This is a former school building, surrounded by skyscrapers in the city centre!

http://www.streetdirectory.com.sg/buildings/069547_main.jpg
http://www.streetdirectory.com.sg/buildings/069547_left.jpg
http://www.streetdirectory.com.sg/buildings/069547_entrance.jpg

eek... looks like one of those very very old schools from the 50s..

Yup.It is ugly and is very out of place, located between skyscrapers at Cecil Street.

The land there is expensive.They can move somewhere else.I think the National Arts Coucil owns the land.

oh yah..always walk past by there and never really thought about it, but you are right, the design is very 60s school-like.

Actually such buildings are really dated but still serve their function well, I can be sentimental about them unless they wanna build another cool looking skyscraper there!

uh... i dont think they serve their function well... i think i had some theory exam in macpherson secondary school a number of years ago and i guess the structure was similar. the building was crumbling really..

I guess thats cos they didnt air-condition it nor repaint it? :D

Talking about old schools, is the former Christ Church campus beside Jalan Besar Stadium still around?

It is the last Neo-Classical building building to serve as a government school.

@raffles
nono... it was really crumbling... you must see to believe. the steps on the stairs were soooo tiny, even by my standards. and very blunt also, raising the chance of slipping. and uhm.... dark... dinghy... bricks crumbling (BRICKS OK)... very very narrow corridors.. jabberjabber

Poorly-built lor.Those times, the MOE focused on purely providing education facilities.Does not care on the appearance, much less the quality.Only 'standard' quality would do.

Situation very different now.Now no two new schools look the same.

Situation very different now.Now no two new schools look the same.

but they look monstrously ugly.....

Talking about old schools, is the former Christ Church campus beside Jalan Besar Stadium still around?

It is the last Neo-Classical building building to serve as a government school.

Its design is identical to many old schools and in fact, my holding school for the past 2 years..... In fact, they're so identical that if i walked right into any one of them, i'd be able to point out exactly where the bathrooms are loacted and everything.. lol.....

Everything is so small...

Yar. And so dirty....

Most of them are poorly-built too. :(

Only 'standard' standard is required.Now, higher standards are required.


If you're on the top floor and it rains, it gets very noisy...

And sometimes the roof caves in....

In my school, some of the ceiling panels on the overhanging roof outside the hall had came off, some partially.

For mine they feel on a whole class full of people and injured one person....

In your holding building?

Yar. Haha. It was on the news... Eh... i've mentioned this before what..... :lol:

Interesting talk up there.

Now if we're talking about the school building complex shown at the top of this thread, I can't say that I'm overly excited. No immediate screams of "that ought to be protected and preserved. ;)

So what's the deal? I think a major aspect about schools is that they be located so that a maximum of pupils can reach the school building in a minimum of time ... sort of like a neighborhood focal point. If this school is well attended yet on the demolition schedule, the authorities had better build a new school in the same area right away. :)

actually most places are not far from a school (depends on what far means to you). however, especially for secondary schools and junior colleges, because singapore's education system is so competitive, parents think nothing of sending their children on hour and a half long journeys halfway across the island for a better school. that's of course if you qualify in the first place. take for example the secondary school i was in; a very huge proportion of students lived at least an hour away by public transport. this is the case too in many other schools. i've got a secondary school just a hundred metres away from my apartment, and another perhaps 3 bus stops away. in my neighbourhood (tampines), i've can think of at least 5 or 6 secondary schools... i dont relaly know how many but the figure should be higher since tampines is pretty large (280,000 people), and since there are about 180? 190? secondary schools in singapore. most secondary schools have a capacity of about 1600 (my secondary school's population so i'm assuming its the same for the rest).

uh... the point of my extensive ramble is that accessibility of schools is not a worry :p

Now under the PRIME programme (forgot the long name), all government schools in Singapore would be either rebuilt or have their old buildings extended.

So schools like those are almost 'extinct'.But they look ugly, not wprthy of any preservation.

Indeed ... not worthy of preservation! :D I totally agree with you on that one, redstone--at least in the instant case. Let them expand & modify to their hears' content! :)

Now heirloom's post fascinates me. Why would people send their kids on long journeys to school unless there were a distinct difference in quality between the school down the block and the one far away?

My walk to grammar school was about half an hour. The commute to the school I attended afterwards involed a bit of a walk, taking the tram, and another little walk, less than an hour total.

My question: does Singapore have private schools apart from the public school system?

Indeed ... not worthy of preservation! :D I totally agree with you on that one, redstone--at least in the instant case. Let them expand & modify to their hears' content! :)

Now heirloom's post fascinates me. Why would people send their kids on long journeys to school unless there were a distinct difference in quality between the school down the block and the one far away?

