Are you an FSC 'boi' or an A' Levels 'burger'?

No, every A' Levels kid is not a Metallica fan and not all FSc-ians head bang to Sheila ki Jawani!

Nabeel Khan November 18, 2012
It’s about time we settle a very irritating and time consuming (as well as idiotic) argument. It is one of the most interesting, what I really mean is annoying, debates that I’ve come across in my life as a university student. This is the clash between the two education systems in the country.

Somehow it seems that if you’re from one system you become a complete alien to the students of the other. You are viewed as an inferior being from another land that lacks the refinement and civility of your own system. By the way, I’m talking about what people from both educational backgrounds think.

The misconceptions that we have are sometimes so absurd that it’s like we’re not even the same species let alone humans from the same locality.

Here are a few of the most common dividers (misconceptions):

The English syndrome, also known as the “Angraizi” syndrome

Not everyone who talks in a made up accent has done their A' Levels. You know, those people who talk like they have a fish flopping around inside their mouth. The “Oh-My-Gawd’s” and the “Yawwwr's” (Oh my God and yaar, respectively) are just two distinct members of this special class of people. But this group of western-wannabes does not belong exclusively to the Levels (common name given to those who have done A Levels) side of the river as most of us think. They are just as easily found amongst the FSc side as they are in the A Levels side.

Similarly, not all FSc students speak with the same accent as Aapu from The Simpsons (“Thank you, come again” should ring a bell). I know people who have done their FSc whose English vocabulary exceeds that of any A' Level English topper. I also know people who have done their A' Levels and speak English as if they never went to school at all. This common misconception has caused much confusion in differentiating between the Levels and the FSc-ians and can now be put to rest.

Music can be judged too

Contrary to what goes on over the internet (by which I mean the “book of faces”), not all Levels enjoy western music and not all FSc-ians enjoy Bollywood’s latest hits.

It is commonly thought that if you go through a Levels’ playlist you’ll run into a mess of heavy metal, rap and other types of music that is believed to be developed by the illuminati and free masons to brainwash the eastern youth and make them destroy their own culture and country (paranoid much?).

On the other hand, if you go through a FSc-ian’s music you’d expect to find the tunes of a love-struck moron or those of a broken hearted Romeo (not any less of a moron), courtesy of the land of Hollywood knock-offs, developed specifically to distract the youth away from their religion and brainwash them into believing they are inferior (again, really?).

Truth be told, your taste in music is influenced, slightly might I add, by the education system you were a part of. But that does not mean that every Levels will be a Metallica fan and that all FSc-ians will be whistling or humming Sheila ki Jawani.

Fashion - a statement?

In their respective schools and colleges, both Levels and FSc-ians wore school uniforms that didn’t really give them a chance to express themselves in the presence of their peers on a daily basis. But when they gain admission into a non-military, coeducation institute, things change. Suddenly wardrobes are upgraded and the fact that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover is abandoned just like the childish uniforms.

Now, the two groups are believed to dress specifically to define their educational backgrounds. The gangster/rapper look seems to be reserved for the Levels, while the tight-fitting-everything-Salman-Khan-look appears to be exclusively for the FSc-ians.

This, again, is not true.

Not every Justine Bieber/Edward Cullen look-alike is from the land of A' Levels (it would still be fun to beat them up, regardless) and not every skin-tight shirt clad 70’s wannabe is from a FSc educational background. A person’s preference in clothing is not restricted to them having done their A' Levels or FSc.

Sensitivity - the biggest barrier

This is probably the greatest divider of all the others mentioned in this post. The basic idea is that all Levels have a higher amount of sensitivity (meaning their more spineless and also emotionally unstable) while the FSc-ians are regarded as apes with the civility of a monkey wearing underpants with fire-ants inside them.

Now, everyone has their bad days and their fire-ant monkey days. It’s hard to say that just because a person is on the verge of emotionally collapsing they are Levels. Besides, at this age we’re all deranged monkeys 83% of the time.

Just because you see someone being ‘emo’ doesn’t mean they are from the 'Levels' clan.

Interaction with the opposite gender

The source of this misconception is easy to trace. Most institutes that offer A' Levels are coeducational and those that offer FSc are mostly reserved for one gender or the other.

Due to this, it is believed that every Levels guy is either a playboy or a species which no longer deserves to be called a man (a little harsh, I know) due to all the time that they’ve spent with girls. The Levels girls are believed to be completely uncivilised divas raised to the Nth degree. The FSc-ians, meanwhile, are believed to be desperados of an infinite capacity, with no level of low that cannot be achieved.

Ever since I’ve started my university life I’ve noticed the opposite to be truer than the original misconception. But again, we cannot limit one side to the stereotype over the other. As young people, most of us will do the stupidest things (by which I mean committed relationships).

I could go on with this list, but the word limit constrains me. Can you share some ridiculous stereotypes based on these two groups that you might have come across?
WRITTEN BY:
Nabeel Khan A final year student of BE Chemical Engineering at NUST who loves comedy and cars.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (79)

ali | 11 years ago | Reply i agree that@there is not much difference between the two..
SAS | 11 years ago | Reply Bloody brilliant! I guess that puts me in the A Level Burger category. Hilarious piece. In the larger context of things and on a more serious note, I think it's extremely unfortunate that there are such evident differences in our educational system. Our society as it is, has numerable divisions from caste to religion etc, excuse me for being the dweeb who's reading too much into this but these divisions are largely unnecessary and perhaps even a stinging hindrance to any chances of some glowing national unity in years to come. After all, the youth is the future. These differences based on ego or some sort of inferiority/superiority complex need to be shunned. The educational system needs to find a way to unite the yaar from Gulshan and the dude from Defence. This article is quite the start :)
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