National Service Series: Jurvis Tan
Listen Here: Itunes | Spotify | Overcast
My guest today is Jurvis Tan (@jurvistan), a Singapore native and current student at Santa Monica College in Los Angeles. Jurvis is the co-founder of Undertide Apps (@undertideco), a company that matches talented high school students to fulfilling and challenging technical projects.
As a citizen of Singapore, Jurvis served conscription, or mandatory military service, in the Singapore Armed Forces. In our conversation, we discuss his time serving, his thoughts on the importance of sharing meals, the intersection of books with experience, and much more.
The purpose of this podcast series is to talk through problems facing the United States and explore the ways in which national service may solve those problems. The more feedback, the better. If you have any questions, comments, or follow-ups to this conversation, please reach out!
Show Notes:
3:00 - Jurvis' decision to come to the United States for college, even though it was ten times the cost.
7:45 - Education doesn't come from the classes you take. It comes from the people you meet and interact with combined with the experiences you have - taking action.
8:30 - In the moment, you can't always see the future benefits of what you're doing.
9:45 - People don't spend enough time reflecting. We talk about the systems Jurvis and I use for reflection.
13:20 - What is conscription, and how does it work in Singapore?
15:30 - Every male 18 and over serves in some capacity. Individuals who are medically unfit for combat serve in the human resource center.
20:25 - "Ah boys to men." The Singapore rite of passage.
21:30 - "Putting a person through boot camp shapes them to become more responsible over themselves."
22:20 - Does conscription have a unifying effect?
24:30 - Going through a tough experience with people (especially when you don't choose those people) has a great equalizing effect.
28:20 - The power of sharing meals.
34:25 - The purpose of arguments and the state of political polarization.
42:15 - Maturing and becoming a leader through service with books as a force multiplier.
44:54 - Building shared core values of loyalty, duty, and respect.
48:00 - Conscription in Singapore isn't oppressive, it's a necessity to the country's existence.
