NUS Vice-chancellor Shih Choon Fong sees similarities between the trout and the local undergraduate. (''Don't be a trout in a pond, be a bluefish in the ocean''; ST, Aug 18).

It would appear that their fat and complacent nature make them easy prey; both are content swimming in the relatively safe waters of their respective milieu.

It is true that the trout and the local undergraduate do share similarities.

But, I would argue, they have both been maligned.

Lest we forget, the term ''trout'' is the common name for a very large family of fish, the Salmonidae.
To tar all trout as being fat and complacent is truly unfair, as the rainbow trout and most varieties of salmon might agree.

Similarly, the term ''local undergraduate'' is just as sweeping.

This body of students consists of many subspecies, ranging from the ''Legalus Muggerious'' to the ''Artius Socius'', the ''Medicus Marathonius'' to the ''Accountina Numero'' and many more.

Are we all fat and complacent?

The answer can be found in the corridors, libraries and dormitories of the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

Local undergraduates do worry about the future. We worry that our local degrees will not carry much weight because even our vice-chancellor refuses to give us due credit.

We worry that we are not following the right curriculum, even though it is the only one we can afford without having our parents mortgage the house.

Complacent is not the right word to describe the local undergraduate.

In the same way that a trout is wary of the fall of a hook or the sweep of a bear's paw into the water, the local undergraduate is worried that the skills he learns and the paper he is awarded at the end of his studies are not enough to compete with the qualifications of moneyed overseas students and the prestige of scholars.

Persons who are neither trout nor local undergraduate should also reserve their comments as to how easy our respective environments are.

The majority of trout live in small freshwater streams and lakes, where they have to compete fiercely for food in a closed environment.

They have to face pollution and predators like bears and anglers.

Their trials and tribulations might be far from glamorous, but no less challenging.

Similarly, the local undergraduate has survived one of the more rigorous national education programs in the world, coming in among the top 20 per cent of his cohort.

Yet we fault the local undergraduate for being spoon-fed by the system and not being competitive.

Others (even his vice-chancellor) are undermining his qualifications.

Should the local undergraduate be a bluefish then?

Bluefish which are vicious in nature, vicious enough to bite your finger off.

What society do we live in, where we view being vicious as a virtue?

Bluefish prey on the spawning habits of other fish, attacking them as they near the shore.

Do we want to evolve into creatures that prey on the inherent weakness of our peers? I leave this up to you.

As for me, I prefer to be a trout. It is what kind of trout that is important. We should learn from the salmon in its single-mindedness and industry in swimming upstream to spawn.

From the rainbow trout we should learn the fighting spirit which makes it a famed game fish.
And from the common trout, the instinct of survival that enables it to be so plentiful in its habitat.

Trout and local undergraduate, have no shame.

Let the shame they thrust upon you be the savory sauce which completes the meal of vindication.