Tag: psle

This post is written in partnership with NDPeeps. The more we age the more we love reminiscing the good ol’ days. It’s almost as if we don’t want to grow up (some of us really don’t want to). Even the older generation tend to go on about their kampong days. As such, we asked millennials to recall their favourite and most Singaporean childhood activities from when they were in primary school. Here, we’ve rounded up 10 of the most memorable activities from childhood!

1. Taking Neoprints

neoprints
Image Credit: <a href=" Amadae
When camera phones were luxury and polaroid cameras not a trend yet, Neoprint shops were where we flocked to for group photos and entertainment. Not only was it fun to be able to doodle, add cute stickers and other fancy effects on the photos, it felt like magic to see the photos drop out of that little collection slot. For primary school kids who were getting $2 to $5 worth of pocket money from our parents, Neoprints were affordable thrills.

2. Chatting On MSN Messenger

MSN Messenger nudge
GIF Credit: GIPHY
Who can forget MSN Messenger? We sent annoying winks and spammed nudges when someone went AFK and we repeatedly go online and offline just to catch our crush’s attention. Way before we had Skype, Friendster, or Facebook, MSN Messenger was our social media. It was where we put up our display pictures, wrote our song lyric statuses, had our first group chats, and even played two-player games online.  

3. Block Catching

Block Catching
Image Credit: <a href=" Like catching but 10 times better, block catching was 10 floors (or more) of hiding at HDB stairways and screaming as we ran along the corridors like we were being chased by monsters, oblivious to how much of a nuisance we were to residents. The best thing is, we didn’t have to pay a single cent for so much fun.

4. Playing Other Social Games

[caption id="attachment_3214" align="aligncenter" width="650"]cat's cradle string game Image Credit: YouTube
Back in school, we had our own imaginative ways to fill our spare time. Be it over recess time or after school, all of us have played those hand clapping games like “Pepsi Cola 1 2 3” (our version of Thumb war), “Sally Sally Lom Chiam Pass”, “Vampire, Vampire, Vampire Cheh”, and “O Pillar Caterpillar”. There are those that incorporated our whole body too, like Pepsi Cola 1 2 3 (leg version which required us to oust each other by stepping on another person’s feet), the Scissors, Paper, Stone game with legs stretching, Ice And Water, and Crocodile. Then there are those we played with the use of some ‘props’, like the Cat’s Cradle String Game, Monkey, Poison Ball, and Flag Eraser Game. For the luckier kids, we had Digimon fights, Beyblade battles, and Tamiya races.

5. Creating Polyphonic Ringtones

Polyphonic Ringtone
Image Credit: <a href=" Crown
While mobile phones were indestructible, we didn’t have the luxury of setting our favourite tunes as ringtones. We could, however, create our own polyphonic ringtones. Many of us end up mashing random buttons trying to create a tune that may sound remotely decent. More often than not, we end up with some weird Hotel-California-on-reverse kind of melody.

6. ‘Slacking’ On Special School Days

childrens day
Image Credit: YouTube
Whether it was Sports Day, Teacher’s Day, Children’s Day, or any other ‘special’ school days, we loved that we got to enjoy some official school hours on non-academic activities. It didn’t matter that we weren’t in any sports team or in any part of the performances, we were just thankful for the ‘break’.  

7. P5 Camp

P5 Camp
Image Credit: <a href=" Grove Primary School
For a kid, P5 camp was freedom (away from the watchful eyes of our parents) and a taste of adulthood. It was probably also the first time many of us got to kayak, conquer a high elements obstacle course and flying fox, attempt rock climbing, went on a night walk, and had a campfire experience.

8. Doing Nothing After PSLE

After PSLE
Image Credit: Schoolbag
There was that few weeks where we had no academic agenda after PSLE and being able to go to school without having to study at all was the best time ever. Some of us watched movies in school and others played card games. Lucky for me, my cohort got to go for field trips and we even got to stay overnight at Underwater World!

9. Writing Autograph Books

Autograph Book
Image Credit: thelittledromstore
The post-PSLE period was also where many of us started our autograph books. From our birthdate and zodiac to our favourite food and pet peeves, autograph books were our way of remembering each other.  

