Whizzes By
Whizzes By
Inspired by the 29th Students' Council - Thank you (Princess) Fiona...
Jay Chou sings some of the best songs in the chinese world. He sells loads of CDs. His style is unmistakable, doesn't seem to change, consistent from album to album. Sad, dreary, forlorn and love sick messages with haunting melodies that just reverberates throughout the soul. Not too long ago, about 3... maybe 4 years... It felt like I would never listen to a Chinese song. Being in the worst chinese class and all and generally growing up in a famed institution that harkens back to the antiquity for the dislike of the chinese language. As I grow older, I being to see the importance of our culture, our traditions, our past and learning from the mistakes as much as we take pride in the countless generations that have build upon the egoistical nature of naturalism in tradition. Zhou Jie Lun's latest CD, the November Chopin... is a brilliant musical score... Its... very very... soothing to the soul.
Before, I start, all the pictures posted here are old pictures, and not all of them are taken by me... most were actually downloaded from webshots and the like. The thing is that, they are all reposts... of pictures taken a long time ago. Or at least, what felt to be a long time ago. I can't believe... that time really passes by so quickly. Its like.. almost scary. I can't believe that.. twelve years.. wearing white and blue. Have gone by just like that. I can remember myself on the very first day of school. Taking the school bus to the fabled Coleman Street Campus. I remember all the times we had playing "rubber" or "eraser" outside the Methodist Book Room. Calling MPH the "Mad People's Hospital"... and playing countless games of catching, getting scraped, falling down. Getting injured. Being kicked out of class. Being punished in class. Suffering injustice. And there are so many more memories locked away in my mind, just that they cannot surface until I talk in a group of ACSians... and we collectively chose to remember things altogether. Those were the days... where we'd pick up saga seeds in vast quantities and store them in used margerine containers. Gone are the days, where we'd pay thirty cents for a bowl of noodles with great soup. No longer is the time where I could buy an egg for 20 cents. A hard boiled one. Given by a kind aunti who would peel it for me... before handing it over with a sheet of paper. All these, are memories that I treasure. Indeed, even running along the tombstones of Fort Canning during PE lessons.
The world has grown increasingly complex. You know, when you're young. All you care about is whether dinner will be served before or after your Donald Duck cartoon. Life was simpler then. Never needed to worry about what brand of school bag you owned, never needed to even wonder where your one dollar in pocket money came from. Hard work was an alien concept by nature. ACS. Anglo-Chinese School. All Cannot Study. American Chicken Soup. I was from ACPS - dubbed "PS" today... even by the very students I used to study with in the campus. I remember a very common question thrown around reunions... are "PS or JS?". As though it mattered. JS has great deep fried chicken I guess. Then again, we had a great campus.. which is now today the national archives. It doesn't even look... like the school I spent 3 years of my life at. I remember sitting on the sandy floor of the Lee Kong Chian Auditorium. This eventually gave way in secondary school in Barker to the Tan Chin Tuan Hall. There seems to be this "funding rivalry" between the Lee and Tan Foundations. Nevertheless, by principle and virtue of economics, it is the consumer (READ: Student) that wins. If you are a PS boy and you are reading this. Do you remember taking that flight of stairs down to the quadrangle? No.. not where the basketball court was? The place where we played so much catching in groups of 30, 40 or even 50? Where at times all the thieves would hide away and touch the wall - HOME as we called it. Then the police would count to 10.. and we'd all have to scatter or risk getting sent straight to JAIL on the other side? Remember how we plotted daring rescues? Remember how we used to buy 30 cents Chap Teh from the bookstore and kick them senselessly? Remember how we used to buy two Chapteh and nail two sets worth of rubber strips to the base - that it might fly faster and create a more advanced game?
