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Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Went to attend the Prefects' Investiture at TKGS today, which means I could leave school at 11. (Don't worry, I still came back to school, and only reached home at 7.38, as usual) Arrived 30 secs late...
Let's say it's... different. Here, when they say 'Sergius Wat' or 'Senthilkumaran', the entire school boos. There, they scream and shout; highly disturbing, but somehow leaving a better impression. The hall was also, among other things, extremely QUIET! Met some old friends (Gowrie [did I spell that right?]), made some new ones, accomplished Mr Jo's mission of being his message transmission vector, got email addresses... Quite fruitful, in all TKGS seems utterly different from us. We strictly adhere to procedures and protocols, following instructions character for character. We think this makes us seem discliplined and 'pro', but all we are actually doing is acting the Goat. The people there are incredibly friendly and cheerful, always smiling and laughing, while we strive for 'excellence', with grim and resolute expressions. Or maybe it's just because it's a girl's school [opinions?] The prefect who led me around, she didn't even try to remain the 'prescribed' distance away from me, didn't try to recite lines and lines of obscure history from memory, didn't try to impress me with the heritage of her school (like what we do). All she did was show me around the school, taking me to wherever I wanted to go, telling me honestly what she thought. And I thought that was far more impressive. I'm starting to understand why all other schools shun us as 'elitist' and 'snobbish', remaining aloof from the other 'lesser mortals'. We are so caught up in the single-minded determination to achieve material results, be it gold awards, first positions, or A1s, we completely lose sight of the more important things. We constantly reassure ourselves that we are the 'best' in Singapore, drawing on our long and dusty 'history', confidently predicting how we will triumph over all others in the end, completely disregarding others' opinions of ourselves. Maybe it's time to change that. Does anyone want to change that anyway? Watch out next week for the second appearance of the almighty propagandist! Somebody said that at 8:37 PM - x - - x -
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