Thursday, March 27, 2008
10:08 PM
simply because i am in absolute awe in what alistair chew has been saying on his blog (i viewed his archive and i am reading his posts from the absolute beginning).
simply because i have never read the thoughts of a person with so much insight and such a calculative mind.
simply because i have never seen anyone read comic books and dwell on the hidden meanings behind them and give such amazing comments on them.
i decided to quote an extract from one of his posts. which was talking about the education system in singapore. and how it is split into 3 schools.
it's a slightly long extract. but it's worth every bit of your time. it displays the excellent command of the english language that alistair chew has, and how much we're all gonna miss him in acs.
"
Firstly, there is the national elite model. Firmly rooted in the philosophy of elitism for the sake of nation-building, this is the model which the PSC and, by default, all schools which value the Singaporean meritocratic scholarship model, must adopt. In such an education system, the main point is to garner academic kudos so that people will respect you - and preferably, stuff which contributes (or which can be said to contribute) to the national interest based on what the government of the day requires. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, that sort of thing. These guys treat books as a means to an end, and are quite sure that seriousness should win, if not real intelligence.
Secondly, there is the cultural elite model. Firmly rooted in the philosophy that your forefathers were the best guys of all time, and that all other cultures are barbarian johnny-come-latelies, this is the model that cultural elitists and cultural chauvinists love. In such a system, the main point is to make your culture a dominant player (if not the only dominant player); alternatives exist, such as whining a lot if it's getting sidelined, or grousing that 'someday we will receive our rightful place in the sun' (or that 'someday Taixxx will be ours again') regardless of the dangerous lessons of history. These guys burn books (or censor them) every few hundred years. They call it culture, and are quite sure that they will win.
Thirdly, there is the creative elite model. Not-so-firmly rooted in some sort of dire dichotomy between ancestors who wanted to make lots of money and ancestors who wanted to make lots of converts, this is a sort of centrist model which includes all kinds of psychos, wackos, the mildly disturbed and the mildly disturbing; it also produces a lot of solid citizens who will talk a lot of nonsense after the first couple of beers and then proceed to claim that they secretly run Singapore. The main point here is to act as if you are members of the rebel alliance, and that the best is yet to come. These guys write books, act weird, and are quite sure that they will win because they have so many alternative viewpoints.
And in each of these models, there is some sort of flagship school. It is instructive therefore to look at the emblems chosen by these schools and what they might mean.
The first kind claims to be egalitarian and nationalist, but uses a two-headed gryphon as its badge - and everyone knows that the two eagle heads, facing east and west, are symbols of empire. That is one greedy creature. It will call up all your sons and daughters and say, "All your base are belong to us" or something like that.
The second kind claims to be egalitarian and traditionalist, and uses what looks like a pile of books on fire. Well, as I've said before, this is appropriate historical comment on the probable philosophy espoused by such organisations. Maybe it means that scholarship will fuel the eternal flame of learning. Maybe.
The third kind claims to be religious and inclusivist (which makes a change), but also combines three symbols of empire in one creature. Yet, in a multipolar world, to show that a Lion should balance carefully between the Eagle and the Dragon is a necessary and rather foresighted thing. Optimism is always good."
it might be propaganda. but it's also one of the most insightful things i've read in several months. i hope that everyone else who reads this blog shares the same kind of respect that i have for this man. and is equally saddened by his abrupt departure from our lovely school.
on a lighter, yet not so light note, there is the freaking track meet tomorrow. which means i have to waste several hours of my life cheering on people i dont even want to cheer on. sure i know the people who are running. but please. do i look like a give a shit who wins. if my friends win, woohoo good for them. if they dont, boohoo i cry for you. but it's not like u need the entire school (except the year6s, those lucky bastards) to turn up and support the runners.
i dont see the point. and i dont see why there cant be other alternatives. like cancelling it and giving the runners some kinda chess competition or something. where spectators arent encouraged, where noise is prohibited.
wouldnt we all love it?
drong and his addiction to attendance. he himself doesnt attend the track meet. he's probably gonna be in his office sipping tea and thrusting his waist about like he always does.
who cares if there were less than 200 people at the track meet last year even though our school has a cohort of more than a 1000.
who cares if you feel that we need to turn up for these functions to promote 'school spirit'. u dont encourage school spirit by making a class cheer for their own class against OTHER classes. u make them cheer for the SCHOOL against OTHER SCHOOLS.
who cares if u feel that by wearing the coporate tee every last friday of the month is gonna increase school unity and encourage bonding. we just end up looking like an entire pack of mental bananas. a school with a yellow uniform. a bright yellow uniform. a very very ugly bright yellow uniform.
so, who actually cares?
we certainly dont. and you shouldnt too.
pissoff and have a nice day.
HAHAHAHA pissoff. do you get it? do you get it???
yeah, me neither.