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Sunday, January 23, 2005

Old School Pride.

Old School Pride.

Yesterday I went to the open houses of Nanyang polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
I wasn't very impressed.
Neither do I find the Poly route very exciting now.

I got my questions answered and frankly, the questions they shot back were more of a put-off then the answers they gave to my questions.

The answers they gave were...Ok..let me be nice and phrase this nicely...

Let's just say that I could have just logged onto the various Polytechnic's websites and read line by line about the different courses offered at the different institutes of higher learning.

Nevermind, I can deal with that.
Then comes the annoying part.

All the lecturers/facilitators/students at the Polytechnics (both Ngee Ann and Nanyang) asked me what was my prelim score and what school did I come from. So I did. What's there to be ashamed of anyway ? The irritating thing was the way their faces just changed when I told them I was from Balestier Hill Secondary School.

They'll go "OH...I see..." with the "ermm...ok lahh" look.

What is this?
Am I not good enough for your Polytechnic ?
Is the education I received at Balestier Hill incomparable to those in branded schools or what society labels as "BETTER" schools" ?

Maybe not everyone thinks like the shallow lecturers of the Polytechnics, but I'll bet that truckloads of you people out there think along the same lines as these lecturers.

Why the stereotyping?
Cos' Singaporeans really ARE this way?
Cos' the Singaporean way equals to labeling everything to make it seem 'organized' ?
Cos' Singaporeans simply LOVE stereotyping and as a Singaporean, that's what I'm doing.

If you think you're soooooooooooooo very much better then us from Balestier Hill just because you're in one of those SUPPOSEDLY BETTER schools...I have one piece of advise to you. Wait for the results. Wait patiently and pray HARD you beat us. Cos' I don't think Balestier Hill is a bad school...AT ALL. I may not beat you the students of BETTER schools but I'm confident not all of us will lose to you.

I've undergone wise and incredibly knowlegable teachers who are truly passionate about their work here. I've been drilled God knows how many times by my mentors here. I've shared so much fun with my fellow comrades in our war for the O'level certificates here.I've found my confidants here. I've found my sense of identity here.

All at Balestier Hill Secondary School.
All at the place you people dismissed as 'Cheena', 'Beng & Lian' , 'lousy' ,'bad' and who knows what else .

I can only say this. What do you know about the 'lousy' and 'bad' school I came from? What rights do you have to criticise my school? Have you been there? And how much better is your school in terms of the quality of education administered to you when compared to the quality of education I received?

Cool down....1,2,3....relax....breathe....

Ok~

Don't get me wrong.
The reason why I don't fancy the Poly route now is definitely not because of the lecturer's stereotyping.
I'm not like them.
I'm not shallow.

I'm just uncomfortable with the whole "prepare you for the industry " idea.
Gives me the feeling of testubes being processed for usage in some petrochemical lab.
So yeah...guess the Poly route is not really me eh?
But till the results are revealed, I reckon I really shouldn't go dismissing he Poly route as un-Alison. That'll be as shallow a way of thinking as the lecturers I talked to eh? After all, not all of them might be that DUH~

But.....

Balestier Hill Secondary School still rocks!!!!
Whether you agree or disagree don't matter to me.
I don't entertain shallowness.

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