Dear The Real Singapore,
I am a 16 year old girl and recently, like some of you all, has read the recent article on this wbsite on how "MOE needs to revamp the system". Other than that, i've also read plenty of articles in which often includes opinions in the comment section on how Singapore's education is often stressful, etc.
I feel pretty upset upon reading such articles as even though i am taking the o levels this year, I personally enjoy my secondary school life.
I am in the express stream in a school and even though it is simply a neighbourhood school, I hope that you guys will not compare with it negatively against the better schools out there, in singapore. Thus, i am here today to share why i honestly enjoy my school life.
1) My teachers genuinely care about our education. I admit, majority of my male classmates are a bunch of lazy gamers and that is why my teachers would often nag at us. At times, they would spend even more than half an hour lecturing us about why it is important to complete assignments, etc etc. Some may even start sharing life stories with us about their secondary school life, the typical stuff. Many of them would give us tons of homework, especially my math teacher but due to the constant nagging, many of us a aware as to why there is homework in the first place: Which is to see our level of understanding as well as for extra practice.
Other than that, my school teachers such as my math teacher, also chose to take that extra step as to create an entire website specifically for announcements, extra practice papers and resources, online sessions with our teacher as well as motivational links/videos. Similarly, one of my humanities teacher also made several "walls" on a certain website where we can post our doubts on different humanities topics on the wall.
2) I find school really fun. Many people would disagree with me on this but i understand. School is a different experience for everyone. In my case, the security guards and cleaner who i see every morning at the gate would always greet me back when i greet them good morning. The cleaner would also act silly at times, greeting me by mimicking different languages. My teachers would sometimes try to engage us in different ways of learning such as the use of IT and team activities in class. Many of my friends enjoy joking around and on a typical school day, the teachers would often joke along, or even 'pwn' the students. This keeps the class level high when learning new information.
My cca, despite being an all girls cca, is not really filled with alot of 'drama' or backstabbing as how girls usually would be in their natural environment. At least not for my batch, who has been together for almost four years. There may be some of us who are currently trying to seek for our identity especially since we are in our teenage years but that is where the rest of the teammates come into place. Even our sec 4's level head is a fun man. yes, he is usually sarcastic and is quite strict on attire but at times when there is only he and the entire sec four cohort, he tends to share funny stories of his secondary school life which is both sad and funny, depending on how mean you normally are.
3) The classmates. Almost all of my classmates are really friendly and nice. Many other school mates may bluntly call me and my class weird but being weird is to be unique, no? In the upper sec life, where everyone tends to act more 'mature', my classmates are the exact opposite. Even though one or two of my classmates may look like a typical "ah lian" from a far, many of my schoolmates tend to be really surprised when they talk. Even though they may look stuck-up, they are honestly quite weird as well. For example, there is this classmate of mine who may look like a model but in truth, she is actually quite girly and enjoys joking around with my friends about really abnormal things. My class also enjoys joking around in lessons where our teachers are laid back, preventing us from zoning out.
All of this factors, even though i'm only telling some out of many, are the reasons as to why even though it is my o'level year, the stress which i constantly have dissipates immediately in school. Many of my classmates may look as if they are carefree but i know that almost all of them are working really hard for their exams. School may not neccessarily be hard depending on your mindset, you see. If you see school in a pessimistic view, if you hate being in class, hate having to listen to the teachers drone about something you're not interested in, you will obviously hate school. But if you know when to have fun, know when to joke around and when to work hard, then school would'nt be as torturous as it may claim to be. Mind you, some of the things i say here may seem as if my school is a very lousy school in terms of education and attitude but its not. Many of my friends has been getting their As in tons of exams and i am so proud of them for doing so.
By the way, Stress is not something that only singapore students face. Every other student in every country, as long as they have a goal in mind, there will always be stress that follows after to push us even further so please, try not to let me see another comment on singapore's stressful education system on yahoo's newsroom comments.
This is a horrible way to end my submission but my brain is pretty jumbled up by now, so thank you for reading this!
Fabulous
TRS Contributor