lol.

Hello =)

Haven't been posting much about school these few days so I shall do one today on that particular topic.

Hmm... In the past week or so of school, not much took place, just the normal lessons and stuff. Only HM's assembly was abnormal (in the sense that it doesn't occur normally...). Haha. His speech was rather inspiring. He was talking about Singapore's education system. Basically, he started off by stating that the Singapore education system is a very good one and that he has a rather good basis to make this judgement given his experience in education in places like China, US and the middle-east. Then, he moved on to talk about the secondary schools of Singapore. He said that since 1994 (i think it is 1994... if not somewhere near there...), the normal tech stream was introduced and it became necessary, or in a way, a must to complete at least 10 years of education in Singapore. After which he spoke about the 2 main groups in the secondary schools, the upper 10% and the other 90%. He talked about the other 90% first, stating that all the people in this group had only 1 thing in mind, 1 aspiration and they were the same - to get themselves into a JC, polytechnic or ITE. This was the 1 and only goal that the people in the other 90% had. Then he sidetracked to stating some facts about only 15% (or was it 25, i forgot) of the cohort would be able to go to universities and that for the upper 10%, it was rather of a pre-requisite. Thus, for the upper 10%, our aspirations should not be just to get into a good university or to do well in academics. As the upper 10% who will make up the higher level of the skilled workforce or rather the leaders of this cohort of skilled workforce, it takes much more than academics. It requires much more and these include stuff like leadership, being pioneers and being thinkers (school motto). Therefore, it is critical that schools like RI concentrate not only on the academics but also in such areas. This is the reason why RI comes up with so many leadership showing opportunities such as Overseas learning journeys, House events, CCA leadership etc. And he ended off with a quote from a sec 1 who emailed headmaster his admirations of his PSLs. From what I can remember, the quote was something like this:

"Everyday, I look up to my PSLs in admiration. Amiss the large loads of homework that is required of sec 4 students, they manage to take time out for our sec 1 orientation. They have such great thinkers, leaders and pioneers just like the silent statue that I walk pass everyday as I go to school."

And he ended his speech shortly after. It was a rather inspiring speech and gave me reason to not only work hard on my academics but also to challenge myself and put myself at a higher level. There is no question about academics. RI's academic vigour is definitely sufficient to pitch us at the highest level. There is no question that we will get ourselves into the top universities. But is that all? Is that all we want to achieve? As future leaders of Singapore, as the leaders for the other 90% of the cohort, is it enough to just produce our qualifications and results? I believe that that is a summary of what Headmaster was trying to drive at. And I truly agree with him. It is definitely not enough for us just to be good in our academics. It requires us to get way out of our comfort zone, to serve and to lead, to strive and not to yield. It takes courage to do that. And that is what is required of a true Rafflesian.

Lol. I seem rather formal. haha. But I think it's true lah. haha. so let's work towards becoming true Rafflesians, true Singaporeans, true Carries (oops. ignore. haha.)

k. that's all for now. If I have more time, I shall blog later. Anyway, lunch with Benjamin, Erdong, Jun Sheng, Xiang Peng and Keng Chee was nice. haha. So nice friends.

k bye.

Patrick

Word of the day: Strive!