Conversations on the Frontier

World Scholar's Cup was a very mixed experience; for the competition itself I performed rather poorly, the only real notable achievement being a second place in Mathematics. After the competition, the trip was, on the whole, reasonably enjoyable; though there were certain... issues that somewhat disrupted my enjoyment of the trip.

Having said that, I wonder why I originally signed up for World Scholar's Cup in the first place, and the rather strange journey I took to reach the World Finals. I can see several reasons why I signed up - I figured I should be able to win something, I went with my friends (not as valid as it would have been with the original team I had), I am interested in some of the material (well, History and Lit were interesting)...

A statement I remember making when asked if I would participate in the World Scholar's Cup next year was "It was a good experience, but I'm not going to put myself through that mental torture again." No doubt the Scholar's Cup was enriching in many ways, both on the frontiers of academia as well as relationships - but it was also a form of mental torture as I had to study till 2 am every day for the week preceding Regionals. (I only studied a bit for Worlds, but it was strenuous enough)

Next year's theme is "The Fall of Empires" which seems somewhat biased towards the Humanities subjects, unlike "The Frontier" which is, admittedly, quite an intelligent choice of topic for a multidisciplinary academic competition. It's possible to select a novel and appropriate poetry (Epilogue to Death of a Hero from our Lit guide book is possible), and I guess History and Economics would come in useful. Mathematics would probably just be there cause it needs to be examined in interdisciplinary competitions... and Science? Defense Science? I don't know...

Mr Andrew Wong asked me about coaching the Math section for World Scholar's Cup next year if there are any teams that wish to participate. I guess I'll take it on if I have enough time.

jk