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Values, not brand name
I SPENT my junior college days in Hwa Chong, a notably premier institution whose achievements include having produced 49 President's Scholars - a record among junior colleges here.
But what matters more to me are the values it inculcated in me.
My identity stemmed greatly from its can-do mindset, and I was constantly encouraged to break boundaries. I still vividly remember its philosophy: 'Live with Passion, Lead with Compassion.'
And, staying true to our Chinese origins, I was encouraged to adopt a global perspective and yet remain culturally aware of our history and traditions.
These shaped me more than just the fact that I came from a 'premier' school.
Last month, The Straits Times reported that Hwa Chong has a four-generation teaching crew. I think the desire of alumni to return attests to the strength of its ethos.
Berton Lim, 21, is a first-year business administration student at NUS.
Branding is indispensable
WHICH school one attended is almost a requisite feature in introductory small talk among youth.
We spend large parts of our time in school, so it is only logical for us - or even adults - to associate the branding of a school with its 'products'.
Emphasis on branding is not new, and has taken on new levels in recent times.
In a 2004 Wall Street Journal article, Raffles Junior College was dubbed the 'Gateway to the Ivy League' for its 'cognitive produce'. Ivy League admissions officers candidly declared how brand names helped them in making the decision whether to accept or reject an applicant.
More recently, old boys from Hwa Chong lobbied for a nearby Circle Line MRT station to be named after their school.
For youth with little else but an education, school branding is indispensable.
After all, the easiest way for me to judge someone else at face value is on grounds of his academic affiliations and I expect the same scale to be exacted on me. Call me judgmental, but it's the sad truth that we all are.
Rueben Tan, 20, has a place to read law at NUS later this year.
Caught in the middle
WHEN I was in secondary school six years ago, my school's academic ranking was average - neither 'neighbourhood' nor 'elite'.
Such rankings affect the way students think of themselves.
Among peers in places like tuition centres, I felt inferior to those from 'elite' schools - their pride in their grades was always evident. Others from lower-ranked schools displayed their hostility by ignoring me, lumping me in the same league as the 'elite' students.
After completing my A levels at a 'neighbourhood' junior college, I worked as an intern in a media company with others from top junior colleges who held scholarships.
I made it a point to work doubly hard to prove myself and, fortunately, my tenacity and passion - along with a friendly disposition - helped me dispel prejudices.
Not everything is about the uniform I used to wear.
Eunice Quek, 22, is a final-year English major at NTU.
Bucking the trend
THERE'S an old joke which goes: How many Victoria Junior College (VJC) students does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: One to change it. The whole school to cheer him on. The joke pokes fun at the over-enthusiasm of VJC students, but there are 16 others like it, ribbing at every junior college's stereotype.
It's also pretty telling that a common ice-breaker in Singaporean conversation is 'Which school were you from?' Many youth, myself included, probably find it tempting to pigeonhole others and rank ourselves based on alma mater.
But brands are fast becoming relics.
Recently, schools like Catholic and Meridian junior colleges are carving their own niches in Knowledge and Inquiry and Project Work respectively.
I also have schoolmates from 'neighbourhood' schools like Kranji and Bishan Park Secondary who scored 6 A1s for their O levels. For every stereotype, there are always individuals who will buck the trend.
Chong Joe En, 17, is a humanities student at ACJC.
'Course identities' for the polytechnics
A POLYTECHNIC student rarely gets 'branded' according to his school, but rather, the course he is enrolled in.
For example, mass communications students are supposedly individualistic and the life of the party. Business studies students are professional and well-dressed, while early childhood students are caring and pleasant-mannered.
In time, these oft-observed qualities develop into a 'course identity' and as long as you are in the course, you carry its trademarks.
One downside is getting stereotyped according to your course of study. But on the lighter side, such identities are usually the result of casual, fun observations and rarely come back to haunt the people associated with them.
Bryan Toh, 16, is a first-year mass communications student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
Youth elitism undesirable but inevitable
BE IT parents or relatives who use their children's achievements in games of one-upmanship, or an education system overly focused on the segregation of achievers from non-achievers, we have been indoctrinated with the idea that there is an upper strata of 'top' schools where only the 'best' study.
And just as adults derive a sense of superiority from factors such as income or profession, it is also a characteristic human failing for us youth to label ourselves and feel good based on the brand of our schools.
I am from a perceived top junior college and the manner by which my peers and I compared, envied and condescended among ourselves reflected a broader societal emphasis on ranks, results and achievements.
It was only as I grew older and started to mix with friends from other schools that I realised such notions of self-worth were just meaninglessly elitist.
Nonetheless, as long as society continues to place a premium on brand names and ranking, elitism will probably remain inevitable.
Jeremy Teh, 21, has a place to read law at NUS.
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
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