DD-02aug06- duh! social skills findings

i shall name my daily digest ramblings and opinions as DD from now on.

anyway, today's 'featured' article is on youth.sg's study that suggests that youths involved in arts or social activities have better social skills.

i think this is a rather duh! study. i mean, it's quite obvious that involvement in such activities would build character and well-being.

i am - like many others - a living proof of a person who has the social survival skills relevant to take on the challenges in life.

i've known of social introverts who were deprived of such activities whilst growing up. perhaps due to physical constraints or (lack of) parental approval, kids deprived of joining certain activities grow up to be very boring people. somehow you don't see the zest of life in them, or the enthusiasm in joining group activities. i sometimes wonder how they survive at all. after all, life is so exciting and there's so much to learn!

i also feel that this study will spur a different type of people to surface. these are the kiasu people who, after reading about such findings, force themselves and/or their children to join social activities for the sake of gaining social skills. i believe it's very wrong to do so, and it negates the very purpose of socialising.

it's socialising for the wrong intention.

i'm not sure about the current situation in schools, but some years ago, schoolchildren needed to accumulate CCA points to get into university. points were given based on the appointment/rank of the student in the particular CCA. the problem with this was that many appointments were made up, and many students took on roles which they were not suited for. the important goal for them were to rack up as many points as possible regardless if they had the leadership quality or not!

did joining such activities actually make them better people, or did it churn out selfish 'leaders'?

i personally recall the absolute lack of leadership qualities in some of these 'leaders'. in fact, it was absolutely disgusting to think that people resort to such means.

unfortunately, all kinds of people make the world go round. whether or not one's social skills are improved will also largely depend on personal intentions and the sheer passion to lead.