Do you remember? I remember... Perhaps, some day, we could all get together.. and write a book... for fundraising purposes (What's new with the Eternal School Building Fund?) Everyone would write a short story together, and we'd compile it into this super thick archival quality book. It'll be interesting. Even as I look through the old school magazines, and even older pictures. I can't help but feel a deep sense of pride. That what I learnt and experienced to be "normal"... was in fact.. far from anything "normal". Branded-Education. Extraordinary. To be brought up in a school founded upon the Word of God. Embracing Christian Virtues and Principles. Someone once told me, that a large number of RI students with they were in ACS. Strangely, I did meet a sizable of ACS people who wished they were in RI during their tenure in white and blue. Who could forget calling people "traitors" for desserting the school and transferring over to another one? We had something special - nevermind the annual ranking that put us below all the SAP schools and the Sekolah Tenghi Cheena. We have something that the rest of them just don't have. Its unique. Its interesting. Its... amazing... to say the least. Remember how our short shorts eventually gave way to long dark blue navy pants of the ACS variety? Somehow... there is something about the ACS uniform.
When I was in primary one. I fully and clearly remember so distinctly about my maths teacher, who told us about the pride of the uniform we wore. She told us.. that we are ACS Boys. That we are the most recognisable students in the country. "From very far away, people who look at you.. will know that you are an ACS Boy...". Not just because of the way the letters A, C and S were sewed upon our shirt. It was... a whole package kind of thing. The way we spoke, the perspectives we held and generally.. how we saw the world... as a place limited only by ourselves. That we could do anything we wanted. We could achieve our dreams. We could be naughty too and yet be successful later on in life. It is an interesting theory.
I was very surprised to see six comments in the previous post. I thought no one comes here anymore, save a few friends here and there that check upon once in a while. I know you guys must be sick of seeing five boys screaming at the top of their lungs... as the picture that greets you when you load this blog. So I checked my counter log. And I came across this site HERE. And I was wondering what the hell did I right for people to link me here. I guess it is true then. Its not one blog post or anything. This... entire site... is like.. aa collective dissonance of memory, where if you read through all the AC-themed posts.. and there are many I believe... one would get a better understanding of life in the white and blue. I miss my days in the school. Nevermind if I was never a great sportman, a great intellectual genius... or even a person who was immensely popular. It didn't matter after all I guess. Its been so long already. I don't know what to say at times. When I look back.. it feels.. "normal"... yet.. I know that it is "special". There is something about this school... that.. sets it apart from many, many others.
I learnt once.. that when missionaries come to a new land. Amongst the first things that they do.. is to build schools. To set up schools. To teach the local population... to bring up the younger generation in the ways of the Lord. Perhaps that explains why today, all the missions schools across Singapore... are well known one way or another (let's not look at it in the "notorious sense"). They are distinct, set apart. Can you imagine, if a missionary from America decided not to take that utterly long and arduous journey all the way here... Halfway around the world... just to set up a school and reach the unsaved. We would have none of this today? We would be nothing? Everything would mean nothing? Harvard, Princeton, Yale... Top Universities in America - all started off as Bible Colleges. Cambridge, Oxford. Were originally Bible Colleges too. I believe God is faithful. If we build a school to honor His Name. He will honor back those that seek His face and desire to bring Him Glory. Of course, people might not accept this today, because.. in the light of secularism and for those who do not believe in the existence of a good God. Then.. well.. to each his own I guess.
I remember.. all the times we had. Has anyone recalled wetting toilet paper only to throw them at the ceilings? Well, more than this, I met a diversity of people in ACS. From the extravangantly rich. The kind that owns a digital camera in the year 1997. I remember the classmate told me that "It can only take twelve shots". To those... who could not afford the luxuries of life. I'd say that while many ACS students are stereotyped to be from rich families. I'd say that I didnt' really grow up in a fabulously wealthy one... as a family, we've had our struggles too. Yet God has been very very good towards us.
-------------------------------------
If you've read through this blog, you'll know how the hell I ended up in ACJC. Nothing short of a miracle. If I search my room hard enough, I should still have my appeal form for the first three months - that I did not spend in ACJC. I did not have the five days orientation that almost everyone else had. That is one thing I crave, and I'd say that I live through this orientation in a somewhat symbolic manner, by photographing it.