10. Watching NDP Rehearsals Live

P5 NDP Preview
Image Credit: <a href=" Primary School
Besides the P5 camp and special school days, one other memorable school activity was being able to catch the NDP rehearsal live at the Padang. Watching it on TV was one thing but it was a completely different experience when we first heard the roar of the airplanes flying overhead and seeing the fireworks live. As kids, we loved that we had a reason to dress up in red together with all our friends. It also felt like we were part of something bigger than we were, especially when we did the iconic Kallang Wave. Not forgetting the NDP fun packs filled with various snacks, noisemakers, and toys that make the parade that bit more fun - it was even a 'thing' to be carrying around the fun pack bags after. 

Remember Our Past, Strive For Our Future

As we progress further into the digital age, let's preserve all these truly Singaporean activities that were such a big part of our lives when we were kids. And as we countdown to yet another year with Singapore’s birthday, let’s not forget all the little things that make us Singaporean. Instead of letting controversial events divide us, let’s stay united and help shape Singapore together for future generations. What are some of the most nostalgic things you did in your childhood? Share them with us in the comments! Check out NDPeeps for all the National Day moments leading up to 9 August on their Facebook page here, and their Instagram here! Also read: 9 Moments In National Day History That Made Us Damn Proud To Be Singaporean. (Header Image composited from images from: thelittledromstore, <a href=" Crown, YouTubeImgur)
Try as we might, it will always haunt the children. Just as it's been over the past few years, so this year's release of PSLE results has come with the same dramatic tropes. There were calls, platitudes and ST letters urging parents to remember that "it's just an exam", and "it doesn't determine your child's future". There was the standard scandal of parent punishing their child for not scoring high enough--this time, it involved <a href=" confiscated Nintendo DS. There was the outraged reactions, with one of the top rated comments reading <a href=" is the kind of thing that make our young children jump down from buildings". Topping it all off was the viral movement where Singaporeans shared their PSLE results, along with where they are in life now, which amounted to a whole lot of humble-bragging. Perhaps next year, the Government will announce yet another departure from the PSLE system towards the new favourite phrase--a more <a href=" development", as was announced this year, along with the announcement that a new PSLE grading system will be implemented from 2021 onwards. Sports, character and volunteer work will become new potential criteria for admission into top schools, and all this on top of grades. Honestly, I am cynical that all this will amount to any significant change.

Kiasu Mentality Reigns Supreme

Instead, we will probably see parents pushing their kids to excel in all kinds of sports, trying to get them into the national teams so they can become the next Joseph Schooling. Children will be signed up for all kinds of leadership programmes in a bid to develop their character. Perhaps there will be an explosion of volunteer work at various homes and hospices, as kids rush to prove their hearts for the disadvantaged members of the community. All that while having to do well in their studies. My point is that while we can try to turn the focus away from grades and onto the child's non-academic merits, at the end of the day, the Kiasu mentality reigns supreme. We've become so obsessed with grades that our only alternative to grades are even more grades. If our children are not multi-talented, Renaissance-type boys and girls, they will not thrive as productive members of society. Instead of decreasing stress levels, we give children more areas they must perform well in, hammering in the notion that at the end of the day, a child's worth and sense of identity are tied to what he can or cannot accomplish. Woe to the child who learns more slowly than the rest and is unable to excel yet in sports or their studies in time for Primary 6 or Secondary 4; a lacklustre school certificate from his first ten years of education now potentially determines where he can go from here. At this point, most roads already lead down.

It All Boils Down To Socio-Economic Status

Crucially, a mere change in the PSLE marking scheme or the way children are streamed fails to account for the biggest problem that plagues Singapore's meritocracy: the uneven playing field produced by socio-economic inequality, as well as a system of meritocracy that more deeply entrenches this inequality. Both Donald Low, a senior lecturer at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Andrew Yeo, a research assistant at the Institute of Policy Studies, have written extensively on this particularly pernicious problem. Low has talked about how it is important to ensure equal access to opportunities, given that people start out with different talents and resources. He warns against a "Wall Street Meritocracy", where a "self-justifying, entitlement narrative" emerges and "inequality is [seen] as a natural consequence of an efficient and normatively desirable system". Yeo states that "students who score well in the Primary School Leaving Examination, are disproportionately populated by students staying in private housing." He goes on to say, "<a href=" than half the students in the top secondary schools have fathers who are university graduates, while this is only the case for about 10% of those in neighbourhood schools". Essentially, parents with greater income because of greater educational status give rise to children with greater access to high quality tuition services and who then have greater opportunity to enter the top schools, and this cycle continues. This problem is not exclusive to academic achievement. Sports in Singapore doesn't exactly have a reputation for being the most well-funded; Schooling's parents had to make heavy financial sacrifices in order to send him to the USA to train, <a href=" selling their house. As such, children who come from more well-to-do families will undoubtedly have an unfair advantage in ensuring their success, whether in their studies or extra-curricular activities. On the flip side, those lower down the socio-economic ladder not only do not have access to fancy tuition classes, they are saddled with other responsibilities, like having to work to support their parents. How then, do these children explore their talents in sports or art? The school you go to also has a part to play in the programmes you're exposed to. You can't expect the same breadth or quality of programmes from a sprawling elite school like Hwa Chong Institution as say, Damai Secondary School, a neighbourhood school that is set to disappear once it merges with Bedok Green in 2018; the funding and budget of Damai simply pales in comparison. Now that the emphasis no longer rests on grades alone, the disadvantages of going to a neighbourhood school is accordingly amplified. It doesn't matter whether we emphasise the child's grades, his sporting abilities or his artistic talents; as Low argues, without "redistributive measures, meritocracy rests on increasingly shaky and tenuous foundations".

