https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/late-bloomer-father-ite-education-3rd-try-wins-edusave-awards-2334186
'Late bloomer' father of 2 adult children excels in ITE on 3rd try, wins Edusave awards
Mr Joshua Huang (right) and Communications and Information Minister Josephine Teo (left) after receiving his Edusave awards.
- As a teenager, Joshua Huang dropped out of the Institute of Technical Education because he thought it was "cool" to work and to support his family
- He fared badly when he re-enrolled a few years later and was retained for three semesters
- After his children grew up, he was inspired by them and went back to studies again, this time excelling at it
- The 40-year-old recently received two education awards and is now pursuing a diploma at Nanyang Polytechnic
SINGAPORE — When Joshua Huang enrolled at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in 2018, it was already his third time doing so at the institution and by then, he was already in his mid-30s and a father of two teenage children.
After dropping out the first time and not doing well the second time after National Service, it was mainly the encouragement from his wife and children that inspired him to go back to school again.
“I took it as my last shot,” the freelance computer technician and part-time food delivery worker told TODAY on Friday (Dec 29).
“If I fail, I fail. But at least I know, I did my best.”
He did not fail.
Mr Huang, now 40 and pursuing a diploma in info-communications security at Nanyang Polytechnic, recently received two Edusave awards for excelling in his Higher National ITE Certificate (Higher Nitec) course.
His achievement was recently highlighted by Communications and Information Minister Josephine Teo.
On her Facebook account, she described meeting Mr Huang as “an unexpected moment of inspiration at the Edusave Merit Bursary Awards presentation".
The Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency thought “at first glance” that Mr Huang was a parent collecting an award on behalf of his child, only to realise that he was there to collect two awards for himself.
“A late bloomer, Mr Huang was inspired to go back to school by his own children who are in their 20s,” she said.
He received the Edusave Skills Award and the Edusave Award for Achievement, Good Leadership and Service.
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These are given to, with up to S$500 cash each, students who have demonstrated good conduct, excellent professional and soft skills throughout their course of study, or leadership qualities, among other attributes.
WHY HE DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL
Mr Huang told TODAY that after attending ITE for about half a year in 2002 when he was about 18, he dropped out for two reasons: He wanted to work to support his family, and because he was “not mentally prepared and not interested” to go to school at that point in time.
“Being young, I wanted to have some cash to support my family, to look like a grown-up man and then I get some money to enjoy myself,” he said.
“I thought going out to work was cool, so I dropped out.”
He worked for almost two years, spending more than 10 hours each day on foot, six days a week delivering food, before enlisting for National Service.
While he had intended to sign on as a career soldier and already had “documents and everything ready, ready to sign on”, he said that he was given the “wrong” advice by someone to go and get a National ITE Certificate (Nitec) qualification in hopes of commanding a better pay in the army.
So he did just that, joining a course in wireless LAN (local area network) in 2006. A wireless LAN is a group of computers that form a network based on radio transmissions rather than wired connections.
“I just did the course only for the sake of doing and not because I was interested in it, because in my mind it was, ‘Graduate, then go back to army’,” he said.
Because of this, he did not do well and was retained for three semesters, only completing the course in mid-2009. He was not offered the opportunity to sign on for the army afterwards.
WHAT MOTIVATED HIM TO STUDY AGAIN
Since then, Mr Huang had taken on various jobs including in retail and he had tried to start a business twice with his friends, which did not turn out well, he said.
Sometime in late 2016, his daughter was watching an online university lecture at home using his computer and he listened in at the same time.
After the lecture ended, Mr Huang asked his daughter some questions about the subject. She was “surprised” that her school-dropout father could follow a university lecture, he recalled.
Mr Huang added that this incident planted the seed of an idea in him to get back to school, though he did not yet make a decision about it at that point.
The following year, the topic of him resuming his studies and pursuing higher qualification came up again in a family conversation.
“My wife said to me that my son ever told her, he saw that I was capable of doing a lot of things, but I just don’t have (paper) qualifications,” Mr Huang said.
These conversations eventually inspired him to sign up for a Nitec course in computer networking and communication in 2018.
He completed that in 2020 and did well enough to qualify for a diploma in computer engineering course at Temasek Polytechnic.
However, finding that the course was not what he wanted to do, he stopped within the first semester, before taking up a Higher Nitec course in cyber and network security the next year. He excelled in this and received the Edusave awards for his efforts.
“I was very surprised. It never crossed my mind that I would receive any awards,” he said.
“I did not aim for any award. For myself, my dream was to go to Nanyang Polytechnic and I will go there by any means — I will just do my best.”
His wife, who wants to be known only as Mrs Huang, said that she was surprised at both her husband's decision to return to school and how much he has achieved this time.
"I'm surprised and very proud of him, as he has worked so hard for it, (and for) getting into Nanyang Polytechnic, which is what he has always dreamt of," she added.
HOW HE COPED AS AN OLDER STUDENT
Mr Huang sees himself as being “very fast” at anything that requires hands-on work, but described himself as a “slow learner” when it comes to the more theoretical aspects of his education, such that he sometimes spent sleepless nights revising before an examination.
He did, however, get good support from those around him, and was particularly grateful for his family, course mates and lecturers without whom he would not have made it this far, he said.
“ITE College East lecturers have been very patient, because I’m a slow learner. I raised many questions, and they spent a lot of time to guide me along.”
And throughout his ITE and polytechnic days, Mr Huang also counted his course mates as part of his support system, despite the large difference in age.
“We kept each other motivated. And we always told each other that we would look out for each other and that everyone graduated together from the course,” he added.
“When, at times, we faced challenges, that kept us going.”
Now pursuing a diploma as a first-year student at Nanyang Polytechnic, Mr Huang said that he will wait until he graduates before he makes further plans for himself.
Having been through the experience, he said that for adults in the workforce thinking about furthering their education, they should not be ashamed of how old they are.
"It’s never a shame to go back (to school).”
It is never too late for one to embark on a learning journey as long as they have the passion for it, he added.
For the younger people still in school, he advised them to not look at education qualifications as a means to make money, because that is “not the main point” of education.
He believes that many students might have been told by their parents from young to study hard to land well-paying jobs for a comfortable life, but teaching a child that money is the main motivation to study is "not the correct way of teaching”, he said.
Pursuing education mainly for money is what causes many people to force themselves to take up courses that they are not interested in and eventually feel miserable about it, he spoke from his own experience.
“In education, if you go for the things you are good at, things you're passionate about, then you will naturally have the motivation to go on. Especially when you go through hard times.”
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