ACJC. The most nonsense college in the country. "Goot Mornin' Cowage". "I dunch want my college to be known as a pwayin' cowage". But who cares right? ACJC is probably the most fun JC - ever. My only suggestion, would be to put in.. a former ACS boy to run the school again. If I'm the principle of ACJC (which will never be). I'd assure you that it will be one hell of a playing college! Hahahah! But I'm just joking here. I had a lot of fun in JC. There are so many posts in this blog, once again that detail my "experiences". Girl watching, slacking, stoning in the library, zaoing school, making a fool of oneself in lectures, just being crazy and having so much fun.
I miss those days. I really do. National service, has made me realise how fun school really is. If I had to live through all those twelve years again, I'd do one thing - Play harder. And I'd do another thing - Study Harder, but only in the subjects I was good in. Even till this day, I am still critical about the MOE's past bilingualism policy. Not so much about learning two languages per se, rather, its absolute refusal and beareaucratic/autocratic manner in which is ruled in so many cases. I'll be honest with you, had they dropped the Chinese requirement in secondary school, there would be far better and much more talented people in the JC pool from Barker, than having them relegated to the polytechnics. The press tells us that the poly route is a great one blah blah. Yet it does not beat the actual ability to grasp a world wide recognised A-Level Certificate which the US and UK Universities will recgonise to a greater degree of flexibility. Nevertheless, academics aside, where ACS wasn't that fantastic in all honesty. It was probably the least stressful of the top 8 junior colleges. With a cool uniform to boot!
I find that... as ACJC continually loses some of its best feeder students to the other top 5 JCs... there is this strong and adamant focus for us to pull up our socks. Therefore, the academic environment has changed drastically. It is now definitely more stressful a time for my juniors, than it was for my or my cousin's time in ACJC. You know, I find it highly ironic, that ACSI admits about 50% its cohort from feeder schools and the other 50% from outside. Barker admits in excess of 95% from the feeder schools. We're all ACS Right? Then why so much rivalry? Why so much a separation and promotion of elitism? Its very sad because come O levels.. many students from Independent.. seemingly opt to go for better colleges than ACJC, save a smaller number who "did not get into their first choices". I leave this open to debate and further thought. On the barker side.. to go to ACJC is a big deal! I remember when I was first posted to Barker... the hope was there.. that I'd be able to go to ACJC someday.... and I did. Those two points for affiliation helped me big time! Not to mention, 3 points it is today. If not, I'd probably not stand a chance in our highly competitive education system and economy and lose touch of a college that desires to improve its rankings with an increased focus on the academics.
Let's put it this way. The objective of an ACS education is not to turn you into a superb analytical person for social commentary, political reviews and insights and philosophical debates. The whole thing... is an experience. That shapes your life, your perspectives, your understanding... and leaves the option open for you - to become what you wand to become, rather than to relegate you into a pre-set mould as part of the grinding cog in the economy. If thers is one thing I realised that I had in ACS, that I probably would not receive in another school. It would be Choice. Choice to disagree vehemently witih my teachers and such behavior condoned as "rebellious" as it would in many other schools. Choice to promote a teacher.. or to just drag his or her name down to the dumps due to experience. Choice... to follow God or not. Choice to hang out with the rich kids (ideally, but usually they had their own set of requirements as well).. or just to be part of "The rest of the school". Choice to cheat or to be honest during chinese tests (Obviously you know which one I picked lah!). Choice. That's what ACS gives. It is a school, that empowers you to make choices. It does not socially groom and engineer you into a predictable and rigid mould. It is a school that promotes THINKING, and creativity and understanding. As a primary five kid, I realised what elitism was - there it was, just across the corridor on the other side of the clocktower. Rather than been raised to the mould that "one must excel in school", we had a choice to violently criticise the system in place.
Perhaps that explains why we played our games of catching on separate fields.
Its very sad that alot of Barker people cannot go to the very Junior college, for which their school exists as a purpose for feeding and continuing the 12 year holistic education.
