Suicide at KAIST - My Viewpoint

Korea, among developed nations, is a country with the highest cases of suicide. In just a span of few months, 4 students and a professor committed suicide at the same university - KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). For the Korean students there, they blamed it on the overly competitive environment since KAIST is among the top university in Korea.

KAIST has an unique system whereby students who do not attain CGPA of 3.0 and above will be penalized with deduction of the full scholarship given to all KAIST students. Some students already with study pressure will have to then find other means in earning money to pay the penalty if he/she failed to achieve the expected result.

The core issues are not the penalty imposed to "weak" students but in my opinion, the students' mindsets and through it, the Korean education system must change. From young, the students were taught to be the best so that they can easily find employments. Henceforth, the students hate failures and will usually work hard until he/she achieve what they want in life. For them, maybe entering the best university like KAIST?

When a person enters the best university, of course, he/she must do the best. If a person fails to achieve the expected result in a competitive environment, do you blame the system of penalizing the "weak"? Or do you blame the students? Again in my opinion, we should choose the right university not based on ranking or because of good employability in future. We should choose it based on the environment itself.

If a person knew that he could not cope with extreme stress, by all means pick a less competitive university. A less competitive university (most probably with lower ranking) does not equates the students as weak students. From young, I believe a university is the place to nurture us to be matured individuals and not wholly about studies. Though, my mum like all Korean mothers, thought of it otherwise - Good results are a must.

Hence, the students must be able to make decisions not based on other people's opinions but his/her true intentions based on his/her capabilities. Since what that shapes our lives are through our actions, if we want to live in a competitive environment, we should really be prepared for it. Instead of pointing the blame at the competitive environment, I think the students ought to be prepared when faced with it.

Though I do not blame the KAIST students for suggesting that competitive environment is the cause of suicide, but first, we must always ask, what makes the environment there so competitive? Isn't it the students' mindsets?

(This is just my opinion/views on the recent spate of suicide in Korea and I am sincerely sorry if I did offend anyone. I am just a 2nd year university student, so I am never a qualified person to comment on this. My view can be wrong because there are other better opinions around on the causes of suicide there at KAIST. Thanks for reading.)

Global Entrepreneurship Training 2011 Korea

What do I get from spending my precious 1 week stay to learn about entrepreneurship?



Becoming a zombie was not great as it seems.

I am more of a hard worker, able to not sleep long hours as long as my task can be completed on time. But this was too much, from my previous post, I felt really like giving up. The business competition was too stressful because there was practically no effectual leader to lead so no tasks were being done :(

My team prefered not to decide earlier on who to lead (suprise suprise) so it was hard to get the steam up. There was no effectual leadership in the team so I realized I had to step in because without it, no work can be done. But I guess, by the time I stepped in, it was just too late. The real work had not been done for the past few days and business ideas were a mess.

I learned that sometimes we just need to step in to manage the company and leaders should be selected earlier so the team can function as he/she lead the team.

In a company, we need capable people. There are few types of people in a team, at the very best end was the "Make it happen" type of people, followed by "Help it happen", "Watch it happen", "Hold it back" type of people and finally "OMDB (Over My Dead Body)" at the end of the normal distribution curve line. The "Make it happen" will influence the "Help it happen" type of people so that this kind of people can indirectly influence "Watch it happen" type to get the job done.



My team lacked accountants. Wanna be my accountant? :)

**

Global Entrepreneurship Training 2011 or GET 11 was organized by Handong Global University under the sponsorship of UNESCO from February 6 till February 12. As the only participant from Malaysia in a training comprising over 38 nationalities from as diverse as Kenya, UAE and Canada, I am trully blessed to be given this opportunity to spend time in my otherwise monotonous holiday vacation.



I had no expectation on how I am going to achieve when I first arrived, I am more into learning and starting my very own burger stand (just kidding. hehe) business. I felt I was a kindy student participating in some big-boys training because a majority are doing masters and PhD while I? A sophomore only until next month, so techically speaking, just a freshman.



