Read about Leonardo Da Vinci. It is said that he was the man of all talents. He was a mathematician, an engineer, a painter, an inventor, a writer, a musician etc. What a genius! He was born in 1452 and died in 1519. What had made him a genius? His inborn talents of course. But, besides that; I do also think that his success came from the world that he lived in. From a documentary that I have watched recently, he had applied his mathematical principles on his art. Instead of separating the science and arts; he combined them on his work. Only a genius can do that I would say!In the modern world, we have had Science Stream and Art Stream in our schools since a few decades back. In those days, not every student could go for Science Stream; there was always a strict selection based on their academic results. Those who were 'genuinely excel' would go for Science Stream while those who were 'good' but not as good as the 'genuinely excel' ones and also those with average results ones would normally go for Art Stream as the 'very weak' ones normally would stop schooling after SRP ( Form 3 )when they couldn't pass the SRP. For Art Stream, I don't know what about other schools but in my school which was one of the prominent schools in town, those with 'grade A' in SRP would be sent for accounting, literature and commerce classes while those without 'grade A' would be sent for home science class which was one out of all 5 art classes. As for the Science Stream, we only had three then. Also, during that time; those from Art Stream would never be labelled as 'stupidity'( saying so coz there are some in the academic do think that way; although to be fair, not all of them have such a state of mind; but, the number of the ones with a similar state of mind is increasing; sorry to tell really ). And, we would never hear this decades ago,"Art Stream is for orang tak pandai" ( a rather funny thinking of some, lol ). Shall I categorize it as 'uncivilized' ?
First, we must understand that not everybody can be like Leonardo Da Vinci but that also doesn't mean one is stupid/ tak pandai when he/she does art and not science in school. In my days, Art Stream students could be as successful as the Science Stream students, only that their success would be in different field. But nowadays, things are a little different from what I see. The difference I mean here is, the way people looking at the Art Stream students. And, this indirectly has caused most of the parents to push their children into Science Stream whenever possible as if the 'Art Stream' is a title of disgrace ( even though the child wishes to be a writer and not a doctor in the future ) :)
In a nutshell, I respect Thomas Edison, John Flamsteed and Albert Einstein coz they were the 'real thing' that the society really needs! I think Mother Theresa was clever and wise although she was not a scientist. One more thing here, if one never gets straight A's in his/her SPM ( equivalent to the GCE O level ); that doesn't mean she/he is stupid and will never be successful in the future and vise versa. The attitude counts! If you are the one who always find some excuses/ words to make yourself believe that other people are not that good and you are still safe at the 'zone of self-excellence' and refuse to put effort to move forward; especially when you think you are already the best by getting straight A's in SPM or a 4-flat in university, then I doubt that you can go far. Human beings learn because of knowledge and not a blind 'A'.