Honest, if I ever, ever, ever had my way. I would combine both ACS Independent and ACS Barker. I would have every stream from GEP, all the way to Normal Technical. Or what they call, "Stream for the Technically Gifted" (Nice play of words there MOE!). Barker and Independent would then stop cannibalising upon each other in the sporting arenas. Like the Protoss, when their light and dark energies combine - their powers are undeniable. Likewise, if you combine both ACS Schools together, it will create the most powerful sporting school that will give the sports school a huge run for its investment money. From everything from cultural organisations, music orgnisations, drama, sports, track and field, swimming, rugby, badminton, even billiards and pool - howe about micromouse club? We would technically speaking, demolish every other school in virtually every other arena. I have no proof. Yet I know something inside myself that tells me, it is possible. It can't be a fluke shot that ACS turns out so many good swimmers year after year. It can't be a fluke shot that ACS comes forth with a trophy year after year on a 22,000 budget as opposed to Raffles' 1.5 million dollars. United, we would produce everything, from President Scholars, to Entrepreneurs. Let's be honest. Bowling. Barker's best bowler's werent' exactly in the best classes. That's why I say, we have to stop fighting each other. Its very sad to see a barker-inde match in the preliminaries. But united we stand, divided we fall
"No Discord, E'er will Sever"
My thoughts are very radical indeed. Assuming we can combine ACS Independent and ACS Barker into something like "The Anglo-Chinese Secondary School" or ACSS, which is its old name. Run it like an independent school, run it like a private American High School, run it with an endownment fun like the top colleges in America (C'mon, we're so rich, don't tell me we can't start an endownment fun. The Tan and Lee and Shaw Foundations can start the ball rolling!). We'll teach everything, from Additional Mathematics to Home Economics. Balance up everyone. Make the classes alot smaller. Get back the alumni who are so passionate about their school to teach. And for once, let's get some really good physics teachers, shall we? For sports, can you just imagine the possibilities? Like a combined team in almost every sport? Where if one school is weak, the other can strengthen.. and where the latter is weak, the other can improve. Its like putting a Giant Sigma sign before the letters "ACSI" and "ACS(Barker)". Let's screw this Scholar, Officer and Gentlemen nonsense. Let's produce real people that THINK and are creative and can properly contribute to society, rather than go for tonnes of societal accolades with no effect. All these titles are nothing until you have something tangible to vouch for. While these are good principles to work for, they are not everything. Let's get rid of all the nonsensical titles such as "CEO" and all the fluffed up nonsense. Let's be a real school Produce people, that will impact society tomorrow. Train them up in academics, in sports, in culture, put the Word of God into their hearts. Teach them the ways of the Lord, Show them examples of what God desires His creation to become. Let them stand strong in their faith, like soldiers. That they might not doze off during chapel. And they will impact society like no other school has done before.
Let people who are guided by the principles of God, trained up in every possible all rounded aspect and let them loose. Then let go and let God.
Instead of dividing ourselves into two parts... Following very differing philosophies. Why not bring them together again? A Three cord rope is not easily broken. Two can better withstand a single attacker than one alone. I know this is ridiculously controversial. But perhaps, it would stem the tide of students leaving the ACS education system either because they are "too smart for it" or else "just can't make the requirements". The water that heads towards ACJC splits into two separate streams just before the school gates. We can teach everything from the IB to the O/A-levels and putting into place A.P and B.C Examinations as options too, for those students that desire to study overseas thereafter. Yeah, we can make ACS Co-Ed if they so desire. for those in pre-university year one or whatever.
Can you imagine a school with like a few thousand guys and like a very much smaller percentage of girls? Hmmmm... I wonder what dynamics that would equate too? Therefore, if there is ever such a merger... Perhaps we can have MGS girls to take classes in ACS as well. Hahahaha! That'll balance up the ratio in both secondary school and in the pre-university levels
I'm rambling. I'm sorry!!!!! That's why this journal is called the rambling thoughts of the demented! Ok, Ok, on second thoughts, those who want to do the through train program. Let them get direct admission to ACJC thereafter to continue the program, so we won't have to deal with gender issues. Hee Hee Hee!
