Sunday, June 18, 2006
12:59 AM
Haha. Busy night out with dinner at swensens and pool after that. Had 2L gathering with the guys. On my way home, iwas talking to guangmian and chengxi about the current rv. I feel quite sad.

2001, when i stepped in as a sec1, everything in rv seemed so great and so wonderful. The ccas were strong, and we even got a day break for good Os results. At that time, everyone 'wow' when i tell them im from rv. When i added on that i was from band, people viewed me differently. It was like a different social class to be from rv, and even more different if you came from a performing arts group. My batch came through a period of glory and pride of rv. Sec1 and 2 under Mr Tham as principal was great. His speeches, though long and tiring, had great meaning and gave great insights to things and issues. 2002 - 2003 were the greatest times in Rv's history. 2003, syf year. We sweeped straight gold in performing arts for everything we sent out for competition, the uniform groups came back with straight gold awards for their respective competitions and the results were wonderful. We got 3 sustained achievement award, all those best learning and whatever awards and the singapore quality class. That was the height of rv. Though very ego sounding, it was the pride of rv. Those were the golden ages of rv. No other school in Singapore were paralleled with the number of wards and the prestige rv got that year. I was proud to say that i was from rv, with confidence and strength.

Now is 2006. When i look back at rv, i see it in ruins and chaos. It was nothing compared to the greatest times that rv had. I felt very sad. I was wondering to myself why had this changed so much since the time i left. When my batch left, everything in rv still function well and were still held the prestige of being one of the top schools in Singapore. The senior batch was the best, i could not deny that. They produced the pride and glory of rv during the height in 2003. But 2004 wasnt bad too! We became microsoft's launch customer for the tablet pc in schools and we officially started the arts and science niche programmes in rv. Our 48th cultural night was a great success, and as many other schools announce that they are the first to put things together, we were the very first. The combined powers of the performing arts in rv put us at a position no other school could parallel at that time. Band, CO, dance, choir and drama - no one else could put up a combination of all these all well as we had done.

2005 syf, we merely scraped gold with honours for alot of things. 2006 cultural night, despite being the 50th anniversary cultural night and the most planned for one, it was not up to expectation as i thought. It was nothing much compared to the 45th or 48th one. I was very sad. What had happened that had caused all these degredation? Was it because my batch did not impart good values and thinking into the juniors? Was it because we did not teach them enough? Why is there a sudden gap in the batches? It is like a generation gap. From the batch 2 years down, things are really different. My direct juniors still could uphold the prestige abit, barely maintaining it. But just 2 years down, things were really really different. The exam and tests standards were significantly lower than what we had been through, the ccas standards are not there. Many of the UGs dropped to a silver. Our pride, the co, did not manage to clinche the gold with honours. I just could not understand. Why did rv deprove so drastically?

But i soon came to realise that the problems do not just exist in rv. It seems to be a generation problem. Change in management and change in thinking of the students. It seemed very prominent to me in rv, maybe because im attached to the school. No matter how much rv people in the past used to say about rv and how rv sux, we are still emotionally attached to the school. We love the school, the environment, the teachers and the people there. It was like a great place. After my batch left, the good teachers all left. Many went to other top schools, and many others to the nus high. It was sad. The good teachers that we know of are all not around, and they are replaced by new teachers. Not that i look down on the new teachers, i still think that they are incompetent to lead in a prestige school. They do not seem to have the kind of thinking that a prestige school leader should have. The kind vision and the kind of concept, they lack it. They believed in themselves, and the enter the school with enthusiasm and their own beliefs. But i would think many of them are too clever for themselves. They do not observe. There is a reson why rv succeeded for the past 10 - 20 years. The reason is very clear and very obvious, but they chose to be oblivious to them. They think that their thinking and ideas are superior than the one in place, and they attempt to change it. But what they do not realise is that they are changing the very core concepts and systems that had kept rv glorious for the past decade.

I do agree that change is inevitable. The short hair rule and the handphone rule had been relaxed. Those are inevitable changes. But there are more unnecessary changes than inevitable ones. Things have to change with trends, but there are some things that should not change. Rv is a school with ninche in arts and uniformed groups. The glory of these 2 fields, as mentioned above, is unparalleled by any other schools during its heydays. But look at them now, they are going down. The members, of course, cannot escape blame. But i would think that a greater part to play is the management of the school. What they choose to emphasise on and what they decide to push up. I would say there are 4 pillars in rv. Performing Arts, Uniformed Groups, Maths + Science and the very experienced leaders. During the heydays of rv, they were strong and powerful. Now, there isnt even remanents left for us to reminisce of those great times. The performing arts have changed hands, so had the uniformed groups. The treasures of the maths and science departments and the leaders of the school had left rv simultaneously. There was a major shift in management after my batch had left. New teachers filled the ranks, and inexperienced teachers filled the posts that once belonged to the legends of rv. Mrs Lim, Ms Cheong, Mrs Lee, Mdm Teo, Mr Teo. They were the legends. They upheld the pride of the maths and science department in rv. Mr Teo credited for his great leadership in the cca department, despite his irritating shouts. haha. I liked these people. They made rv great. They were those who made me say proudly that i was from rv. They are not there anymore.

It is quite sad that the prestige rv spent a decade building up to be destroyed within a few years. But as i think of it, i felt that there is nothing i could do about it either. Times have changed. Even the juniors are different. They have different thinking. When i was a junior, i did not talk back at the seniors and the seniors made sense in everything they said. Now, juniors are rebellious and some of the seniors have rediculous attitude and character. They don't even inculcate the correct thinking into the juniors.

I hope that 5 - 10 years down the road, i would still be able to say that im from rv, with pride and confidence.

`someday my princess will come. She just took a wrong turn, got lost and is too stubborn to ask for directions]]* ;