DON'T SCREW UP.

So other than those taking the O levels this year, I'm sure everyone is done with their exams. If you are a lower sec student, you will probably be slacking your ass off right now. If you are a sec 3 student, like me, then, you still have head-start and shit to do, which sucks, but so many chapters have to be covered for next year's O levels! *sigh* 

Anyway, I'm not gonna talk about head-start in this post. I am writing this post to warn and tell sec 2 students out there, to not screw up sec 3. Don't screw up that year, I mean it, i'm bloody serious. 

The reason why I encourage you to not screw up is because if you screw up sec 3, you may not be able to meet the promotion criteria to get promoted. At the beginning of the year, teachers had been telling us that sec 3 is the year whereby there are a huge number of people that retain. At first, I thought, it's only sec 3, are you serious? But now that results have been given out, what the teachers said becomes reality. There are lots of people in my cohort who either repeat, or have to be transferred to the 4N. 

But if you wanna spend an extra year in your school then go ahead :P 

The second reason is because if you want to apply for Direct Polytechnic Admission( DPA), especially for the express students, they are gonna look at your sec 3 end of year results. I have no idea why they do that but they just do. So if you screw up sec 3, you will lose the opportunity to apply for DPA and actually get into the Poly course of your choice. You may think, " Oh, I don't have a course in mind. " But what if you have one in future?

It's gonna be a little difficult to adapt to sec 3 because you are starting to prepare for O or N levels from sec 3 already. Not to mention, there are more subjects and things to study. You may do badly for mid year exams, because a lot of my friends and i did, but don't give up. Continue working hard, find out what you need to work on, and I'm sure you will do well or at least be able to promote. 

Long Hair

Being in secondary school, we have lots of rules on how should we conduct ourselves inside and outside school, how we should dress ourselves, etc. 

Most of the school rules make sense, such as not being able to use the phone in class as we may get distracted, being expected to hand in assignments on time, etc. but there's one rule that I don't think is very logical and even make sense at all. 

If you're guessing that it's about not being able to keep long hair, then you're right. The rule states that hair should not touch the ears, eyebrows, and collar. ( for guys ) 

There are a few reasons why I think that rule is illogical. 

Firstly, I don't see how our hairstyles can affect our behaviors, personalities, or grades. Just because we let our hair grow longer, does it mean that we will naturally become rebellious? NO. We control our own actions and behaviors, NOT our hair! Is a long hair some kind of magical or ominous thing that will control us? Seriously WHUT -.-

Secondly, If our hairstyles really matter so much, that goes to show that the school is sort of judging us based on our appearances. Don't judge a book by it's cover. 
I mean, it's okay if some students get punished because they challenged the teacher, or vandalised the school, but getting punished just because they have long hair, is bullshit. 

Thirdly, the school states that we must show people the students are always " neat and tidy ". But seriously, neat and tidy? Are we living in the right generation?? 
In the US or some other western countries, it doesn't matter what kind of hair you have, be it in high school, college, etc. What matters is how you conduct yourself as a person. 


Now, I know that we are students and we are representing a school and I can totally understand that. But I think that as long as we do not have some really FUNKY and weird kind of hairstyles, such as....

THIS. 


It's perfectly fine to have a normal, cool and trendy type of hairstyle. As teenagers, we like exploring different types of hairstyles and find the ones that suits us best. Some like short ones, while some like long ones. It's just a matter of preferences. 

There is absolutely no reason to punish someone because of his/her appearance. Do cops go around town arresting people who " look " like bad guys? NO. They arrest people who break the law and do bad things, be it whether they LOOK bad or not. 

P.S I am not trying to challenge the rule, I am just writing this to express how I feel about this whole rule of not being able to keep long hair, (this is freedom of speech) and hope that some people out there who are still in secondary school can relate to this. 

