Tuesday, December 16, 2008

the life of a victorian III

As mentioned in the previous part, i made the toughest decision of my life till date, rather one that i did not make. Choosing to stay in VJ over RJ was perhaps THE one and only time i will make such a difficult decision. So much to weigh, so much to consider, so many opinions to seek. i asked for advice from people aged 15 to 70. i remember the disappointment on my grandad's face when he found out i decided not to go RJ in the end. But nevertheless 2 years on, i am glad i did not make the move. i am really glad for all the opportunities that i have enjoyed in VJ and i am very sure its something i will not get to experience as a 2nd intaker in RJ. in a way i am glad they are scraping the 2 intakes rubbish for my sis year. because it removes the unfair advantage that a first intaker has in holding a leadership position etc in any cca.like it or not the first intakers always have an advantage in CCA related stuff.

With the 2nd intakers all settled in, it was really time to work and no more play. We were introduced to this amazing subject Project Work.A masterstroke by the ministry some may consider and definitely so by MOE themselves as evident from http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/programmes/project-work/."Project Work is a learning experience which aims to provide students with the opportunity to synthesise knowledge from various areas of learning, and critically and creatively apply it to real life situations. This process, which enhances students’ knowledge and enables them to acquire skills like collaboration, communication and independent learning, prepares them for lifelong learning and the challenges ahead." The dawn of a new era. The development of our future leaders. The start of something new. The rising sun over the fading horizons. That was what PW intended to bring to us all.

But alas nothing could beat the elation, the celebration of the seniors when they heard we were going to be handed our PW question paper in the following week. Being the caring supportive seniors they were, they felt it was essential to showcase the Victorian spirit by cheering as vigorously as they would when mr Chan announced a full day.I swore there were even a few cheeky shouts for full day to celebrate this great day for the j1s. "Rubbish","waste time" were one of the kinda remarks i heard about PW from my seniors. Such is the amazing effect of peer pressure, i started to grow a dislike of PW even before i knew who was in the group. Sarcasms aside however, i might be one of the few who say this but i really enjoyed my PW experience although the end results were screwed up.

When Mrs Chan mentioned somethign about dynamics and balance in choosing the PW group for us, i thought it was pretty funny because i was on good speaking terms with every single one of my group mates and thus it was pretty strange to 'learn' to work together when we got along very well already. So the PW adventure begun. What started off as laming sessions at kian mao's place watching retarded videos and movies for long hours to playing PES to playing O2 Jam soon became a race against time to meet deadlines. Time allocation was clearly not in our blood and more often than not we went home doing more things than during the meetings but this is the PW experience we all enjoy.

The most dramatic moment in our PW life was during the period of submission of our WR where 2 weeks before final submission, we realised(the teachers realised) that our entire format was to put it kindly totally messed up. So yeah we were as screwed as 2 prostitutes in geylang and we were all confused not knowing what was the best thing to do. Eventually we got our composure back and managed to salvage it all. Perhaps our mistake was not being focused and playing too much. Our project from the comments lacked depth and to be honest when i found out i got a B i wanted to die. B was unthinkable for me. Yes a B was not a C but it is also not an A. The thing about people trying to console you is that they try to let you see there are others worse off than you but for me i prefer to see things such that if people could get As why couldn't I. And yes the PW blow engulffed me for a full week before i was ready to pick myself up and tell myself i wont make the same mistake for the rest of A's but aye we know all about the papers who got.

Nevertheless the PW chapter in my life is another aspect of JC education i wont forget. Having a ridiculous long break in the afternoon before going back to school for PW session everyweek was lame but the lunches were good. Good money if good =alot was spent on food. And i would like to think that friendships grew stronger throughout the experience. So yes i will remember the amazing linguistic abilities of kian mao. the no nonsense of jomaine aka taima. the fast typing of huiqing(although still losing out to km cause no one can beat him in typing i think). the enthusiasm marcus brings. because deep down we did make a good team.

Twistin' at 1:32 AM