So, I am just an O-level guy ...

I would like to use the now famous “listen, listen, listen …(11 times)” incident to stress a point. I was quite disappointed especially when the president of a local NGO said (to a participant) … “the difference between you and me is a degree and an O-level”. Now, in my lowly “O-level” opinion … these insulting words coming from the president just shows that how shallow she (the president) can be. So what if she got a degree … does that makes her more superior or intelligent as she is implying? Well, to me … the years she spent getting that degree are all wasted when she said those words.

Many people are very proud of their high academic achievements. They should be … I am sure they worked very hard to get it. But then there is a bunch of those with Degrees, Masters or PhDs strapped to their chests, walking with an air of arrogance … who thinks that having tertiary education means that they are a better person than those lower qualified. These bullies may think that they are highly qualified … well, high is what they want to believe but shallow is really how they behave.

Really, I am not a clever person … I struggled academically. Just managed to squeeze through my MCE exams and did not even complete all the subjects … skipped the Add Math papers. So, I am just an O-level guy … now, does that make me any less of a person?

I am especially upset when I see people being bullied for lack of paper qualifications. I know how it feels to be demeaned … many times in my working years, I was belittled by those with higher paper qualifications ... they told me I won’t last in the corporate world.

Like me, there are many in the working sector who are being looked down upon, insulted and bullied by their peers, denied the chance of advancement by the company and suffered from favoritism simply because they don’t possess high paper qualifications. YES, they did not have tertiary education … that is why they work harder, try harder … many times harder than anyone. They deserve equal treatment, chances and opportunities. YES, they lack the paper qualifications … that does not mean they deserve any less respect.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to go to college or university … there are many people who simply cannot afford higher education or maybe they are just not the academically inclined type. They may not be a supervisor, a manager or a director in a company or they may not be an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer in the professional field … maybe they are just an executive, a clerk, salesman, a baker, a tailor, a cook or a mechanic … ARE THEY ANY LESS RESPECTED?