..Fresh from dropping out of school..I had no money but only a desire to succeed.
From poly, I aced the papers and even got to the top 5% of the whole cohort then, but due to that ego was a downfall for me. I thought i could do anything and everything in the world but then I was wrong. I was doing too many things and that has brought to my own down fall during my university life.
University standards were much more different from what poly was as it did not inculcate the hands on approach to studying but rather more theoretical views of the world which may at times seems dreamy but not realistic. Like many other institutions, NUS is just another factory producing workers not entrepreneurs.
It was a hard time, there was too much money going out but nothing was going in. What I did right when i was in UNI was that I learned to network with some of the greatest Malay Muslim organizations that Singapore had to offer. From Mendaki, to MUIS to some small companies. In truth I was already getting ready to move out of the school benches and into the working world.
It started after semester one, the first semester results were very bad, it was a series of Cs and Ds. For you info, in UNI the expectations to graduate is C and above. If you are getting Ds, then you are in trouble. That is how high Singapore University standards are. Already then I was thinking of leaving and work!! A degree could wait but something told me to stay on and that was my involvement with NUS Malay Language Society.
Also at the same time I had to learn a new skill and not just to learn about IT. Eventually a gd friend introduce to me a MLM company. Initially I had to think twice, even thrice but what was more important was that I needed to learn something which school does not teach.
MLM is a great business model to turn to but you need the right mentors and guidance. During those time, my mind had already started to be brain washed by the MLM concepts. Well in a way its good as it showed us a perspective that we never really thought of. Theories of passive income and Cash Flow concepts. It was a definitely positive area to move in but certain ideas I could not accept. For instance, they don’t encourage reading news cos to them news is a negative source of information…We can argue that this is nonsense cos to me a great business is a business that solve problems and these problems are derive from understanding the problems that are available around us but to them its different!! It was pretty much just a one way solution.
MLM is a great platform to learn, developed your business skills and knowledge but one thing it lacks is building your own niche!! There was a serious lack in this area which made me decide to leave it.
By then it was too late for me. I had spent too much time doing other things than studying. I lost focus and thus grades were still at Ds. By the fourth semester which was already my 3rd year cos I skip one semester due to poly results, the school had no choice but to kick me out because there was no possibility that my grades could turn around and change the average point value to allow me to graduate. It just wasn’t enough and one more semester to go was not sufficient even if I did scored As for the rest of the papers. They have a cumulative grade system through out the course. If you screw one semester that’s it. Well if you think its unfair, then do you think NUS care??
I can tell you now that to get a UNIVERSITY education you can get it for free. You don’t have to pay thousands of dollars just for that. How? All you need is to know people from in there and ask them when the certain type of classes are scheduled…Yes you are not registered as students but any Tim, Dick or Jane can sit in a lecture and learn. The best thing is you don’t have to fight for you positions to get that class and you don’t have to take exams. You can also choose the classes that you are really interested in. You get free education by learning from the lecturers and you can ask and post question during the lecture. Lecturers will never know you unless you tell them that you are not a student. Most of them don’t really care cos they have too many students to attend to.
Of course at the end of it, you won’t get any papers. What I’m trying to say is that people study for the sake of studying but not to learn and apply that knowledge. They study for the sake of the paper in the hope that they will get better jobs. Those who just graduated will just end up looking for stable jobs rather than to create jobs. Personally I find this very misleading as a I for once will never turn back to employment status.
Personally when I saw the results coming out from NUS, NTU.. not too sure about SMU..I see a better lot from SIM. Why? This is my opinion – those who are getting their education there are more serious adults, they know what areas they want to improve on and thus they take their degrees in those areas.
We all know that knowledge is power and applied knowledge is the key to changing you, people around you and even the world. The pursuit of knowledge should not be gauge by what the paper tells instead it should be gauge by what you do and how you apply it to make a difference in others.
Watch this video. Founder of Macintosh, he dropped out of school but stick around to attend free lectures.
http://www.hafihz.com/2007/03/20/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-speech/
If there is a will there is a way!! Regardless of what situation I’m in I have closed the doors for employment. Now I rather go for partnerships, own businesses or collaborated projects – If you know studied Robert Kiyosaki’s theories. These are the quadrants which I prefer, S, B and I…never an E.
Here’s an Entrepreneur Credo which I posted a few months back.
By Alvin Huang of Kapture Consulting Pte Ltd
http://www.alvinhuang.com/
I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon … if I can,
I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen.
Humbled and dulled by having the State look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk;
To dream and to build.
To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life
To the guaranteed existence;
The thrill of fulfillment
To the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect.
Proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations
And to face the world boldly and say:
This, with God’s help, I have done
All this is what it means
To be an Entrepreneur.
