Patch Work

I started my computer experience with DOS. For those unfamiliar with this, it was the acronym for Disk Operating System. It had no graphics, and we will have to know the commands to LIST the files in the DIRECTORY, search the file and EXECUTE it so that it can RUN.


The computer age then evolved with the introduction of Windows 3.0. What a massive quantum leap it was! There was a mouse we could use to point and move on the screen! There were icons for us to click on so that we can start a particular program. Then came the predecessor of current windows in the form of Windows95, which became even more powerful, faster, ability to muti-task without crashing (or so it claimed then and claims now).


But remember the times when we had to upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1 and then to 3.11, etc? How we have to download BATCH files then and now still? That the OS had bugs and had to be retrofitted with debuggers?


This is no different from our daily lives? We have rules to live with, laws to abide by and morals to stand by. Back in the 70s, Singapore had the Courtesy Lion to encourage a better social appeal to those around. Then we had FINE if you are caught spitting, FINE if you are caught speeding, FINE if you are caught littering, etc. We were a reknown FINE city.


But FINE was meant to be a deterence for a wrong action or unacceptable behaviour. It served as a patch work in the gaps found in social responsibility. How does this make anybody inherently a more socially responsible person? This patching solution is so much ingrained within me that I had to catch myself today.


The classrooms in my college are airconditioned. Probably one of the few colleges in the country to have this privilege. My students have the habit of walking in and out of the rooms wthout closing the door. This inevitably will allow the cool air to run out and cause the air conditoner blower to work doubly hard to keep the rooms cool. I thought of suggesting to the estate, install the automatic door closing mechanism, this sure will help in ensuring that doors close after they enter or leave. But hey! Wait a minute! If we do this "patch" work for the students' ignorance of what they should do right, aren't we missing out on teaching them the value of energy conservation and responsibility?


Just yesterday I had a colleague of mine who lamented that it had disappointed her on how her alma matar had become to this state: students leaving their cultery behind at the canteen tables after they had finished their food, expecting the cleaners to do the "end game" for them, just as their domestic help at home will do so, clean up after them.


Do we need people to watch over us in order for us to take note of our own actions, so that we can be responsible and do what is right? Is it that difficult to have consideration for others around? Do we really need these BATCH to right our behaviour? Are we then no different from the computer OS?


Or have we become one of them?