How did I fare? Great. Able to speak is one thing, able to deliver what you want to say is more important. But constant sleep deprivation did take a huge toll on my mood and concentration. Wah... It was hard to say but added up with stress and endless hours of workload. It was really tough.



Oh, now the schedule of my training. On the very first day, I went to Pohang alone, the rest of my KNU friends decided to take bus but I took train, actually I took train because the time fit my gym schedule. I had to leave my home for train at 1pm so during the time before it, I went to gym and exercised like shit. Reached Pohang at almost 4.30 pm and had a short orientation. After that, we had an opening ceremony with some nice dinner.



First day, my classes were Entrepreneurship mindset, Impact of Entrepreneurship and Creative Inovation and a small lecture by a professor that created "Super Corn". He was really a nationalist because he was more of my-own-country-first mentality and was frank to say, he rather help his own country than other poor country first. hmmn. Then we had Social Entrepreneurship lecture and ended up with a group introduction of my fateful team.

We really did not sleep early today and like most days, we (not everyone though...) slept at 3.30 am and woke up at 6.30 am (only me, I think) to start off our day at 7.30am. Second day was about learning how to start up a business and writing business plan, and continued with finance and accounting. I had to admit, of all the lectures, I really dislike accountancy (How ironic too when I took Diploma in Accountancy last time...). My thoughts were like, "Come on!, lets hire an accountant and let him do the job la..." so I was staring at the blank empty screen in front of me.



Next was marketing. It was not a difficult lecture and was continued by Business Plan Writing and Review followed by presentation. I did the presentation. Slept late again. Third day was more relaxed, we had business law (I like law) and ways to raise capital for business. My eyes were opened because I was more interested in raising money to start my future business than anything. How to start a burger stand if I have no money to buy chicken patties and the cooking tools. Should I ask mama? or investors? :)



We had a field trip to POSCO factory (this is my "millionth" time there so IT REALLY WAS BORING!) and we visited the mayor of Pohang city. He spoke in Korean spoken only during the olden days, as if he was mumbling at the wall. Nevertheless, quite a long speech but my concentration was really at the very least. 4th day of sleep deprivation. At night, we had "Culture Night" but I had nothing to perform, can't dance, too shy (haha) so just sat there and watched.



5th day was about Business Ethics, International Business and Strategic Planning. Lectures were great but Business Ethics lecture was a bit an eye-opener. Sometimes what we do in life depended on our actions and consciences. Is it wrong to send birthday gift to your business associate (example: banker) that will be deciding your company future funding? Is it wrong to pretend losing a game of goft after betting with your banker?



After that lecture, we continue with business plan writing until 8pm where we presented our ideas to the judges (almost everyday). As usual, I presented my team's case and slept late again. I envied my roomate when I saw him sleeping so soundly at almost 4 am. Woke up at 7 am and readied for the next class on the 6th day. First lecture was Business Communication (the professor was entertaining), then E-commerce (I like this class) and lastly intellectual property (worth attending). Classes finished at 7pm but I continued my task till the very next day - The D day, Business Plan Competition.

In total, I slept less than 3/2 hours per day, skipped 2 dinners due to project commitments and spent time staring at my laptop searching for things not related to my science major. It was interesting and brings back my high school Young Enterprise memories but I realised that the scope of the business was harder than in high school. Our team had to search for business law, in my case, since our company is going to be located in China, we searched for China's business law. Equipments too we need to gather, so we search for our product manufacturing equiptments through alibaba.com and the competitive market pricing together with per tonnage cost of raw materials.



Ah~ Competitive pricing, market survey, location, executive business summary, investors' profiles, SWOT analysis... Frankly, it was tough. I did learn many new things, meet many new people of different characters and most importantly, I survived sleep deprivation.. not turning into a walking zombie anytime soon..

15 October 2010

When in cafeteria eating, I hear people talking about exam. When in class, I hear my coursemates discussing about exam. When I am on MSN, I hear people talking about exam.

When I am on Facebook to relax, I see statuses about exam.

Wah!

Exam week, starting next week. Nuts. Checked. Milks. Checked. Sweets. Checked. Milo. Checked. Preparation. Uhhm.

