About A (Silly) Boy

I feel sad for the silly boy, Xavier, who got a 'T' (for 'termination') for each of his examinable subjects at 'O' levels for uploading an exam cover page on Tweeter.

The picture of him looks innocent enough for a 16-year-old.

I thought that the punishment is really too harsh for a youth who obviously was playing a prank - on the authorities no less.

He has completed his exams. By giving him a 'T' for all his subjects, he will have to resit for his 'O' levels, and waste a year of his precious youth - over a silly thing.

All he did was to bring in a mobile phone and took a picture of the COVER PAGE. It's a cover page for goodness' sake! He did not even leak the questions. The point of it all was to prove that he was daring. I understand that there is a need to send a 'strong signal' to deter future potential pranksters to mess with education matter, but to penalise a 16-year-old so heavily for no harm done, I thought it too severe. It would be a stigma for him in future, whichever he chooses to pursue his education. As if that's not enough, his photograph is enlarged on The New Paper to make sure readers can identify him on the street.

I feel sorry for the boy. At his age, it is easy to think you're a cut above the rest because you are able to rake in $6, 000 in 3 weeks, and being able to drive at an age where most of his peers can't. Hell, $6, 000 a month for an adult is a lot of money too!

I wonder who makes the final decision to allow the boy to get 'T' for his results. Does the person have a 16-year-old son to understand how it is like to have his own child's future stalled and potentially ruined, depending on what he makes of the saga, all because he was being naive, silly and ignorant? True, he was informed that he was not allowed to bring a mobile phone into the examination hall, but was the consequence ever conveyed to him, or the students?

I 'studied' my 'O' levels with a class of what teachers would deem 'pranksters'. I put quotation marks for the word 'studied' because the class did not study at all, or most of the time. We partied in class instead. A teacher told us that she was informed by other teachers that we were a class that played practical jokes on teachers. It's true that some girls put superglue on the teacher's chair but that was it. Once. And we were condemned as 'a class that plays practical jokes on teachers'. I know that we ought to have grown up at sixteen, but if we had been a notch or two cleverer than we actually were, would we have arrived at that school after our PSLE? My classmates were very playful - true. But that was about it. We were not thinking of doing something criminal. Likewise for Xavier. He was just being boastful and was trying to show that he was above his peers in the 'daring' department.

His prank did not cause harm to anyone. He should have been given a warning, and closely watched and monitored by the authorities for a year or two to humble his pride, and be let off, instead of being penalised so harshly, that potentially has a great impact on his young life.

I remember having an ex-classmate who made headlines on the Chinese evening tabloids many years ago. He set fire to my alma mater together with 2 of his friends. Isn't that worse? I can't remember what happened to him eventually but he had left school by then.

I know that the boy should not have tempted fate, but he was just being silly and ignorant. Above all, no tangible harm was done. He definitely should be dealt with, but penalising him with 'O' level results is too severe.