During Chinese New Year , I watched Jack Neo’s movie ‘I not Stupid too’ that was screened on the television. There were many issues raised in the movie that are relevant in our society. I would like to mention 2 main issues.
- Firstly, many people believe that students in the Normal technical Stream are ‘rotten apples’ which means that they are hopeless. However, I agree to Jack Neo’s belief that everyone has his strengths and weakness. It is better that we try to look at others’ strengths and not their weakness. In the movie, the relationship between the teacher and his student improved when he changed his thinking about his students. Instead of scolding them for receiving poor results, he praised them and encouraged them to strive for better results, even if it is a 1 mark improvement. With regards to communication studies, this is applicable as the way we communicate to others will affect our relationship with others and the resulting reactions of others. The message that we send across to others can cause a positive or negative response from the others. Back to the point of people’s strengths and weakness, one’s weakness can become a strength if we use it in appropriate and beneficial activities. From my personal experiences, I discovered that my friends and cousins, who were previously in the Normal Technical Stream, have many strengths. For example, my cousins are easy-going and creative. They are well-known to spending hours in front of the computer playing games and watching the television. They are now studying courses related to the creative arts to further develop their potential and interest.
- Secondly, the movie mentioned about the key to better relationships in the family is to have effective communication. Some parents are busily working and neglect their children. Some are single parent families. I agree that effective communication does not mean shoutings or responding with indifference monosyllabic words such as ‘erm’. Conflict will thus occurs because of poor communication skills. People desire for reciprocity and when we receive monotonous mono-syllabus responses or none at all, we would feel rejected and misunderstandings will arise. Hence, try to stop our activities for a moment and talk to our family members. Keep in mind that effective communication involves listening and responding to others and it is dynamic in nature. Furthermore, one can simply show little acts of appreciation such as a hug or a praise to show love and gratitude towards our family members. So,update yourselves to the events in your family members’ lives now.
Indeed, communication plays a huge role in people’s life. Sometimes being direct and straight to people will only put them off and shut you out. Maybe in the modern busy lifestyle of Singaporeans, they are too lazy to think of the things that are coming out of their mouth, often resulting in undesired misunderstanding or conflict.