Here's To Being Alive

What a horrible year.

I suppose it's inevitable that in one of the most crucial years (so we're told) in my life, and (again we're told) probably the most stressful, it would really be hard to ask for a decent year. And to be fair, I had warning signs way back from last year, both from observing my seniors and from the literally countless reminders from practically every tutor in the college. So I was able to mentally prepare, somewhat. All of that did not prepare me for what has been, without a doubt, likely the worst year of my short life thus far.

That being said: 2015 Junior College Year 2 students in Singapore, if you are reading this, congratulations! You've survived Term 3, the most dreaded of the four academic terms for every JC2 batch. It is the term that is almost literally workload after workload, revision after revision, time trial after another fucking time trial, exam after exam. The A-level exercise wheel spins and it spins hard, twenty-four-seven, with nary a break in between. Somehow, like soldiers dragging their bloody bodies across enemy lines, we've made it. Yes, there is the small matter of the A-levels inching ever so much closer, and there'll naturally be more cramming in the weeks ahead. But all that can wait for now.

At this point, I would like to celebrate just being alive.

The Sun Sets: How Jit Sin's Book Throwing Marks the End of an Era

Not too many hours ago, a hot topic began circulating on social media regarding a disciplinary case of a top-ranked school in Malaysia. Apparently, the school authorities had decided to take action against students that left their books in desks after the end of class due to the heavy timetable, which was against school regulations. This in itself came as no surprise; what was far more shocking was the way they decided to go about it - the books were collected and thrown into a heap in front of the school. Students were given an ultimatum: collect the books and receive 6 demerit points (nearly one-third required for expulsion) or not collect them and risk getting caught through the names on the books, which would then result in double the demerit points. To make the situation even more humiliating for the students, the teachers reportedly took the opportunity to take photos of the students while verbally insulting them.

The school in question is Jit Sin High School (JSHS), Bukit Mertajam, also known as SKK Jit Sin. My alma mater. In fact, the alma mater of the entire Suburban KID team. As such, though this post is written in my own personal capacity, it's needless to say that we're all concerned about it. While our school has shown itself to be capable of making bone-headed decisions at times, never did we think that such a proud and prestigious institution would resort to such barbaric methods of 'educating' students, methods which I suspect are more effective in sending the wrong message more than any sort of discipline.

However, this is but one new milestone in the long decline in JSHS, and the vernacular Chinese education system in Malaysia as a whole. Despite its long history, it now suffers the threat of becoming one of the most outdated educational systems in the region, and maybe even the world. This opinion piece is intended to show, through my own eyes as a student that has gone through the grinder, why this is the case.

I Detest Social Studies.

After silently grudging it for so long, I'll finally come out and say it: I absolutely hate SS.

(For non-Singapore-resident readers, Social Studies is abbreviated to SS ~95% of the time, so I'll refer to it that way throughout this post).

Give Your Opinion

Let me get this straight: This is a rant.

So if you don't like to read outbursts filled with teenage angst and pent-up anger, you need to leave. As in, now.

Still here? I warned you.

Seeing Red (Chinese New Year 2011 Special)

You can tell it's that time of the year again.
(Yes, yes, I'd said that I'll stop blogging for now but...)

The sofa cushions are red.

The flowers... are red.

 Well, almost...

The bed sheets are red.

The weird-looking lanterns, which look totally out-of-place against your modern fluorescent lamps, are red.

The cloth-like thing hanging over your front door for no particular reason, is red.

And of course, you'll be forced asked to wear red too, or you won't get any of those red-coloured packets, which, quite happily, contain money in them.

Name me one other time of the year where nearly the entire country is covered with a massive blanket of red-ness. No, Valentine's Day doesn't count, that's PINK(And I don't mean the singer).

So, here we are, at 2011's Chinese New Year! Year of the Rabbit, as it is. (lights fireworks-again. Yes, I have a habit to do that on festive occasions.)

Besides the obvious nausea-inducing red-ness and the craze of buying rabbits-thus leading to mistreatment by inexperienced owners, blah blah blah- there is nothing to dislike about the lunar new year.

I mean, come on. Money in packets, readily given out by relatives? Fireworks at the ready, to be fired into infinity(and beyond) at your whim? The best food you can get, and a whole group of relatives you've never even heard of?

When else?

Now that you've got that securely hammered into your head, I want to talk about a small issue of stereotyping of race and religion here in Malaysia. Because the weird thing is, during the weeks running up to CNY, whenever I raised a topic about it, my school mates will go, "Er, but you're Christian aren't you? Thought you didn't celebrate?"

Of course, the response given every time will be a "and why not?". But really, I find this absurd.

Yes, I'm a Catholic, but I am also a Chinese Malaysian. Why wouldn't I celebrate?

The answer, I suspect, lies in the Moral/Sivik textbooks from our early primary years. I did a little research -rummaging through theStar online archives- and found that I was right.

If you can remember, those textbooks thought us this: Malays are Muslims, Chinese are Buddhists and Indians are Hindus. Which is RIDICULOUS.

As far as I know, only the Malays are not allowed to convert to other religions(a topic that I will avoid debating here for obvious reasons). According to the Malaysian Constitution, other races can follow any faith as they wish. Question answered, and the Education Ministry should quickly correct those mistakes.

Funnily enough, my other Christian friends who don't speak English much seldom have this problem.
Why? Because apparently, Christians are supposed to speak English. And those who don't are assumed to be non-Christians. Yet another stereotype. Why are people who speak Mandarin assumed to be Buddhist/Taoist and English, Christians??? Idiots, but I can't blame them.

I could just end this post with my notorious gloomy 'Happy Chinese New Year', light some fireworks, and perhaps burn down the house, but I won't.

I'll just burn down the house.

Note: Oh yeah, you might have noticed that I have stop using the "Terence Wang on...(blahblahblah). Yes, I've dropped it permanently. It felt silly.

Although having said that he won't, Terence Wang still feels inclined to wish all readers a Happy Chinese New Year. And if you're married, he would particularly appreciate it if you give him a red packet or two. Yes, the ones with money in them.