Bear with me for a bit, because the things I’m about to say are likely to go against most train of thoughts.
To give you a bit of prologue, my name's Bjorn and I graduated with a Diploma in Architecture from Singapore Polytechnic (SP) in 2018.
Now, if you're thinking about a course that is stressful on a day to day basis, is highly competitive and results in a sheer lack of sleep, architecture is probably one of the first ones that come to mind.
I recall sleeping at about 4 or 5 am on average every day and though there weren't many exams, it was almost entirely project based so the pressure was spread out throughout the entire year.
The main projects that took up a good 80% of the year, were individual projects which meant that whilst we didn’t have to constantly deal with the discomforts of accommodating to a variety of work styles, there was a great degree of personal pride when it came to our work. On top of that, competition was rife. But the one thing that would bring my words into contention is that design is subjective. Now, I know that not everybody reading this is going to be a design student, but give me a second because what I am about to say transcends that.
In a place where grades are subjected to a panel of lecturers' discretion, it was only natural that majority of the students strive to gain those good grades by submitting to those lecturers—they were brought up in a system of conformity from the early ages of seven with the idea that rights and wrongs were as clear as ones and zeros.
Whilst this may have carried weight in the former years of education, I believe that it would be rather detrimental in Poly and beyond. I say detrimental not because you will end up doing badly with your grades or submitting to a mediocre, low paying job as a failure to society (or any of that jibber-jabber) but in a sense that you would ultimately lose sight of who you are. And that, in my opinion, is far worse than getting a bad grade.
Throughout my three years in Poly, I learnt a lot. In my first year, I witnessed an entire class design models that mirrored everyone else's to a fault and that to the headings of one lecturer. Everyone got straight As, but at what cost? Especially in an industry that bleeds for individuality.
For my second project in that same year, I was asked to remove a portion of my design that was thought to be controversial. The lecturer had said to me, in front of everyone, “If you trust me, take it out. It won’t do you any good.”
Of course, I didn’t—I was a sucker for confrontation. During my critique, I was marked down by him, but praised by a senior lecturer for that particular portion of my design and ended up with mixed grades. I was remembered by everyone that year for that ruse.
In my second year, I started off my final year project (FYP) with an idea that I had dreamt of while falling asleep in class. During my multiple consultations, I was repeatedly shot down by lecturers and laughed at by friends for a design that was presumably harder to justify and execute.
So, I continued looking for other lecturers to talk to about my FYP until one lecturer, who was the deputy head of architecture at that time, did. All he said was, “Interesting. Explore further.”
And that was enough for me. I followed through with my ideas for an entire year, putting aside all non-constructive criticisms made by anyone else. I eventually presented my work, later that year, to a divided panel: one side praised my design's ingenuity, whilst the other pressed hard against issues that they thought wouldn't work. Again, I got mixed grades but was remembered by the cohort for my outlandish design.
In my final year, my approaches to architecture were beginning to become accepted by the panels, but once again I went further and further in my crusade of controversiality. I continued to attempt concepts that most stayed away from because I believed in my ideas. As a result, I was only an average student in terms of grades, but when i applied for internships, I got selected for internship positions that other straight-A students I knew wouldn’t.
I don't mean to say that I was better than these students. Rather, it was because I did my research, made sure I knew everything there was to know about the companies and bosses who were interviewing me, and was able to sell myself as an asset—not via my grades, but who I was—that I was accepted.
At the end of my FYP critique that year, the panel offered me a recommendation letter for my university applications, as well as requested that my model remained to be displayed in the school's new design studio.
The reason I'm sharing this is because the reality is that good grades are never a sealed deal. Yes, they do help to form a good impression (superficially), and certain grades are still required to transit to the next academic stage, such as from Poly to university but to have good grades alone, or sacrifice all that you believe in for a set of straight As? I don’t believe that either stand independent of each other but a balance has to be struck.
I was never the most academically inclined student, and got only an average GPA for my course. However, it was through this space of three years that I found myself for the first time.
I have to admit, I often cringe at using a quote, but this one strikes a chord in me so, I'll leave you with this:
"To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That's what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul -- would you understand why that's much harder?” - Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead.
