My school and I

What's the difference between ignorance and indifference? - I don't know and I don't care.

- Saul Bellow

Yesterday, I received an email from a St Nicholas classmate, Andrea, who pointed out that apparently, our school is in some sort of a fix involving rankings and prestige and an identity crisis.

I must admit that I've always been proud of the fact that I went to St Nicks, not coz it's supposedly one of the top schools for girls in the country but coz of the experiences, memories and friends it gave me. That's worth far, far more than the academic side of stuff, as I was never a good student. I chalked up Cs and Ds while my classmates scored As effortlessly. The only subjects I was remotely good at were English and History, and I probably spent way too much time in the band. I don't regret it.

In any case, as I did only six months of JC, or junior college - for those not acquainted with the system, that's like Grades 11 and 12 - before going to Perth, my experience with Singapore's education system ended there. My memories of my school days in Singapore were limited to the six years at primary school - when I was barely aware - and the four years at St Nicks. Others have their JC experiences and friends to recall; I don't. This is why St Nicks is, and always will be, a very very special place for me.

Regarding the crisis...I can understand why some old girls feel the need to maintain the reputation of the school - for details, please read Andrea's blog, as she explains it better than I ever can. Singapore has always been a society that puts a lot of emphasis on, how shall I put it, certain kinds of achievements (read: financial). There is the elite - the ACS, MGS, or even Raffles schools though they are packed with heartlanders - aha, a term only Singaporeans can relate to. If you're from a certain type of school, then you're supposedly on your way to a "successful" life as defined by most Singaporeans. That means you'll make a certain amount of money, know certain people, live in a certain neighbourhood, drive a certain type of car, drink a certain type of wine, blah blah blah.

Now, I personally don't givva rat's ass about being "successful" and I don't givva shit which school a person comes from. It doesn't mean anything and it certainly doesn't say a damn thing about you. And after a certain age, shall we say, 25, no right-thinking person asks another which school he/she is from anyway. Coz at the end of the day, it's who you are and what you deem important that matter. And that's the whole point of education.