Inspired by the 29th Students' Council - Thank you (Princess) Fiona...
Jay Chou sings some of the best songs in the chinese world. He sells loads of CDs. His style is unmistakable, doesn't seem to change, consistent from album to album. Sad, dreary, forlorn and love sick messages with haunting melodies that just reverberates throughout the soul. Not too long ago, about 3... maybe 4 years... It felt like I would never listen to a Chinese song. Being in the worst chinese class and all and generally growing up in a famed institution that harkens back to the antiquity for the dislike of the chinese language. As I grow older, I being to see the importance of our culture, our traditions, our past and learning from the mistakes as much as we take pride in the countless generations that have build upon the egoistical nature of naturalism in tradition. Zhou Jie Lun's latest CD, the November Chopin... is a brilliant musical score... Its... very very... soothing to the soul.
Before, I start, all the pictures posted here are old pictures, and not all of them are taken by me... most were actually downloaded from webshots and the like. The thing is that, they are all reposts... of pictures taken a long time ago. Or at least, what felt to be a long time ago. I can't believe... that time really passes by so quickly. Its like.. almost scary. I can't believe that.. twelve years.. wearing white and blue. Have gone by just like that. I can remember myself on the very first day of school. Taking the school bus to the fabled Coleman Street Campus. I remember all the times we had playing "rubber" or "eraser" outside the Methodist Book Room. Calling MPH the "Mad People's Hospital"... and playing countless games of catching, getting scraped, falling down. Getting injured. Being kicked out of class. Being punished in class. Suffering injustice. And there are so many more memories locked away in my mind, just that they cannot surface until I talk in a group of ACSians... and we collectively chose to remember things altogether. Those were the days... where we'd pick up saga seeds in vast quantities and store them in used margerine containers. Gone are the days, where we'd pay thirty cents for a bowl of noodles with great soup. No longer is the time where I could buy an egg for 20 cents. A hard boiled one. Given by a kind aunti who would peel it for me... before handing it over with a sheet of paper. All these, are memories that I treasure. Indeed, even running along the tombstones of Fort Canning during PE lessons.
The world has grown increasingly complex. You know, when you're young. All you care about is whether dinner will be served before or after your Donald Duck cartoon. Life was simpler then. Never needed to worry about what brand of school bag you owned, never needed to even wonder where your one dollar in pocket money came from. Hard work was an alien concept by nature. ACS. Anglo-Chinese School. All Cannot Study. American Chicken Soup. I was from ACPS - dubbed "PS" today... even by the very students I used to study with in the campus. I remember a very common question thrown around reunions... are "PS or JS?". As though it mattered. JS has great deep fried chicken I guess. Then again, we had a great campus.. which is now today the national archives. It doesn't even look... like the school I spent 3 years of my life at. I remember sitting on the sandy floor of the Lee Kong Chian Auditorium. This eventually gave way in secondary school in Barker to the Tan Chin Tuan Hall. There seems to be this "funding rivalry" between the Lee and Tan Foundations. Nevertheless, by principle and virtue of economics, it is the consumer (READ: Student) that wins. If you are a PS boy and you are reading this. Do you remember taking that flight of stairs down to the quadrangle? No.. not where the basketball court was? The place where we played so much catching in groups of 30, 40 or even 50? Where at times all the thieves would hide away and touch the wall - HOME as we called it. Then the police would count to 10.. and we'd all have to scatter or risk getting sent straight to JAIL on the other side? Remember how we plotted daring rescues? Remember how we used to buy 30 cents Chap Teh from the bookstore and kick them senselessly? Remember how we used to buy two Chapteh and nail two sets worth of rubber strips to the base - that it might fly faster and create a more advanced game?
