Ice Princess: Lessons

I watched Disney's Ice Princess last month and found it quite nice though the storyline was not to my liking (guess I prefer the traditional rise to glory story of falling down and starting again). Still, it was a nice movie. In a nutshell, the story is about Casey pursuing her dreams. It starts out with her doing an physics project based on figure skating and follows her as she gives up academic excellence to pursue her dream of being a figure skater.

What's interesting in this movie is the presence of two kinds of parents. Casey's mom has always put academic excellence above anything else. She sees getting a good degree as the ultimate dream; no matter what Casey's interest might be. Course, it helps that Casey is a straight A student. Casey's coach however pushes her own daughter to be a champion figure skater. In conclusion, we see 2 moms both pushing their respective daughters to achieving greatness while both daughters wanting otherwise.

While both moms only want the best for their daughters, neither actually knows what their own daughters want. As Casey says in the movie: "I'm giving up your dream, mom. I chasing after mine." Casey's mom only wanted the best for her daughter. But because she placed so much importance in good grades (since she believes that's the only way to a long, happy life), she has convinced herself that that's Casey's dream. However, as the movie shows, that's not true.

I find this very true in life. I have met quite a few people who end up doing a course just to get a degree. Some have even plan to branch out to something else all together after they graduated. Also, I have come to realize that all those examinations we work so hard for (SPM, PMR, UPSR, etc.) don't matter much other than to get you to the next level. Once you get to Form 4, PMR does not matter anymore for example. And yet, we work so hard to do extremely well in PMR as if our lives depended on it. That, I find, quite insane.

On the other hand, Casey's coach, former figure skater Tina Harwood, pushes her own daughter into becoming a champion figure skater. She reminds me of parents who put their children through any sports they show the smallest inkling for just in case they might be a prodigy. Of course, in this case, Tina and her daughter both know she's not very talented in figure skating.

The lesson that both mums learn is to listen to their daughters. And a lesson I can take from this is not to over stress the importance of one over the other. While I believe that academics makes life better, I do not believe it's vital. There are many examples of people who achieve their dreams and living happy lives without doing well academically. The same way I believe money does not buy happiness, I also believe getting a degree gives anyone anything. It's just a piece of paper, full stop. All it shows is that you have learn more about a certain subject compared to most people.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe education is important. But the way it's been stressed is just crazy. Tuitions for every subject, revision books by the dozens, question spotting, strategies for scoring that A... it's nuts. It's as if exams are a war to be won. One way Dictionary.com defines exams is "A set of questions or exercises testing knowledge or skill." The way I see it, exams should be a test of how much we know about a subject, not how well we can spot the questions coming out in it. The certificate we get is basically proof about how well we know those subjects.

During my time in Sheffield, I have learn to appreciate thoroughly learning something and knowing the basics. Many people have played down the importance of the first year subjects because we only need to pass them to get to the second year and they don't count towards our final grade. I disagree. If I hadn't completely understand and learn those subjects, I would have struggled very hard in the next 2 years. Those subjects were the foundation subjects. All the things I learnt later on were basically the same things I have already learnt except in different forms and in more depth.

I'll let you in on a little secret. Many a times, I have had friends come up to me, asking for my help with things they do not understand. At that time, I have not revised what they ask me but because I know the basics, I can use logic to explain it to them. From that, I know that understanding and memorising something is totally different. When you understand something, it becomes easier to remember it. Course, I still had to study it coz otherwise, it won't stick in my mind. =P

Another interesting lesson I caught is one many movies has shown in the past. It's the pursuit of dreams completely. Casey devoted all her time and energy towards achieving her goal, whether it was getting a good project or becoming a better figure skater. That's a valuable lesson for anyone.

Lastly, it nice to see a cheerleader and a couple of geeks can still mix together. Plus, the fact that Jen has been guiding Casey genuinely though she is strictly an opponent. Also, the 2 mums seem to be able to get along okay though they had have their differences. Overall, the movie has a very feel good manner to it though lacking in any real baddies plus having changing relationships between characters.