5th September 2010

Today, as usual, I ate some Korean food (again). Ate Korean food 24/7 and this makes me sick of eating them anymore. Haiz. In Malaysia, I can't comprehend why so many people have that peculiar taste for Korean food. Well, at first it was delicious but after sometime, the taste becomes more and more apparent. I mean how long can you eat fermented soyabean? every week? It stinks wei...

I miss curry. I miss the comfort of spending my money on food whenever I want in Malaysia. I miss home. In Korea, you can, but nothing at night is really delicious. These days, nothing great, just being preoccupied with my work. My english class, hmmn, honestly, too easy, sometimes I felt like wasting my time there.

I make some stupid choices.

During my free time, I wrote a review, a movie review actually. I did that in a day after reading a movie review in the KNU english magazine about The Truman Show. Here's the review. This time it's The Expendables. I watched this movie with friends during my summer vacation in Malaysia.

The Expendables – Where guns meet martial arts.



Who doesn’t like watching a star-studded movie? From the likes of Sylvester Stallone to our very own Asian actor, Jet Li, this movie is sure to make our heads turn. Or does it not? With the cameo appearance of actor-turned-politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger, it makes us all wonder whether the sky’s the limit in acting.

The movie started out with a violent scene where a group of mercenaries headed by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) on a rescue mission to save hostages. During the rescue mission, there was a disagreement and in the end a member of the Expendables, Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) was discharged. Unsatisfied yet cool, he agreed to the decision but felt that the reason he was discharged was unjustified.

This action will shape the entire plot of the movie as time passes. Then, one day, the team received an offer to undertake a mission on a fictional island of Vilena. The mission was to overthrow the dictator, General Garza (David Zayas) of that small island. On a botched reconnaissance mission, the team somehow managed to learn on the real reasons behind this mission. There, Barney Ross left Sandra (Giselle Itié), his guide on her own while they returned back contemplating on quitting the mission.

Guilt got up to Barney Ross when he realized that he left Sandra to fend for herself, not being able to save her. So he again assembled his team to finish the mission and save Sandra at the same time. Nevertheless, even before he arrived at his destination, he was hunted down by a team of assassins. As expected in its predictable storyline, he and his sidekick, Yin Yang (Jet Li) managed to fend them off.

Finally, the Expendables arrived at Vilena on a rescue mission, a mission to save Sandra and to save the people of Vilena. Ultimately, this movie is more about friendship, through thick and thin, friends will always be there for each other like the team of the Expendables. Even when facing an army and outnumbered, they always stick together as a team.

In this world, nothing will last forever. Same goes to the dictators, one day they will be impeached by the people and evil wrongdoings will always be corrected and rectified. This movie did not come up to my expectation but I am neither terribly disappointed nor felt it was a waste of money. It was an entertaining, heart-pounding and mind-blowing movie. With great and well known actors, it is great to see them back in action on screen again.


Kyle Tan Jin Soon

:)

Tomorrow will be another week in school. Many new challenges to face, new things to be learned, new people to be met but the same smelly fermented soyabean paste nobody likes (I mean for a guy like me that eat that for a living everyday. lol. Just kidding. It's just smelly, you can neither find it being sold in Malaysia too at Korean restaurant)

왜 나는 수업에 가도 느낌이 안 좋다. 나는 이번 학기는 노력하고 싶은데 장애가 이렇게 많는다. 기다려도 못해.. 나는 이제도 내 실력이 모르고 찾을수없는 것 같다. Must prioritize what I need to do and not to. 혹시도 이렇게 빨리 실망 하지 말고 그냥 하루 하루 살기 바라.. 시간이 지나면 많이 지나면 멀어도 약속 때문에 기다리고 있어

It's over and my thoughts...

Exam's over. I think I can get an A for my Korean Reading but not for Korean Speaking. I am not good in Korean proverbs and I am limited by my Korean language proficiency. A majority of my classmates are all second, third and final year students, hence it would be difficult to obtain an A in that Korean classes (with exception for Korean Reading Exam because I think I did well :))

The subject that I think I "might" flunk is Chemistry. The exam is the last of all exams and I was like in a holiday-mode - no study.

Now I am having my holiday, albeit a short one because my summer class will continue tomorrow (Sigh...), for a month. Actually the course is NOT free and I have to DIG my own POCKET to pay for that expensive course. Well, a bit regretted now because most of my batch mates are not taking any summer courses, only 2 guys including me (the other guy is a Malaysian too) are taking it too.

Yesterday, I had moved out to another dormitory, this time on the 5th floor compare to 2nd floor on my previous dormitory. I miss my previous dormitory... hmmn... the facilities in my previous dorm is way better than now. And I haven't start talking on the bathroom.

I think Malaysia as a whole is not moving anywhere upwards the ladder because of too much politics. I believe in strong leadership, a leader that is voted by the people and not the winning party. I find that the leader chosen by the winning party must always submit to the whim and fancies of his political members. Look at Japan, look at Badawi. I don't fancy America too, because the basis of American politic is through lobbyists.

Lobbyists are paid to fulfill their obligations to his/her patrons. By accepting money or development promises, doesn't it equates to corruption? Malaysia is well known for that, sadly. Though through the eyes of others, it might turn out otherwise. Everytime when we look at the government audit, it always amaze me that buying small things like a screw driver can cost more than a hundred ringgit each, by buying say a set of screw drivers, one can feed a household in a develop country for a month. And nothing is been done.

I always have a good impression of some companies in Malaysia, I admire our national oil company, Petronas. Imagine a company that can contribute nearly half our our national income and sponsor a team in F1, how great it would be. I am always proud to say that I am a Malaysian not because of Petronas, but because I am born here. But sometimes when there are certain people calling some Malaysians (whose forefathers are not born in Malaysia) to go back to the country of our origin when we are not satisfied with the government, it upsets me.

And again, nobody can claim the land is his or her forefather's. We are all originated as one, if you don't believe, read Bible or Quran (originated from Adam and Eve) or if you are not religious, do read science book on evolution. We are from the apes! and we can be said to come from Africa and our ancient ancestors felt the kick (urge) to travel and they travelled far and wide until they reach here in Malaysia, China and India.

Honestly, we can go back if we want to. Opportunities are everywhere and hardwork will bring in success. Unless a person is working hard and not relying on subsidies or crutches, opportunities are limitless. Some might say policies that "help" certain people are important, but lets get it right will you, does it help the "needy people" after all these years? or does it widen the wealth gap that makes the poor gets poorer while the rich get richer.

Certain groups might not like it when we remove the crutches from the people. They might say that their rights are threatened. But it is a lost cause if we keep going on this way and not doing anything to rectify the brain drain that our country is facing every year. When people see that their talents are well regarded and appreciated, one will definately stay on. On the other hand, we see some groups are shooing away talented Malaysians.

To remove a policy that is deeply engrained in our society is not easy, but to let it continue and grow bigger, it will bring to no good. For our brothers, sisters and country, the best pill is always bitter to swallow. Nothing is sweet and free in life but do help the poor and let us not judge the people based on the colour and status. Don't judge a person by his race but by his ability. If it can be done, Malaysia will be a better place than what is it now.

I like politics but I hate politicians especially in Malaysia. Wanna migrate? lol. Just kidding.

9 June 2010

Dear Diary,

Tomorrow is my final exam.

I gave up in Maths. Resigned to the fact that it is impossible to answer most questions. But. I hope to get good result in Biology and Chemistry though the papers are in Korean. Right now I am doing my maths homework (you see doing homeworks instead of revision!) but I felt bored so I am writing this. My Korean exam papers - hope to pass, no high expectation because I am doing the homeworks more than I should be studying.

Right now I am so stressed up. puff

I surrendered myself in the maths exam. I did better in STPM than now. Thanks to not studying or touching any maths book for over 2 years. lol.