Do you remember? I remember... Perhaps, some day, we could all get together.. and write a book... for fundraising purposes (What's new with the Eternal School Building Fund?) Everyone would write a short story together, and we'd compile it into this super thick archival quality book. It'll be interesting. Even as I look through the old school magazines, and even older pictures. I can't help but feel a deep sense of pride. That what I learnt and experienced to be "normal"... was in fact.. far from anything "normal". Branded-Education. Extraordinary. To be brought up in a school founded upon the Word of God. Embracing Christian Virtues and Principles. Someone once told me, that a large number of RI students with they were in ACS. Strangely, I did meet a sizable of ACS people who wished they were in RI during their tenure in white and blue. Who could forget calling people "traitors" for desserting the school and transferring over to another one? We had something special - nevermind the annual ranking that put us below all the SAP schools and the Sekolah Tenghi Cheena. We have something that the rest of them just don't have. Its unique. Its interesting. Its... amazing... to say the least. Remember how our short shorts eventually gave way to long dark blue navy pants of the ACS variety? Somehow... there is something about the ACS uniform.
When I was in primary one. I fully and clearly remember so distinctly about my maths teacher, who told us about the pride of the uniform we wore. She told us.. that we are ACS Boys. That we are the most recognisable students in the country. "From very far away, people who look at you.. will know that you are an ACS Boy...". Not just because of the way the letters A, C and S were sewed upon our shirt. It was... a whole package kind of thing. The way we spoke, the perspectives we held and generally.. how we saw the world... as a place limited only by ourselves. That we could do anything we wanted. We could achieve our dreams. We could be naughty too and yet be successful later on in life. It is an interesting theory.
I was very surprised to see six comments in the previous post. I thought no one comes here anymore, save a few friends here and there that check upon once in a while. I know you guys must be sick of seeing five boys screaming at the top of their lungs... as the picture that greets you when you load this blog. So I checked my counter log. And I came across this site HERE. And I was wondering what the hell did I right for people to link me here. I guess it is true then. Its not one blog post or anything. This... entire site... is like.. aa collective dissonance of memory, where if you read through all the AC-themed posts.. and there are many I believe... one would get a better understanding of life in the white and blue. I miss my days in the school. Nevermind if I was never a great sportman, a great intellectual genius... or even a person who was immensely popular. It didn't matter after all I guess. Its been so long already. I don't know what to say at times. When I look back.. it feels.. "normal"... yet.. I know that it is "special". There is something about this school... that.. sets it apart from many, many others.
I learnt once.. that when missionaries come to a new land. Amongst the first things that they do.. is to build schools. To set up schools. To teach the local population... to bring up the younger generation in the ways of the Lord. Perhaps that explains why today, all the missions schools across Singapore... are well known one way or another (let's not look at it in the "notorious sense"). They are distinct, set apart. Can you imagine, if a missionary from America decided not to take that utterly long and arduous journey all the way here... Halfway around the world... just to set up a school and reach the unsaved. We would have none of this today? We would be nothing? Everything would mean nothing? Harvard, Princeton, Yale... Top Universities in America - all started off as Bible Colleges. Cambridge, Oxford. Were originally Bible Colleges too. I believe God is faithful. If we build a school to honor His Name. He will honor back those that seek His face and desire to bring Him Glory. Of course, people might not accept this today, because.. in the light of secularism and for those who do not believe in the existence of a good God. Then.. well.. to each his own I guess.
I remember.. all the times we had. Has anyone recalled wetting toilet paper only to throw them at the ceilings? Well, more than this, I met a diversity of people in ACS. From the extravangantly rich. The kind that owns a digital camera in the year 1997. I remember the classmate told me that "It can only take twelve shots". To those... who could not afford the luxuries of life. I'd say that while many ACS students are stereotyped to be from rich families. I'd say that I didnt' really grow up in a fabulously wealthy one... as a family, we've had our struggles too. Yet God has been very very good towards us.
-------------------------------------
If you've read through this blog, you'll know how the hell I ended up in ACJC. Nothing short of a miracle. If I search my room hard enough, I should still have my appeal form for the first three months - that I did not spend in ACJC. I did not have the five days orientation that almost everyone else had. That is one thing I crave, and I'd say that I live through this orientation in a somewhat symbolic manner, by photographing it.
