My younger brother is P6 this year, studying in Ai Tong School, which was my primary school too. he was telling my family about his national day celebrations. this year, they had this special programme for the P6s where they could choose one of three secondary schools to go to to join in the festivities, to get a feel of secondary school life. the concept is quite novel and meaningful, but in practice it was butchered. different classes were offered different schools from which the students could choose: 6A to 6C students could choose between RI, HCI and RGS, while 6D to 6J students could only choose from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian, Bishan Park Sec and Peirce Sec. a little background information: classes are streamed alphabetically, such that A is the "best" class and J is the "worst" class. see a pattern now? truly, this is elitism at its worst and ugliest. i wonder how many of the students could see that the school was obviously favouring the top classes, and how many didn't have a clue what was going on. my brother, from 6F, was (mercifully?) oblivious to it all. how could they start labeling children at such a young age? as trained teachers and principals, shouldn't it have occurred to them that kids at this age are sensitive and could be adversely affected by such dismissive behaviour? really, really disappointed. i can't believe that it used to be my primary school.
ok, so anyway the national day parade was also today. quite enjoyable, i must say. the music was also interesting, with many updates of old songs. there was a techno/dance (?) version of Five Stars Arising, and also a rap/classical fusion of another national day song (the name escapes me now). i think i noticed a pattern in the national day songs. in the very early years, the songs were all over-the-top patriotic, then they started toning it down and making the songs more pop-oriented. at the end of the day, however, it's still the horribly cheesy songs from singapore's history that are still the most popular and memorable ones. how many people remember the national day song from maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and how many people can sing classics like Stand Up For Singapore and Home on the spot? i think the situation in which the songs are created matter more than the songs themselves. when there was a genuine need for singaporeans to come together, when it was either stand as one or fall as many, then no matter what the song, people will sing it.
i am currently spending my study time surfing youtube for funny videos, and i don't know whether to type :D or D: so i'll do neither and post this video instead:
