Finally re-started driving after a long break of 7 months. My last driving lesson before today was 17th July 2004. Luckily didn't forget too much and cleared 1.5 lessons today. Today's lessons were for using 4th gear as well as making left turns. Hopefully tomorrow will be as successful. Going for driving is also a good way to meet friends, last week met Lianzheng, today met Wan Keong, saw Yogi as well, but he was leaving and I didn't really talk to him. Tomorrow should be able to see both Lianzheng and Wankeong again; Lianzheng has a lesson at 1855, Wan Keong at 2050. My own lesson being at 1855.
This blog has finally seen it's 100th post, from July 04 till today has been about 21 months, that means an average of 4 posts a month, or rather, 1 post per week. Readership is quite low though, but that is deliberate. The last incident where I made my blog address freely available still haunts me. Still with 2616 hits, it still has more hits than a certain other scholar whom I'm not very fond of. Really should stop being so negative towards him, but old habits die hard.
Lastly, today's newspaper had a letter from a certain Adeline Koh on the Poly vs JC debate. Shall reproduce it here:
"It's no secret who's better
I hate to be blunt, but JC students are better than polytechnic students, period. Politically incorrect I may sound, but here are the facts. Entry requirements at JCs are far more stringent than those at polys. As a result, large numbers of students who do not make the cut for JCs are "forced" to opt for a poly education. Those who enter polys of their own choice remain the exception, rather than the rule. Also, when the Public Service Commission awards scholarships to Singapore's best and brightest, they look to JCs, not polytechnics. Yes, polys have improved in recent years, but there is still a long way to go before the average poly student matches up to the average JC student. Sad to say, but this is an open secret.
The writer is doing English honours at the National University of Singapore."
Somehow this just rubs me the wrong way, there are plenty of better written articles on this issue but she just deserves to be flamed. Being an English honours student, I would have thought she could come up with better arguments, and not come across as an uneducated bigot. Perhaps I have limited experience with poly students, and those I've come across in my course of study are the cream of the crop, but then, this cream way outshines the cream of the JC crop. Lindi used to tell me her course was made up of people who had perfect scores for their L1R4, and she is definately better than all her coursemates who went the JC path, juniors and seniors alike. I'm sure there are more around like her. Ms Koh mentioned PSC does not give scholarships to poly students, but I'm sure OSAs are given out to poly students, in any case, I'm sure PSC will not deny scholarships to good poly students who apply (spoken like a true civil servant) on a case by case basis. If A*star can offer Lindi a scholarship, I doubt PSC will be any different.
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Adeline is right. The median/average student IS better than the median/average poly student (based on O lvl results). The tide could shift, but i doubt it. If we base the quality of students who goes into Uni eventually, no doubt, there are more students in Uni who hail from JC than from Poly. Why? Maybe the JC student IS better.
Of course people would always like to base conclusions on exceptions, like Lindi. But Lindi would probably have thrashed everyone if she had stayed on in JC. Whats the point in talking about these kind of geniuses?
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