ACJC. The most nonsense college in the country. "Goot Mornin' Cowage". "I dunch want my college to be known as a pwayin' cowage". But who cares right? ACJC is probably the most fun JC - ever. My only suggestion, would be to put in.. a former ACS boy to run the school again. If I'm the principle of ACJC (which will never be). I'd assure you that it will be one hell of a playing college! Hahahah! But I'm just joking here. I had a lot of fun in JC. There are so many posts in this blog, once again that detail my "experiences". Girl watching, slacking, stoning in the library, zaoing school, making a fool of oneself in lectures, just being crazy and having so much fun.
I miss those days. I really do. National service, has made me realise how fun school really is. If I had to live through all those twelve years again, I'd do one thing - Play harder. And I'd do another thing - Study Harder, but only in the subjects I was good in. Even till this day, I am still critical about the MOE's past bilingualism policy. Not so much about learning two languages per se, rather, its absolute refusal and beareaucratic/autocratic manner in which is ruled in so many cases. I'll be honest with you, had they dropped the Chinese requirement in secondary school, there would be far better and much more talented people in the JC pool from Barker, than having them relegated to the polytechnics. The press tells us that the poly route is a great one blah blah. Yet it does not beat the actual ability to grasp a world wide recognised A-Level Certificate which the US and UK Universities will recgonise to a greater degree of flexibility. Nevertheless, academics aside, where ACS wasn't that fantastic in all honesty. It was probably the least stressful of the top 8 junior colleges. With a cool uniform to boot!
I find that... as ACJC continually loses some of its best feeder students to the other top 5 JCs... there is this strong and adamant focus for us to pull up our socks. Therefore, the academic environment has changed drastically. It is now definitely more stressful a time for my juniors, than it was for my or my cousin's time in ACJC. You know, I find it highly ironic, that ACSI admits about 50% its cohort from feeder schools and the other 50% from outside. Barker admits in excess of 95% from the feeder schools. We're all ACS Right? Then why so much rivalry? Why so much a separation and promotion of elitism? Its very sad because come O levels.. many students from Independent.. seemingly opt to go for better colleges than ACJC, save a smaller number who "did not get into their first choices". I leave this open to debate and further thought. On the barker side.. to go to ACJC is a big deal! I remember when I was first posted to Barker... the hope was there.. that I'd be able to go to ACJC someday.... and I did. Those two points for affiliation helped me big time! Not to mention, 3 points it is today. If not, I'd probably not stand a chance in our highly competitive education system and economy and lose touch of a college that desires to improve its rankings with an increased focus on the academics.
Let's put it this way. The objective of an ACS education is not to turn you into a superb analytical person for social commentary, political reviews and insights and philosophical debates. The whole thing... is an experience. That shapes your life, your perspectives, your understanding... and leaves the option open for you - to become what you wand to become, rather than to relegate you into a pre-set mould as part of the grinding cog in the economy. If thers is one thing I realised that I had in ACS, that I probably would not receive in another school. It would be Choice. Choice to disagree vehemently witih my teachers and such behavior condoned as "rebellious" as it would in many other schools. Choice to promote a teacher.. or to just drag his or her name down to the dumps due to experience. Choice... to follow God or not. Choice to hang out with the rich kids (ideally, but usually they had their own set of requirements as well).. or just to be part of "The rest of the school". Choice to cheat or to be honest during chinese tests (Obviously you know which one I picked lah!). Choice. That's what ACS gives. It is a school, that empowers you to make choices. It does not socially groom and engineer you into a predictable and rigid mould. It is a school that promotes THINKING, and creativity and understanding. As a primary five kid, I realised what elitism was - there it was, just across the corridor on the other side of the clocktower. Rather than been raised to the mould that "one must excel in school", we had a choice to violently criticise the system in place.
Perhaps that explains why we played our games of catching on separate fields.
Its very sad that alot of Barker people cannot go to the very Junior college, for which their school exists as a purpose for feeding and continuing the 12 year holistic education.
