SINGAPORE: In a Reddit post on Tuesday (Oct 29), a netizen had a question specifically for Singaporean men, asking if they believe that national service, which they generally have to do full-time for two years, has helped them “grow as a person”.
In their post, u/zackzackzack07 explained that they have a “fairly neutral view of NS, as I feel overall education and upbringing can make a good man”.
However, they recently met two men who were exempt from NS “due to medical conditions/chao keng” but whom they described as having a “spoilt upbringing.”
One is their sibling’s partner, who has thrown violent tantrums, which caused trouble in their home. After the post author gave him a stern talking-to, the man said, “he is born like that with this temper, can’t be helped, and no one is allowed to discipline him like I did.”
After he moved out of that home, he got into trouble with the police.
The other man who skipped NS is someone the post author knows from work. While he hasn’t necessarily been problematic, he acts “like the world owes him”.
“These people function like they are the supreme beings of the world with no humility or sense of shame. Act like society doesn’t exist, and their actions have no consequences. This is when I thought if these men went through some corporal training, their worldview might have changed a little,” the post author added, asking other Reddit users if NS would have made a difference to these men.
The post has been a popular one, receiving hundreds of comments so far. In general, while some commenters tended to say that NS can change men for the better, others said, “not necessarily”.
“Did NS help me grow up? Yes. Do you need to go through NS to grow up? No,” wrote one.
“It might’ve seemed like NS… helped with the growth of people, but actually people who had better temperament before entering NS were more likely to complete NS,” chimed in another.
A third wrote, “I don’t fault people for not being permanently ‘changed’ by the system, because the system creates an entirely otherworldly environment… that simply isn’t the case in the real world. Which is why it’s not realistic to expect NS to change people in the long-term.”
“If we had not spent the two years in NS but in uni, or doing real work, would we have grown? Most likely yes, maybe even more. Also, are females in Singapore more childish just because they didn’t go through NS? Not really,” a Reddit user opined.
“It can help set you on a different, maybe better path. But ultimately, it depends on the individual; no effect on people who are too far gone. Also, NS experiences can be vastly different,” another pointed out.
“NS took 1-2 years to train you to be an average soldier, but it only takes 2 weeks to go back to a civilian or something along that line. Anyway, I would say NS didn’t really make me grow compared to me taking that step to live in Japan for a year+ all by myself. That one has way more significant impact on me compared to NS,” a commenter added. /TISG
Read also: Man says he “gets little in return” for sacrificing 2 years of his life in National Service
