Schools

I'm in the office now, there's nothing much to do, so I'm up here finding something to write to while away my time before the reporters actually dig something for me to do.

A good website I'd like to recommend:
http://betterboyfriend.blogspot.com
Witty and interesting. Wish I could write as boldly as she does, but maybe not, since she uses a lot of explicits. One sentence I found unusually interesting was:

"You can be a better boyfriend, but it, like anything in life worth being, requires work. Until next time, clip your finger nails, make sure there's no dirt underneath them. And call your mom, you thoughtless asshole. Do you know she squeezed you OUT OF HER VAGINA?"

You know what, that's absolutely true, but I never noticed it was correct, especially the part about the vagina thing. Good point!

There was something else in the blog that I liked too. The blogger said something about how we should tell everyone that we loved how much we loved them! If everyone did so the world would be a better place. I agree fully. Perhaps it's because I haven't had the experience, but I really can't see why it's so difficult to stand up to someone and say, Hey I like you, can we be friends? I know it may come across as a little strong or even a little strange some times, but if we could tell all those we loved that we love them everyday, and give everyone a little hug or kiss daily, the world would be a friendlier place. Christmas is coming, perhaps we should pick up the habit.

But enough about the blog, go read it if you're interested! I'd like to speak about the widely debated topic of the 'elite' school issue.

Being from an 'elite' school myself, as most of my reads (aka my friends) are, I have to agree with Dr. Lee Wei Ling that we tend to be very sheltered most of the time. Though I would agree that my family is comfortable financially, we're not at the top of the rung when it comes to wealth (not even near, I'd say), but my family and other families from MGS still live very different lives from people who study from neighbourhood students.

I must confess I do not have a very deep understanding to the 'heartland' way of life, though admittedly I grew up in an HDB area, Bukit Batok, and I had a wonderful time there. Unfortunately my parents moved our family to a condominium at Hume Ave, where we now live, when we were 9, and hence I have little recollection of the 'heartland' way of life, having not really experienced it. I have attended 'elite' schools since young, beginning at Nanyang Primary School, proceeding to the the Independent Methodist Girls School as well as Hwa Chong Institution, which is also an Independent Institution.

In all my 11 years of education, I've never seen anyone needing to work and study at the same time. 99% of my friends' families own one car and above, and those whose familes don't own cars are definitely able to afford one. Most come from complete families, live comfortably in condominiums or better and can afford the bills from the occasional shopping trip at middle-income boutiques or higher, for example Topshop or Zara and etc. Our native language is English, and not mandarin which we are vaguely aware is our official mother tongue, nor, worse still, Singlish. I'm not saying all this to brag about our 'privileged' background, because I begin to realise, after meeting some new friends who may not be well-endowed financially as I assumed and imagined everyone was, that we're in fact so sheltered and naive.

We forget that there are actually students around us who need to juggle work and studies. We don't know what it is like to eat at coffee shops or food centres because of a tight budget. We need to realise that there are people who actually have difficulty keeping up during lessons, or who are unable to follow the pace at which subjects are being taught. This is what we all forget, being under shelter for so long.

Unlike Ms. Lee, I'm not going to admit that going to a neighbourhood school will solve all these problems. Although it may be the environment that nurtures a student's interests and thought processes, forcing bright students (we are now assuming that students with high scores are bright) to attend neighbourhood schools might have negative effects (though of course, Ms Lee did not suggest anything like this). Ultimately, he or she might be able to help his or her fellow school mates, and if the plan works out effectively, he or she will be able to work hard and still outdo his or her peers. If, unfortunately, the plan fails, the student may find him or herself losing the motivation and competitiveness that is inherent in every elite school student, and thus under-performing eventually.

It is important to highlight that elite schools aren't that sheltered after all as well. As Lindsay Lohan in her movie "Mean Girls" put it, the school is like a jungle, where you're either the prey or the predator. Instead of providing an insight to the different communities in society, another basic survival instinct is provoked- competition. Competition is highly intense in elite schools, and there are positive and negative traits to such an environment. It helps greatly if one is intelligent, but even more so if one has a never-say-die attitude to everything (I'd never suggest that someone attends an elite school unless he or she has an undying spirit, and/or is unusually bright). I am one who believes very strongly that one's determination is closely linked to one's ability to perform in one's studies, and it does help a great deal to have someone who's at the same capacity to pace and compete. Of course, others may have different opinions about the priorities in education. But for me, the harnassing of a strong is what I think I have gained most from studying in elite schools.

Indeed, everyone is made and brought up differently, and the decision lies, ultimately, on the individual to decide if he or she would perform better in an elite or neighbourhood school. While I imagine that I probably wouldn't do as well as I did or am doing in a less challenging school, some others may prefer to work without competition.

But, oh well, to each his own.