Asian parents being Asian parents, you know how they are.
To them, after you grow up, you are either a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or a failure.

After all, weโre A-sians, not B-sians.
But what will drive up their blood pressure even more than getting an F?
Telling them you want to pursue the arts as a career.
As unfortunate as it is, itโs the truth. Iโm sure many of you can relate to it. Theyโd tell you to keep it as a hobby and get a โproper jobโ.
While I get their concerns, I can also go into a 10,000-word essay countering the Asian parent stance on this.
But as we move forward, being the year 2019 now, not all Asian parents like this anymore.
In fact, some are very supportive of the arts schools now.
Parents Camp Overnight To Book Classes at NAFA
Weโve heard of people camping overnight to buy concert tickets, event passes, McDonaldโs Hello Kitty productsโฆ but to book classes?
Well, leave it to Singaporeans to push the limits of kiasu.
Wanting to ensure their child a spot (and good timings) in an art enrichment class in one of the most prestigious art schools in Singapore, these parents will do anything.
According to Shin Min, one parent started queuing as early as 2:35am, and she wasnโt even the first. She was the ninth in queue.
She also said that โgetting that timing was important for me as I had to coordinate my sonโs timetable, between his other enrichment classes and family timeโ.
And by 6am, the queue had accumulated over 100 parents.
And by the opening of registration at 9am, there were over 300 parents in line.
Crazy.
And after the registration ended at 1pm, it still took roughly 2 hours for the crowd to finally disperse.
Undoubtedly there were some parents who couldnโt grab a slot or a desired timing.
According to one of the teachers there, she claims that is an extremely normal occurrence and that there would be a queue of 200-300 parents every year.
Accepting The Arts
Do you think this means that Singaporean parents are finally starting to accept the arts?
Is this just a thing they send their children to when theyโre young before forcing them to be a doctor/lawyer/engineer as an adult?
Or are they sincere about nurturing the arts in their children as possible career option in the future?
And for parents who think that the Singapore arts scene is too underdeveloped to enter โ thatโs exactly the mindset that causes it to be underdeveloped. C
Itโs a chicken and egg issue.
Food for thought.
Okay, gotta stop myself. No 10,000-word essay.