The 'F' Word

What do you fear most in life? More than anything else, the fear of academic failure is already prevalent in our Asian culture.

Written By: Rachel Tay | Photos By: Unsplash

The fear of “failure” dawns upon me on a Sunday night as I’m indulging in my latest guilty pleasure: binge-watching the Netflix reality show, Singapore Social.

In episode six, one of the main cast members, Nicole Ong, who is the Singapore chapter lead of the world’s first female-led millennial venture capital firm SoGal, breaks down after failing to deliver her speech at her first SoGal event. To make things worse, her mother watches from the sideline as she fumbles for the words that never come.

Despite many netizens claiming that the show is a terrible misrepresentation of the lifestyle of Singaporean youths, this heart-wrenching scene strikes a chord with me - and I would assume, with many Singaporeans.

The 28-year-old tearfully confesses her feelings in the next scene, saying, “I just wanted my mom to see my success. But I can see it on her face. I disappointed her again. My mom is the only person that really makes me feel like I’m just failing.”

Overdramatic? Maybe. Relatable? Definitely.

Believe it or not, the fear of disappointing others has already been deeply ingrained in us. Many Singaporeans, have been carefully groomed to strive for academic success. If we were to, in any form, deviate from that set path, the label of a “failure” can stick with us for a long time. 

According to Today Online’s report on the 2019 Programme for International Student Assessment test, Singapore recorded the highest percentage of students agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement, “When I am failing, this makes me doubt my plans for the future”.

This is just an example among the many statistics that show the fear of failure rooted into our younger generation can be worrying.

With this in mind, the CATCH team set out to investigate what NYP-ians fear the most. Find out what they had to say in the video below.