Why results are so important to me lately? Maybe because I felt bad that being a government scholar but obtain bad results? Maybe because I am ambitious? Maybe because my Korean classmates think that I am at par with them so I need to prove my worth? or maybe because I do not want to keep falling to the extend of not knowing how to pick myself up again.

I hate failure. But studies are not everything to me. I just hope for the best and work hard to achieve what I want in life.

Ahhh. I miss home too. Wanna go back yet it is still far from close. 1 year 3 months plus abroad.

Kyle

Exam Week~

What a life...




Will be off for 2 weeks~

The funny thing about solving maths problems is that it is easy to get the right method but always too easy to get the wrong answer.

Horrible right?

Of thomas, kyle, korea

I am sure there are many things that we want to do in life. In the course of life, there will be times when we want to achieve what we had dreamed for but had to give up in the end due to financial contraints, scholarly attainments, etc. I had a dream too.

But, I shall not dwell into this. :) I believe that life is not about remembering the past but about the present and future. Though past are said to be the guide to never repeat the mistakes, I find it a stumbling block because by dwelling over the past, progress will be hindered by that thoughts.

So I progressed, I didn't look back, I try to forget everything about the past. Along the way, there were memories but I suppressed them. I prefer to start everything afresh. This is what I did when I came to Korea.

Life is not always rosy in Korea. Some might say it's great to be able to study overseas and stuffs like that. However, I had to admit that the days when learning Korean language was one of the best days of my life. During the course of stay there, I matured I change. Change is a must and without change one will not be what we want to be.

Throught the course of my stay in Korea, I had many nice memories and of course some bad ones, lots of first and plenty of suprises. Life is so unexpected sometimes, really... ;)

Life in university is somehow stressful sometimes, I am practically alone in my practical class especially chemistry because my partner was also a foreigner, a Chinese (why the professor did not give me a Korean partner??? wth!) and he is practically clueless in every classes so I did everything by myself.

Classes were okay, the books I am using are all in English but the lectures are in Korean. Contrary to popular belief that staying overseas long will make you well versed in the country's language, it is actually not that true. My Korean might be good when I write and sometimes talk, but honestly, it is still mediocre. I learned Korean for a year and it is definately not enough at all.

In Korea, I have develop a intense liking towards photography. I am more into film photography but the film costs make me think otherwise. This year, I will be buying a new good dslr camera, my current camera is not sufficient enough to fuel my appetite for quality photos. Right now, I am restained by the limited photographic capabilities of my camera. Likewise, I am also planning a trip to Egypt. I will try to travel to one country or two every single year in Korea. I did that this year when I went to China but it was not enough.

Well, that was the uhmmn part...

Anyhow, I did keep myself updated with the Malaysian Thomas Cup badminton match, but not Uber Cup, I am not interested because the women are not yet competent and matured to win, they need more practice and coaching. Yet, it was heartening to see many Malaysians supporting our players but sad to say the Malaysian players do not play against the opponents, they think too much, they play to win the cup.

They lost so much attention in the match maybe because the Chinese were so on offensive or because the Malaysian players can feel the stress of playing against the "feared" Chinese players and the stress of the people to see the Malaysian team win. I had that feeling too when I started off with my first competitive match. The nerdiest and "mind blowing" game - chess. When I was selected to represent my school for it, I was more than happy to accept the challenge, those were the days when I want to prove my worth. Nowadays I don't have that much feeling to prove that I can do this and that. To ladies readers - Guys are competitive in nature. Ladies too ler...

During the Under-15 state level individual chess match, I was very very focused and confident. I won 5 and half point out of 8 points, making me the third best player in my school and so I was selected for the team event. Then, there were the times when the expectations to win comes into my mind. Here, I started to be burdened by my responsibility to win for the team and from then on, it went downhill. So I don't blame the Malaysian badminton team :) Better luck and focus next time.

**

These days, I am experiencing writer's block. I couldn't write well and think on what to write in english these days because I speak, text message and do assignments so much in Korean that I feel more comfortable in using Korean than English. My English proficiency had really deteriorated. Ugghh. I need to write more!

