Shyness as a Disease
This seems to be one of the undercurrents of this obnoxious article in the ST about this year’s top Normal (Academic) student. The headline is “Once-shy girl tops school, aces exam, masters Indian dance”, as though shyness had anything to do with her (not) acing exams or (not) mastering Indian dance. It’s quite possible that the insertion of “once-shy” is quite innocent, but that headline is juxatposed with sentences like the following:
- ‘I could see Li Ping blossoming from somebody who’s very quiet to someone full of confidence.’ [Li Ping’s vice-principal]
- ‘I’m interested in Science, but I did not dare to ask questions,’ she said.
- With the encouragement of friends, she overcame her shyness. From being 13th in class in Secondary 1, she rose to top her cohort by Secondary 3.
Shyness is not the same as lack of confidence, whatever the vice-principal might think. It is, I suppose, lack of social confidence, but social confidence is really not at issue in this article, which is celebrating the achievements of this girl on other rather different dimensions. Despite the lack of demonstrated relevance of overcoming shyness to Li Ping’s ’sucesss’, there is a strong, if implicit, suggestion is that her shyness was an impediment to her ’success’, which seems to be defined by her mastering Indian dance and acing her exams. There is some suggestion that there was a causal relation between her shyness and her late blossoming when they quote her saying that she was scared to ask questions, but she did not say, nor do we have any reason to believe, that her fear of asking questions was why she did not do well from the start. And, in any case, fear of asking questions may have nothing to do with shyness and everything to do with fear of authorities — many people are afraid to ask teachers questions but not afraid to ask peers questions, even if said peers are relative strangers. It could also well be because of a too-common attitude amongst students of that age that asking teachers questions is ‘uncool’.
Perhaps what’s more notable about the article is its explicit advocation of a certain ‘ideal student’ type. You can see the reporter struggling to squeeze something out of Li Ping’s prima facie unremarkable CCA record. No medals! No leadership positions! No shiny community service record! What a boring person. What can we say about her instead? She did Indian dance! She used to be shy! Perfect material for turning it into a late-blossomer-overcame-disability tale, no?
And, of course, it’s also promoting the ideal of a socially confident, outgoing person. Shy people are ‘tards. Nyeh nyeh nyeh.
Once-shy girl tops school, aces exam, masters Indian dance
By Ho Ai Li
STEADY determination saw to it that Mayflower Secondary’s Toh Li Ping, 16, mastered Indian dance at school.
One of three Chinese dancers in the troupe, she had no dance background, so she put in many hours to perfect the demanding moves.
Yesterday, Li Ping learnt that her effort in her studies had also paid off - she emerged as this year’s top Normal (Academic) student at the N levels.
She scored Grade 1 for all subjects except Maths, giving her an aggregate of six for English and five best subjects.
Said Madam Sarawathy Varadaraju, vice-principal of the school, who started the Indian dance club: ‘It’s difficult even for the Indian kids to master Indian classical dance. There’s a lot of discipline required.
‘I could see Li Ping blossoming from somebody who’s very quiet to someone full of confidence.’
Li Ping is the only N(A) student to score six points this year, compared with four last year and six two years ago.
An Education Ministry spokesman put this partly to students being allowed to bypass the N levels to do the O levels at the end of Secondary 5. This meant many students who would have done well at the N levels skipped the exam.
Around 1,200 Secondary 4 N(A) students, the first group bypassing the N levels, did so this year.
They were selected last year at the end of Secondary 3, based on their school results.
N(A) students also have the option of doing one or two O-level subjects a year in advance. This year, some 3,197 N(A) students chose to do so.
Li Ping was not one of them, as she did not do well enough in lower secondary. The former Ang Mo Kio primary pupil even failed Science in Secondary 1.
‘I’m interested in Science, but I did not dare to ask questions,’ she said.
With the encouragement of friends, she overcame her shyness. From being 13th in class in Secondary 1, she rose to top her cohort by Secondary 3.
To prepare for the N levels, she rose at 7am and studied until 2am or 3am.
But topping this year’s batch of 11,653 N(A) students was the last thing on her mind. She did not suspect anything when Madam Sarawathy’s call woke her up at 9.30am yesterday.
She was merely told to be in school by 10.30am. When Li Ping arrived, she was told she was top in Singapore.
‘I was quite surprised. I aimed to be top in school, but not Singapore,’ she said.
Her mother Soh Bee Guat, 51, a housewife, brother Boon Chuan, 15, and sister Li Fern, nine, joined her later at the school. Her father, a delivery man, was at work at the time.
Li Ping hopes to study biomedical science at a polytechnic after her O levels next year.
Her mother had no doubts she would ace her exams.
‘She was worried about not doing well in the exams. I told her I had every confidence in her,’ she said.
After all, mum knows best.
