Study till you drop, pick yourself up and continue torturing yourself

So here's something crazy, or the nerds might say normal and I would beg to differ. Normal is cycling in a park. Normal is relaxing in your backyard. Normal is eating cake. Crazy is studying so hard that you need amino acid administered via IV. Crazier still are classrooms where IV drips hang from the ceiling and the students continue studying. To add to the craziness and madness, these students are hiring exam nannies to take care of them while they study.

Yes, these students are from China. Just reading about them is stressing me out!

A very disturbing image:

Image source

Look at them studying and talking like nothing is wrong. Everything is wrong there! And here in Malaysia we will soon have 5 year old children attend school. It wouldn't be a problem in the west where focus is on play as much as it is on study. Then there is the summer break. In Malaysia, it's going to be a nightmare! The moment they step into school as five year olds, they are already competing with every single classmate to be the best. It's not as bad as China, but it's just not healthy for a 5 year old to compete at such an early age. They will have to start kindergarten at 3 just to be ahead of everyone else. What will happen to their childhood years? Oh dear. It's just dreadful to know that in the near future, children in the east will be giving up on their childhood. 

If you've read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers - The Story of Success, you will see what the bigger problem is. Children born early in the year will outperform children born later in the year because at both extreme of the calendars (January and December), you will find children of 12 months difference being on the same course in school. For a December child, that's a difference of 25% of his life. He can't compete with a 5 year old child. It's all madness, I say!