My walk to grammar school was about half an hour. The commute to the school I attended afterwards involed a bit of a walk, taking the tram, and another little walk, less than an hour total.

My question: does Singapore have private schools apart from the public school system?

Singaporeans(especially those from the older generation) have this deep compulsion to make sure they're always the best around. When they can't have this, they feel obliged to make sure their children do. Children end up being shipped to top schools like raw materials being sent to some value-added manufacturing outfit in the belief that they will end up being highly-successful money-earning wallet-filling individuals. It's sort of an old-fashioned thinking, but one that, in many ways, remains the trend....

Personally, i don't agree with it. Which secondary school you get in, after all, is dependent on one's PSLE results. Students take them when they're generally very young, so they may not fully realise it's significance. When they grow older, they tend to cherish education more and work harder. So many who didn't do when for their PSLEs still end up very successful students in whatever school they end up in.

Besides, success takes many forms these days. It's hard to tell. Look at Creative's top man, for example...

i guess the idea is that a school that churns out better marks would be better for your child.. also because such schools are in high demand, they have high entry requirements (quota system). being around overachieving people makes you less likely to fall victim to complacency i guess. another thing is that in what we call 'neighbourhood schools' (ie those that have low entry scores) there tends to be a greater proportion of students that are *less* well off, and also perhaps from shadier backgrounds (elite schools have such students too). there is a large extent of bigotism involved i guess.

actually it makes sense to group those who are more likely to score about the same together. people are less likely to develop superiority and inferiority complexes i guess. i think it can be quite psychologically damaging to be constantly at the bottom of the class and knowing you are slow relative to others in class.

about the quality of teaching... i'm not so sure about that.. i guess most schools would have about the same quality of teachers? i really dont know though. i had my fair share of bad teachers... some would talk about the bible... others would teach a level stuff.. and some simply didnt know how to teach. i guess teachers dont matter as much if you've got good textbooks, which i think singapore has. really you just memorise the textbook and you'll get an A.

actually it makes sense to group those who are more likely to score about the same together. people are less likely to develop superiority and inferiority complexes i guess. i think it can be quite psychologically damaging to be constantly at the bottom of the class and knowing you are slow relative to others in class.

Then again, those in so-called 'lower class' may end up feeling a lack of drive or discouraged. Or worse. Students in any type of class who do not get enough exposure to the other standards may develop a frog-in-well sentimentality, It helps to know what the rest of the world thinks.

Haha. This belongs in the education forums,

oh and to answer your question; there are private schools, but no one goes to private schools really. maybe foreign students or those who can't catch up with the syllabus.

the public school system consists of primary schools, government secondary schools (the majority) and independent secondary schools (always occupying the top rankings for secondary schools with some government schools in between), junior colleges and polytechnics (?).

my question: does the streaming system in primary schools still exist?

oh and another tidbit: parents actually shift homes to get their children into good primary schools! primary schools accept students whose homes are within a certain radius. like secondary schools, there is a group of primary schools that produce the top average results - some very ummm pro-active parents will do anything to get their children into these schools, while others trust that the quality of schools are constant.

Then again, those in so-called 'lower class' may end up feeling a lack of drive or discouraged. Or worse. Students in any type of class who do not get enough exposure to the other standards may develop a frog-in-well sentimentality, It helps to know what the rest of the world thinks.

Haha. This belongs in the education forums,


yeah that's true.. it's not easy to strike a balance.

It never is....

Geez..a bitch thread about old school buildings and the education system!

Unfortunately quite true, but the Education minister said that they would try to de-stress the system that overworks the students!

not sure if its good or not... although its very stressful, it's kinda good to know you know more than students of most other nationalities.. eg taking a levels exempts you from the first year of university in america according to some ex schoolmate who just went from vjc to some university in austin (without completing a levels)..

here i am in perth feeling very stupid :(

haha. That was exactly what was on my mind when i heard. indeed, it's so nice to know that we know more. actually, though i will agree that the current system is stressful, i qouldn't say it's stressful beyond cope. a little stress never did anyone harm. it's only when it gets out of control.

then again, maybe this is just the governments way of injecting dynamism into students' minds....

aiyah I'm sure you all still have a greater variety of choices anyway and isnt the education-scape here getting more diverse and interesting?

haiz i wish they said chinese not compulsory for university admission earlier.. and also hope that there was an option for jc without pe... then i'd be very happy

Haha. This belongs in the education forums,

Geez..a bitch thread about old school buildings and the education system!

Sorry, gents! I guess this was my fault by asking that question up there. I appreciate your answers :) and apologize profusely. :master:

Nah.... too much organisation can be stifling anyway.... :lol:

well its somewhat related to the thread isn't it...

@WH, oh well no worries. With a few clicks this thread can be merged with the education thread. Anyway whats important is that discussion is being generated :)

8 May 2005

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