We are messy nation ! Eat me !

Right before National Day, the 1987 cohort of Swiss Cottage Secondary School just had a reunion. For the past 27 years, we were unable to coordinate an activity with such scale so, rain or shine, I made it a point to attend. For me, there were the usual concerns with class reunions based on the experience other people had when they went for them - would wealthy tow-kays use it to humblebrag and do the usual round of virtue signalling ? Would it turn into a pissing contest where men compare their wealth ? Would women bitch about each other and criticise their plastic surgeries and sagging boobs ?

For Swiss Cottage Secondary School, there was none of that. 

We're old friends trying to get reacquainted again. In our 40s, we know that excelling in one area of our lives may mean giving ground in some other area of our lives. Everyone is glorious and, yet, everyone is flawed. Nobody is hopeless. Nobody is perfect.

We're messy that way.

This experience is different from an anonymous financial blogger who spoke of his own class reunion in a much more negative way when some high flying doctor challenged his approach towards financial independence and said that he was not living up to his potential. 

This story could have been about the problems other people faced, some elite from Raffles or  Chinese High.....That was until I realised that this blogger shared the same Junior College as me !

I have much faith in my classmates in NJC. I can't believe anyone I know from my JC days would say this.

I'm grateful that I come from a neighbourhood school. It's a place where people interact and see each other as human beings. Be comfortable with each other.  My only regret is that as a geek and mainly English-speaking, I find it hard to relate to most of my pals in secondary school and was very much a social outcast. 

Coming back...

Do you really need to say that private universities are not seen in the same light as local universities by local employers ? With starting salaries 33% lower than local graduates. This makes the case loud and clear.

Do you need to say that polytechnic and ITE education has room for improvement when designing a curriculum for graduates who are not heading to a degree program ? Latest survey show that close to half of ITE and poly graduates are not getting permanent employment with a large number only getting jobs in the gig economy.

Do you need to say that neighbourhood schools students come from messy families ?

The great tragedy is that I think we pounced too quickly on Mrs Yue-Chang and robbed us of an opportunity to learn more about how elites see us neighbourhood students. 

Were her words based on some kind of statistic that only CJC had ? 

And then the question is "neighbourhood students" as opposed to what other kind of student ? 

The kind which come from affiliated schools ? Or those who only profess Catholic values ?

Do neighbourhood school students suffer some kind of discrimination in CJC because they are not pure blooded enough? Are they second class citizens ?

The biggest loss for me is that we probably had this one chance of ending school affiliations and legacy admissions if we can expose the kind of biases educators have against us neighbourhood students, we can do something for this country. 

Come on. We live in Singapore. Let's get real, do you think only one educator in CJC thinks like Mrs Yue-Chang ? She was merely unfortunate enough to vocalise it.

Consequently, if a large number of educators would discount a neighbourhood school student, what does this mean for us ?

Crushing Mrs Yue-Chang only removes a symptom. The same way crushing Wee Shu Min only removes a symptom.  

The root cause are the legacy admissions, school affiliations and possibly web of alumni networks that make it more attractive to attend the right school in Singapore. 

If we do not identify the real enemy in this case, more Mrs Yue-Chang's will surface.

Also...

Happy National Day !