Honest, if I ever, ever, ever had my way. I would combine both ACS Independent and ACS Barker. I would have every stream from GEP, all the way to Normal Technical. Or what they call, "Stream for the Technically Gifted" (Nice play of words there MOE!). Barker and Independent would then stop cannibalising upon each other in the sporting arenas. Like the Protoss, when their light and dark energies combine - their powers are undeniable. Likewise, if you combine both ACS Schools together, it will create the most powerful sporting school that will give the sports school a huge run for its investment money. From everything from cultural organisations, music orgnisations, drama, sports, track and field, swimming, rugby, badminton, even billiards and pool - howe about micromouse club? We would technically speaking, demolish every other school in virtually every other arena. I have no proof. Yet I know something inside myself that tells me, it is possible. It can't be a fluke shot that ACS turns out so many good swimmers year after year. It can't be a fluke shot that ACS comes forth with a trophy year after year on a 22,000 budget as opposed to Raffles' 1.5 million dollars. United, we would produce everything, from President Scholars, to Entrepreneurs. Let's be honest. Bowling. Barker's best bowler's werent' exactly in the best classes. That's why I say, we have to stop fighting each other. Its very sad to see a barker-inde match in the preliminaries. But united we stand, divided we fall
"No Discord, E'er will Sever"
My thoughts are very radical indeed. Assuming we can combine ACS Independent and ACS Barker into something like "The Anglo-Chinese Secondary School" or ACSS, which is its old name. Run it like an independent school, run it like a private American High School, run it with an endownment fun like the top colleges in America (C'mon, we're so rich, don't tell me we can't start an endownment fun. The Tan and Lee and Shaw Foundations can start the ball rolling!). We'll teach everything, from Additional Mathematics to Home Economics. Balance up everyone. Make the classes alot smaller. Get back the alumni who are so passionate about their school to teach. And for once, let's get some really good physics teachers, shall we? For sports, can you just imagine the possibilities? Like a combined team in almost every sport? Where if one school is weak, the other can strengthen.. and where the latter is weak, the other can improve. Its like putting a Giant Sigma sign before the letters "ACSI" and "ACS(Barker)". Let's screw this Scholar, Officer and Gentlemen nonsense. Let's produce real people that THINK and are creative and can properly contribute to society, rather than go for tonnes of societal accolades with no effect. All these titles are nothing until you have something tangible to vouch for. While these are good principles to work for, they are not everything. Let's get rid of all the nonsensical titles such as "CEO" and all the fluffed up nonsense. Let's be a real school Produce people, that will impact society tomorrow. Train them up in academics, in sports, in culture, put the Word of God into their hearts. Teach them the ways of the Lord, Show them examples of what God desires His creation to become. Let them stand strong in their faith, like soldiers. That they might not doze off during chapel. And they will impact society like no other school has done before.
Let people who are guided by the principles of God, trained up in every possible all rounded aspect and let them loose. Then let go and let God.
Instead of dividing ourselves into two parts... Following very differing philosophies. Why not bring them together again? A Three cord rope is not easily broken. Two can better withstand a single attacker than one alone. I know this is ridiculously controversial. But perhaps, it would stem the tide of students leaving the ACS education system either because they are "too smart for it" or else "just can't make the requirements". The water that heads towards ACJC splits into two separate streams just before the school gates. We can teach everything from the IB to the O/A-levels and putting into place A.P and B.C Examinations as options too, for those students that desire to study overseas thereafter. Yeah, we can make ACS Co-Ed if they so desire. for those in pre-university year one or whatever.
Can you imagine a school with like a few thousand guys and like a very much smaller percentage of girls? Hmmmm... I wonder what dynamics that would equate too? Therefore, if there is ever such a merger... Perhaps we can have MGS girls to take classes in ACS as well. Hahahaha! That'll balance up the ratio in both secondary school and in the pre-university levels
I'm rambling. I'm sorry!!!!! That's why this journal is called the rambling thoughts of the demented! Ok, Ok, on second thoughts, those who want to do the through train program. Let them get direct admission to ACJC thereafter to continue the program, so we won't have to deal with gender issues. Hee Hee Hee!
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