SINGAPORE: A Singaporean father is absolutely devastated after his son decided to drop out of a prestigious international school, an opportunity he believes could have opened many doors for him in the future.
In an online post titled ‘My son wasted his life and is going to drop out in 2 months’ shared on Tuesday (Jun 2), the divorced father recounted how he had initially wanted his son to attend a “normal” local school and grow up alongside other “regular children” his age.
However, his own parents disagreed with that plan. According to him, they felt their grandson deserved every possible opportunity and urged him to give the boy “a chance” at a better future.
As he could not afford the hefty fees himself, his parents offered to cover the cost of sending their grandson to a prestigious international school.
The father revealed that since Secondary 1, his parents have spent around S$240,000 on school fees, money he said came from what was supposed to be their retirement fund.
Despite the significant financial sacrifice, he claimed his son failed to appreciate the opportunity that had been given to him.
“He’s barely passed year on year, and he wasted all his grandfather’s retirement money,” the father wrote.
He went on to allege that his son has become increasingly rude towards family members and is currently failing all his subjects in Grade 11.
“My son also treats us rudely and now failing everything in Grade 11 and saying it’s ok to go to ITE is a slap in my face,” he said.
The father also shared that his son frequently skipped classes, arrived at school only in the afternoons, and sometimes missed tests and examinations by claiming he needed to see the school counsellor.
“I am so angry and sad. I feel absolutely helpless,” he wrote. “So many kids would really treasure this unfair opportunity to hack the MOE system with money. Waste of his life. It’s my fault. I should have just cut him off and stopped this farce regardless of what my ex-wife would threaten.”
At the end of his post, he wrote, “Why can’t I have a normal kid who wants to make his parents proud and go to school on time and do homework like everybody else. God hates me.”
“Have you ever asked him what he wanted in life?”
Surprisingly, many Redditors did not side with the father. Internet sleuths quickly dug through his post history and discovered that he had cheated on his previous wife, which they believed added important context to the situation.
They also learned that the son was intentionally failing in school as a way of getting back at his father.
Given these circumstances, many commenters were critical of the father. The top comment read, “Your son did not despise you for no reason. You destroyed your family by having an extramarital affair, and he presumably hates you for that. I would hate you with all my being, too, if I were a 17yo kid. Have you ever asked him what he wanted in life?”
Another wrote, “‘Why can’t I have a normal kid who wants to make his parents proud and go to school on time and do homework like everybody else.’ With this sentence, it shows what kind of father you are. You’re a typical toxic parent. Kids don’t go to school to make their parents proud, and no, not everyone does their homework.”
A third commenter questioned the father’s parenting decisions, saying, “First of all, why did you even listen to your parents’ advice to let your son attend an international school?”
“Who is your son’s parent? That’s why you never ever let your parents make decisions for your child, nor do you make decisions for your child. Most children are rebellious because their parents don’t get to know and understand what they’re thinking.”
Some commenters were less focused on the family drama and more shocked by the S$240,000 the grandparents had reportedly paid in school fees.
One Singaporean Redditor remarked, “I’m sorry, but 240k is legit insane.”
Another user, however, said the figure was entirely believable. “These international school fees are, on average, S$40k per year. For a six-year IB programme, S$240k sounds about right.”
In other news, a furious online rant about poor hygiene on Singapore’s public transport system has gone viral after one fed-up commuter blasted fellow passengers for allegedly skipping their morning showers before squeezing onto packed MRT trains.
Posting on a local Reddit forum, the woman said, “I have had it with taking the MRT every day and smelling all the stanky [people] who don’t shower in the morning, sia. Like, I don’t get it. Why is it so hard to spend just 5-10 minutes showering?”
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