For starters, the title is a product of groundless wandering of my mind, an activity that I’ve been engaging in only too often these days. To tell the truth, there really isn’t a way out. Two years ago, NUS High School presented a face that was clean, guileless if you like. At the end of my forth semester here, I stand corrected.
In a high school where the best time to critically analyze the school spirit is exam time and a quarter of the faculty holds PHDs (which deluded students ‘misunderstand’ as permanent head damage). Half of us are here to attend MIT and Stanford and Caltech or whatnot in the future, the other half wants a straight ride past the O and A Level systems. Truth be told, I get the sense hadly anyone buys the “you’re-here-to-stand-on-the-frontiers-of-science-blah-blah” bit.
The faculty are no better. Don’t get me wrong. Some of the teachers here at NUS High are excellent ones; they’re better than the hordes of teachers I’ve encountered in my life. But a major problem with some members of the faculty here is their mentality towards running through course content like items on a checklist, failing to inspire students in any manner. Perhaps I shouldn’t be blaming them; maybe it’s just the way the curriculum is organized.
A certain Mr Lim Ee Tuo (deputy principal at NUS High) on Wednesday branded several of us as hypocrites; pretentiously being nice to everyone at school while criticizing everything from canteen food to the faculty online on blogs and whatnot. I have to say I completely agree – we’ve got to stop being pretentiously nice in school.