Recognizing The Flip Side Of Meritocracy

In a country like ours, where everything is judged by Key Performance Indicators, a measure of inequality is to be expected because people are not equal in their abilities. But the issue here is that this inequality can carry on to the next generation, granting the children of parents higher up on the socio-economic ladder an advantage over others, rendering meritocracy just as guilty as race/religion/gender/caste systems of entrenching inequality. The key assumption that meritocracy is the best means of social mobility must therefore be re-examined. Otherwise, we risk deluding ourselves into thinking we have a perfect system when what we have in place instead, is one that creates a permanent underclass. <a href=" Image Credit
“Are you angry?” <a href=" 12 year old boy approaches his mother with trepidation and hesitance – almost fearful. After all, he did get 229 when he told her he could get a 250. Maybe he should have kept expectations low. 220? 210? 200? But he did get all As. Surely she would be okay with that. Hoping to get some recognition of his effort- “You can forget about your Nintendo DS.” He gets none. This exchange tugs at the heart strings of ex-PSLE students across the island. Having faced the traumas of 10-year series (even 20-year series for the fanatic), panicking when we forgot to bring a 2B pencil for OAS shading, and getting back our excellent / horrendous / ok-lah results on Results Day, we have clearly “been-there-done-that”. We experienced the pressures of every Singaporean child during PSLE season, and wave it off as a coming of age ritual. However, secretly, deep down, we all hoped for change for the next batch of students. For tiny pinholes to penetrate the air-tight Singapore education system, to allow students some relief from suffocation. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education finally recognized the need to shake the system and its cookie-cutter outputs. Announcing a PSLE revamp in 2021, this gave fresh hope to current students. For us past students, it gave us some hope that our future offspring might have greater freedom in exploring their interests instead of their “interests” in Mathematics- or even worse, Advanced Mathematics. Yet, policy changes must be accompanied by psychological shifts. Unfortunately, much of our societal mindset is still trapped in the past. You are only successful when you are a doctor, lawyer or engineer. What about Singaporean fashion designers with their labels on NYFW? You are only successful when you get straight As. What about breaking regional and world records in sports? You are only successful when you get a scholarship? What about an apprenticeship at the world’s best culinary school? Much of our Singapore identity is tied to grades, which is manifested early in the young Singaporeans’ life--The PSLE T-Score. Our fascination with grades stems from our fundamental roots as a meritocratic society, where people are rewarded based on merit and hard work. Yet, we have restricted the definition of merit to academic success, and failed to acknowledge the presence of other achievements. Consequently, examinations and any means of testing become the only means for us to prove our worth as a “successful Singaporean”, and failure to excel becomes equivalent to failure in society. We need to shake Singaporeans out of this distorted mindset. We need to assure our young ones that there are other routes to success- if you fall through the cracks, take another path and carve your own niche. We need to cultivate a spirit of excellence and not perfectionism amongst Singaporeans. Do the best you can, instead of comparing yourself to a perceived standard of success. We need to stop forcing square pegs into round holes. Embrace our children’s unique talents and nurture them. Yet, there is only so much that the government can do to provide opportunities for diversified education channels and reduce the emphasis on academic scores. It starts with the everyday Singaporean. A conscious effort to quell a “ITE? It’s The End” quip or “if you don’t study hard, next time you wash toilet” warning. A re-think of mercilessly cramming tuition, enrichment, extra-curricular classes into our children’s schedules. A united celebration when success is achieved in sports, arts and many other facets of society. Identity is not based on academic grades, and it is up to us to make this a reality for future generations. <a href=" Image Credit