Friday, December 28, 2007
On The Mandatory Need Of A Better Structure For Maritime Education In Singapore
"Such that when argument, or opinions are to be analysed, we can't say much." Mary WollstonecraftI was just reading Wollstonecraft and don't mind me paraphrasing her words to suit the context of my brief conjecture.
I am a nautical student and as part of our training, we are sent out to sea to serve a minimum of 12 months seatime. However, I find that on the basis of scanty knowledge (in my opinion) which we get from school, information obtained by hearing the conversations of seniors who've completed their cadetship, and with the continual mixing with people of the maritime industry, we obtain a muddy if somewhat heterogeneous understanding of what sailing is all about.
I have to say that when I stepped foot onboard my first ship, I had totally no idea what to expect. I guess it's understandable that it takes a while to adapt to the change of environment, but why some people in my class choose to quit the sea when they barely started sailing, I think besides the fact that it is not in them to WANT to sail, perhaps they did not have the proper constitution to comprehend what they were actually getting themselves into when they decided to take this path, nor were they aware of the misconception when they were in the academy. Perhaps the lecturers conveniently forgot to let them know that sailing is not a piece of cake, or the students themselves are filled with false notions of this line as aforementioned.
To quote Wollstonecraft, "...we can never consist of all resolute (though well-disciplined) individuals..." under the the influence of having strong passions for sailing and this is because of the lack of exposure given.
We gain a false knowledge of sailing before we even sail and satisfied with this false notion, we might blindly submit to "authority" without questioning how our depth of understanding were properly tended to? Though it's the responsibility and duty of the individual to ask and clarify his/her doubts, who are we to question when so little is presented to us?
A change in the education structure is hence necessary if Singapore wants to see more locals sailing as qualified navigational officers.
2:46 PM