Personality Clashes

The other day, I was at the bus stop with a friend and apparently they changed the colour of the poles from yellow, to grey. Immediately, I thought of how it will psychologically makes people feel bored and lifeless as grey is a dull colour, and that yellow will make people feel fresher and more alive. However, my friend thought that using grey is better as it is more durable and doesn't get dirty so easily. 

This made me think about something that I'm sure everyone can relate to, personality clashes. 

Everyone has different personalities. Some of theirs are quite similar to ours, while some are entirely different. A person may like nature and outdoor activities, while another person may prefer indoor activities. It comes as no surprise that personality clashes between people happen all the time. 

Be it between friends, families, or couples, personality clashes is probably the one thing that causes a lot of conflicts and arguments. We just have this tendency to naturally oppose someone back whenever we feel that our opinions or thinking are being opposed or when someone disagrees with it. It's just our nature to oppose and to prove that our point is right. 





So, how do you deal with personality clashes? 

Well, firstly, try to make sense or think logically about what the other party says. Maybe it is more logical than yours? Even if it doesn't seem very logical at all, still, think about it. 

My friend and I did have a different opinion about the colour of the poles, but we didn't get into an argument. I have to admit, his thinking was logical. It's just that, he had a more materialistic thinking, while my thinking was more about the psychological effects it would have on people since I'm more of a people person. We both just have different personalities, what's the big deal?




Secondly, try to find a win-win situation if both of you seem to not agree with anything. For example, you want to go outdoors while your friend wants to go indoors. Instead of trying to oppose one another, why not go to a place where it compromises and is ideal for both of you? For example, an indoor park or garden? 

If everyone is always wanting to get what they want, there won't be peace, so compromise. 

In a nutshell, personality clashes is normal between us humans. In order to live in harmony, we must be able to accept the different personalities among us. Everyone's different. 

Imagine if we are living in a world where everyone thinks the same. Firstly, it is BORING!!!    Secondly, this community will not work. We need people who think in different ways, scientifically, psychologically, etc. in order for this society to move on and progress. 

Game Of Survival ( evolution of school )

Think about when you first started school in Nursery, what did you go to school for? Did you go to school to spend your day and have fun? Did you go to school to learn ABCs, or to learn how to colour? 

When I first started school a long time ago, I became interested in school because there were lots of children of the same age as me that I could interact and socialise with. I love making new friends and meeting new people. School was fun then, we had fun everyday and we NEVER dreaded school, at least most of us don't. 

But as we grew older, the main purpose of going to school has evolved and changed. It was no longer about having fun and learning to have fun, but what I like to call it, as survival. Studying, in our teenage years, is like a survival. Either you study, or you practically die. Studying has become something that we do in order to be able to survive what's ahead of us and determine whether we can survive in society that many people, including parents, have forgotten the actual purpose of " learning ", which is pretty sad. 

We started to have exams in Primary 1, but those were just tests of our performances. But it was during Primary 6 that the game of survival started with the introduction of the PSLE ( Primary School Leaving Examinations ). It determines whether we could go to a good secondary school or not. Honestly, I found it rather redundant. It's only going to a secondary school, what's the big deal? 

Parents were like anxious about their children's performances, sending them for tuition, pressuring them and making it seems like it's a " do or die " kind of exam, but it really isn't. 

Well that wasn't really a survival game but it was like the beginning of it. The real shit happens in Secondary school. At the end of 4 or 5 years of your secondary school education, you will have to sit for either your O or N level exams. That, is a "do or die" exam. If you do badly in it, then you're f*****. You either have no where to go, or go to a course/field of study that you may not want or interested in and you may end up being miserable. So you can't screw this shit up. 

I am in Secondary 3 right now and I still enjoy some part of school, friends, fun activities that the school organise,  subjects that I love learning like Biology, Social Studies, etc. But still, I have no choice but to go through this survival game, we all have to. 

Well, but I guess the good thing about this game is that, we're not alone and there are friends and teachers who are willing to help us:) I always believe in cohesion rather than the " survival of the fittest " mentality. Isn't it better to go through it as a team rather than alone?