The Blogger Jack 张哲洋
08/17/91
Henderson Primary School
Yuhua Primary School
Nan Hua High School
St. Andrew's Junior College
Singapore University of Technology and Design
What was initially just a joke and a desperate attempt to calm ourselves down, turned out to be a very apt analogy for the whole 'A' Level experience. That is, the striking resemblance between a round of hardcore Blackjack and the A lvl.
-You go up to the table and a mysterious guy deliberately threw in all your chips for that one round of blackjack. There is no turning back now. As you realise all your assets are in this single round of gamble, you braced yourself for the worst, as well as the best. Then you flip over the cards and allow your eye to absorb the sight of the numbers which decide your fate. Suddenly, at that particular moment between flipping over the cards and deciphering what is written on it, there seems to be a void of space and time. Everything stops. Time, your breath, your heartbeat, everything and everyone around you. Your surroundings also seem to be devoured by the darkness for a little while. Just a little while, but that itself also seems like an eternity to you. One card shows 10 and the other sho..........
Well, it's been a wonderful 2 years to be in SAJC. I still rmb the first day when I entered the school, bearing in mind that I've been posted to my second choice, I saw the words at the foyer - "No one is here by chance" and went "Wah lan eh......siannnnnn".
However, just 2 weeks into my JC life, I found that all of the people there are extremely nice. Being a rather pessimistic realist, I was very skeptical towards this idealistic, if not naive observation and thus, mentally prepared myself for the day when I realise that SAJC actually sucks.
The day never came.
Although I do rmb how annoyed I was at the time when the CSC (China study in Chinese) teacher gathered all the JC1 who took HMT. He analysed with us how much more beneficial it would be for us to take this H1 subject over, say, H1 Econs. He explained that the CSC course only lasts for 1 year and considering the fact that we were supposedly people who already have some foundations in Chinese, we should be able to perform better than if we had chosen Econs - a subject that we have had absolutely no prior knowledge to. Therefore, we will be a lot more likely to get an A and also more time in JC2 to study for the other subjects. Nowhere, throughout the entire session, did he mention about whether we would be interested in this particular subject, or the knowledge that we would eventually be bringing away with, whatever the fking grade eventually. But I wouldn't blame him. He was thoughtful for us in a very pragmatic way. In fact, it is true that for JC students, grades are everything. A 70% distinction rate for E Lit this year? Hell yea I would have considered that if I had known better.
All I can say is that, having went to SAJC and studied there for 2 years, I've definitely learned a lot. Many things that are completely unrelated to the subjects that the teachers taught. Things that are worth infinitely more than the grades that I've gotten. Whereas, having went through the whole A lvl process, I gambled, and it was all-in. I gambled my time, my life and my soul. Luckily, I had an okay hand.
Perhaps, given Singapore's circumstances, the need for efficiency and economic competitiveness leaves its education system no choice but to avoid offering the less economically favourable subjects like Photography, Philosophy (for the lower-tier educational institutions) and other "obscure" subjects. Perhaps, given A lvl's drawbacks and inaccuracies - for example, the same person who gets a Distinction for H3 Physics (which is not very easy to obtain), also gets a B for H2 Physics (which is comparatively much easier to score) - it is still the most efficient and accurate assessment method we can have?
But I guess and hope that all these choose-subject-to-get-A-for-major-exam is behind me, and that I can finally decide what to learn for learning's sake.
