Reflections on Little Ironies - Adeline Ng Ai Choo

This story is about a secondary school girl who committed suicide after failing her exam by one mark. Why do you think she chose to commit suicide? Whose fault was it?

Adeline Ng Ai Choo's parents were partially to blame for her death. They have too high expectations of her and thus give her the wrong mentality that exams are everything. As a result, Adeline is under too much stress and studies as hard as she could to get good grades for her parents. When she is refused the mark needed for her to pass, she thinks that she has let her parents down and everything is over for her. In the end, she could not take the blow when she failed her exams and resorted to ending her life.

Adeline Ng Ai Choo herself was partially to blame for her own death. She had the power to choose whether to end her life just because for an exam or to continue to work harder to get better results in her future exams. However, she chose to give up and end her life. I think it is a pity that such a thing could happen. Her teacher was also partially at fault. Instead of just bluntly refusing her one mark, she should talk to her and tell her that exams are not for pleasing parents, they are just a mode of assessment.

To prevent such a tragic incident from repeating itself, the school should also care more for the welfare of the students. This incident would not only cause hurt and grief to the victim's parents, it will affect the school's reputation. Would you send you son to a school where a student has committed suicide? For his safety, you certainly would not. The school should give a talk to the students about this incident and tell them that they should not care only about results. I agree that marks should not be awarded just because the students beg for it or are so close to passing. This will defeat the purpose of having an exam in the first place. However, students should not be given only a pass mark or a fail mark, it will be unfair to those who pass with flying colours. I think that exam papers should also be returned to the students, so that they will know their mistakes, but parents should not compare marks with other students, it will put a lot of pressure on their children.

Life is not a bed of roses, it is natural for us to experience difficulties in our lives. However, we must not give up in the face of adversity, instead, we must overcome it in order to progress. Nowadays, students in Singapore face a lot of stress in their studies because of the exams and workload. In my opinion, there is more to life than getting good results for exams. Singaporean students should also know that too. This way, such incidents of students ending their lives can be prevented.