One cannot overemphasize the importance of effective
communication, however clichéd it might sound. Human beings are, after all,
social creatures and we cannot discount the sheer magnitude of interactions we
have with family, friends and even strangers. Furthermore, we come to realise that these interactions
throughout the course of our lives go on to define or even dictate the rest of
our lives.
I had never considered this in my youth, of course. What
need did one have for communication in primary school? We answered teacher's
questions, we answered parents' questions and communicated with each other via
a weird "single-word question," type language. For an instance,
"Let's go get some food from the canteen. " was transliterated into
"Food?" and so on. My parents still joke that they feared throughout
my primary school years that my speech would deteriorate into a series of
primitive grunts and clicks. But in those days, we didn't have a need for
sentence construction let alone the elimination of ambiguity in what we meant.
Me and my friends were on what is colloquially termed "the same
frequency".
My transit to secondary school however, changed all that
rapidly. My school emphasized the importance of effective communication and
prized oratorical skills as well as the ability to interact with our peers and
teachers in a clear, concise and unambiguous fashion. I had difficulty adapting
of course, coming from my days of barely comprehensible language. But the
school forced us via presentations, formal events and other meet and greet
sessions. We were expected to hold our own in conversations among not only
ourselves but with adults regarding any topic. It is said that on the steepest
learning curve, one acquires the most knowledge (voluntarily or not) and at
this stage of my life the adage held true. More than that though, was the
development of confidence in oneself.
As I moved through the various stages of academia I began to
comprehend the advantages of possessing effective communication. Those among my
peers who were able to confidently converse with others or present content in
front of large crowds began to stand out. Furthermore the confidence we had
gained allowed us to converse with people from any sort of background and
comprehend exactly what their motivations were. We made friends easily, mingled
in crowds easily and were able to interact with people in a satisfactory
fashion. CCA's and other social interaction based activities were made easier
on account of the skill we gain. Networking and other skill sets we acquired
allowed us to participate in things we would have never dreamed of considering.
I have seen first-hand the importance of effective
communication and world of opportunities it opened up was nothing to scoff at.
It is for this reason alone, more than any form of academic instruction that I
am forever grateful to my secondary school. The motto for Anglo-Chinese School
(Independent) [ACS(I)] was "The Best is yet to Be." I hope sincerely
that this will hold true in terms of my skill and knowledge regarding effective
communication.
