Game Of Survival ( evolution of school )

Think about when you first started school in Nursery, what did you go to school for? Did you go to school to spend your day and have fun? Did you go to school to learn ABCs, or to learn how to colour? 

When I first started school a long time ago, I became interested in school because there were lots of children of the same age as me that I could interact and socialise with. I love making new friends and meeting new people. School was fun then, we had fun everyday and we NEVER dreaded school, at least most of us don't. 

But as we grew older, the main purpose of going to school has evolved and changed. It was no longer about having fun and learning to have fun, but what I like to call it, as survival. Studying, in our teenage years, is like a survival. Either you study, or you practically die. Studying has become something that we do in order to be able to survive what's ahead of us and determine whether we can survive in society that many people, including parents, have forgotten the actual purpose of " learning ", which is pretty sad. 

We started to have exams in Primary 1, but those were just tests of our performances. But it was during Primary 6 that the game of survival started with the introduction of the PSLE ( Primary School Leaving Examinations ). It determines whether we could go to a good secondary school or not. Honestly, I found it rather redundant. It's only going to a secondary school, what's the big deal? 

Parents were like anxious about their children's performances, sending them for tuition, pressuring them and making it seems like it's a " do or die " kind of exam, but it really isn't. 

Well that wasn't really a survival game but it was like the beginning of it. The real shit happens in Secondary school. At the end of 4 or 5 years of your secondary school education, you will have to sit for either your O or N level exams. That, is a "do or die" exam. If you do badly in it, then you're f*****. You either have no where to go, or go to a course/field of study that you may not want or interested in and you may end up being miserable. So you can't screw this shit up. 

I am in Secondary 3 right now and I still enjoy some part of school, friends, fun activities that the school organise,  subjects that I love learning like Biology, Social Studies, etc. But still, I have no choice but to go through this survival game, we all have to. 

Well, but I guess the good thing about this game is that, we're not alone and there are friends and teachers who are willing to help us:) I always believe in cohesion rather than the " survival of the fittest " mentality. Isn't it better to go through it as a team rather than alone?