Kiyomi Lim's Site.: [SchLogue: Life as a JC student.]

It really really has been quite some time since I last posted something sensible on my blog.

(or is it that I've never done so.. you can justify the reason. haha)

I've noticed a lot of stigma about JC Students / JC Life as a whole and some kind of stereotyping going on.

The myths about JC students / JC life is largely contridictory and people take all kinds of stand to how JC life is or how JC students behave.

This post can actually be titled, JC Myths BUSTED.

#Stigma 1: JC life is no different from Secondary School life.

My response - It is 100% or 1000% untrue (okay, blame me for my maths).

a. JC life has no freedom like in Secondary school (untrue)
You can use your phone freely and teachers tend to treat you as young adults.
Although discipline is needed in the school compound, it is much like any other school/workplace that requires you to be prim and proper.

b. Students are studious. (ok.. maybe some bu largely untrue)
Ermmm, if you consider me studious, so be it uh... Hahha.
Students here are not as studious as you think we are.
JC hones your leadership skills, your mindset, your character.
Not everything is just about studying studying and studying even though acadamics takes the top priority here.

c. JC's curriculum is set within a classroom compound. (untrue)
Not true, we have lecture-tutorial system. We do not have a fixed classroom.
Poeple tend to ask me, "eh why need locker, put under your table la", I can't help it but laugh at them.
Even though timetable is being planned by the school and not on our own, we still have to travel around school for our lecture/tutorial venues.
The slacking place in secondary school can be like.. your classroom?
Sorry, but in JC its perhaps the canteen, or you would just need to leave school for some privacy.

d. JC ends earlier than Polytechnic/ Same as Secondary School's dismissal time. (untrue)
In J1, perhaps the most torment thing is go actually GO HOME.
Most of us just want to slp in school because we would still need to bring so much work home to do rather than to rest. Travelling from school to home from home to school is perhapd the most annoying thing you can do (unless you stay 50m away from school).
We are made to juggle projects and acadamics. We stay in school till as late as 8pm untill the security guards have to chase us out and we had to find elsewhere to finish the work planned for the day.

e. JC life is easier than Polytechnic life bcause it's easier to get into University (untrue)
If you think that JC life is easy, think twice as our curriculum is hard as shit.
Be it science stream or arts stream, if you can promote to J2, you're perhaps that lucky people that managed to pass your year 1 despite the challenges faced in Project Work (PW). In Poly, if you fail, you can retake the module, but its like a risk youre taking if you score badly with bad GPA. The stress is different, I can even say that JC's curriculum is more compact and requires more balance than in Poly.
Poly's modules may be more difficult to access and the projects weightage may be huge, the stress them there is unmeasurable. Yet, in JC, you're like taking a risk in EVERY exam as they serve as a stepping stone to your knowledge to the final A levels.
If you fail somewhere, it may symbolise your short-coming, this short-coming may affect your ultimate results in A levels. A levels isn't a simple1-2-3, instead, its a build up of general knowledge, real life examples and real situations that you have to evaluate about and "act-smart" about it.

#Stigma 2: JC Students are all clubbers.
My response - there are those hardcore people? But definitely not all.

a. JC students are completely different when in school and outside school (Majority Yes).
When we're in school, we have to abide by so many rules (just like in a workplace)
You can't dress havockly at work right? We have to put on presentable make-up and clothes suitable for work. Perhaps, school gives us more comfortable pe-shirts than those work clothes you need to wear.
I mean, main point is that, where ever you are, you would still juggle 2 identities right?
The private self and the "professional" self.

#Stigma 3: JC Students in high COP JCs are not good. Those in JCs of low COP is the best.
My response - Read the following links :
http://stopthe-pretence.blogspot.sg/2012/03/truth-behind-my-jc-life.html
http://chewyanyan.blogspot.sg/2014/03/thank-you.html

It takes a lot to be in JC, O levels do not determine what you are and what you will be.
Some can scare A1s for O levels and get Ungraded for As.
The curriculum is completely different and it really depends on how you adapt to it.

Ultimately, everyone taking A levels will face the same paper. Nothing less.

#Stigma 4: You can't make true friends in JC
My response- I think it really depends because my bestest friends are the friends I made in JC.
They will be my friends of a lifetime (: