My son Solomon scored a good result at his 2009 O-Level Examination. It conformed to our agreement we made two years ago. When he was at Secondary Three, he expressed to me that he would like to study in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Although I supported him, I requested him to put in effort in his study. If he got a good examination result, nobody would comment that he chose to study in Polytechnic because of his poor result.

Solomon started his first semester study in Ngee Ann Polytechnic in April.

Solomon was very keen in firm-making when he was at Pandan Primary school. He took part in the film-making and explained to me the process of film-making.

He maintained the same interest when he studied in Clementi Town Secondary School. He took part in the media activities and spent much time in taking video at many occasions.

There was a year we went to Tuas to check the traffic before the filming of the script.

Solomon used to discuss with me on his studies. He would tell me his decision and the reasons. Sometimes he gave me the comparison between the choices. As he could convict me, I always supported him. When he was at the Primary School, he had the opportunity to study in EM1 stream. But he chose EM2. He had his will to study in Clementi Town Secondary School. Now he got what he wished to study the course of Film, Sound and Video in Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

We used to talk about the current events when he was young. I was surprised to hear many of his mature opinions. He ever asked me why there were many fund-raising for NKF. Why there waw one new NKF Centre after another? Why we did not read any advertisement to advise us how to take care of our kidneys?

My son is lucky. He has an open-minded father. I always listen to his reasons of his decision. I always discuss with him on various alternatives. I always support his choice.

I was also lucky when I was young. My parents did not know much in school education. They did not bother whether I studied arts or science. They did not question whether I decided to study Physics or Biology.

Many years ago, my niece was not that lucky. She wanted to study Interior Design, but her mother insisted her to take up Accounting. It was a burden to do something that you are forced to.

Today there are still some parents make their children to study subjects decided by them and not by the children.