Another ranting by me

I do not know why, how and what is wrong with me. No focus in my studies and so easily distracted. shit. It was so different last time. I am now yawning and spending my time typing this nuts. I might be hardworking last time but I think I lost a bit of focus now. Maybe I had spent my 2 years doing stuffs not related to studies like learning another foreign language.

My Chemistry exam is tomorrow. Do not know how I would fare this time. Felt disappointed with myself today. No work done. So many classmates think I could score but it was all a lie, I felt no confidence at all. Still, I shall not screw my paper... Hopefully...

Did not online and yet I was so distracted. Had a study timetable, I did it for every exam from SPM to STPM, but this time, I ignored it.

Felt dumb and stupid today. I have lots of "hopes" today and one of them is not to fail my chemistry paper. I will try harder in my next paper.

Er, stop la...

Will be taking quiz, speaking test and mid-term exam this week. I overslept yesterday night. Dunno why, but I felt unwell yesterday, and was tired throughout the Korean lessons.

But, I woke up at 12 am (had to, no choice) and then started doing my homework until 2 am plus... no time for revision. KLPT exam is like so near and yet, I do not have the time to do any revision.

Yet, I have quiz today.

This is my FINAL POST for this month

Wish me luck :)



*chak*

All the best, fellow KLPT takers...

Halfway Through

Next month, I will be taking KLPT (Korean Language Proficiency Test) and I hope to do really well... who doesn't right? Somehow, I'll try to put my full attention towards achieving good results. My last shot to a clearer and unobstructed future.

The exam is to be held in 영남대학교 (Yeungnam University) on the 25th of October. To reach this university from KNU (Kyungpook University), One will be needing to take train, subway and bus, quite far...

I hope I can really get good result. Other things are now secondary. I hope. Will be buying a few books especially some english books for my reading pleasure and to write an article for my university magazine (It's that I'm have been so distracted lately and I could not put the adequate attention to my writing)

Bought a KLPT book yesterday... going to read it today or tomorrow. Oh ya, I'm 6 months in overseas already, the experiences are priceless yet they bring out the best of you when the going gets tougher...

I will, I must, I can.

I am also hoping that my other friends will do well too. 우리는 장학생인데 좋은 점수를 받아야해서 열심히 공부하세요!!!

Cheers!

Baby One More Time

I have another week of vacation!

Well, this measure was undertaken by my language institute to "curb" the spread of H1N1 (selsema babi, swine flu or whatnots) in Korea.

I prefer having lessons because I would have something to do but when it's holiday, usually I would waste my time (a lot), walking without any destinations (imagine walking to downtown without taking any bus or taxi), sleeping, going library with friends but ended up doing nothing, etc...

(*^#^%$!%^!!



Damn boring




I hate this holiday




this one...




Oh ya, now is autumn... the weather has becoming cooler and colder... grr... but I'm planning to visit Apsan again, this time I want to go there alone...



missing...

Exam Rambles

Dear readers,

Sorry for not updating. I will be taking my final exam on August 8 so most of my free time will be channeled towards studying, what to do, under pressure to pass it this time... this will be my last post for this month...

oh ya, my review for my university's magazine will be published on September... that's all for now....

cheers,

kyle

p/s here, in korea, the weather is like in sahara desert, hot, hot and hot... even when it rains, it's still so hot that i sweat in that weather...

p/ss bought a new Olympus Camera Pouch, my old one has "Bulgogi" dish smell already... it happened in my class trip to learn how to cook "Bulgogi".

Accounting? Think Again!

If you think accounting is easy... try reading this... a "bible" for all trainee accountants...

Superb cover... i thought i was a teen's magazine before i flipped over the page...


Goku, "Dragon Ball" cartoon character... i used to read this comic until i were in standard 3...

The title...

Oddly, this is the ONLY part i find it interesting, everything else is plain "dry"...

Ain't she sexy?... :P

Luckily I am not into ACCA... the chapters in the magazine are frightening enough to make me quit the course (which I ACTUALLY did long ago!) To the other accountancy student or future students, make sure you know what accountancy is before you hop into the bandwagon. You just might regret taking it sooner or later if you have no interest at all.