Above: The Crest of the Singaporean Ministry of Education.

As a Singaporean, I have grown up under a different education regime from the United States. It follows the British educational system closely, and the educational ladder we go up can be found below (with the American equivalent):

2 Years of Kindergarten

Grades 1 - 6: Primary School

*Final Exam: PSLE

Grades 7 - 10: Secondary School

*Final Exam: O'levels

Grades 11 - 12: Junior College

*Final Exam: A'levels

Kindergarten

No one can expect me to remember much about my kindergarten days. I am actually amazed by those who still can, and are able to relive their kindergarten past accurately.

All I could remember is that I hated the sweet potato soup the teachers gave us, and I got beaten to the swing by a girl who ran diagonally across the grass (whereas I obediently went around the perimeter).

I spent a year here before moving on to my next school.

Nanyang Primary School

This was to be my school for 7 years, as they take in students from K-2 grade. I think I was one of the last batches for that to happen. Now K-2 students stay in the kindergarten and only move on to Primary School proper after the end of the 2nd year.

As the name might suggest, NYPS (Nanyang Primary School) was a conventional co-ed Chinese school. That meant strict discipline, one can't voice disagreement (which meant disobedience), art had to be great, you had to score good grades (which I didn't) and so on. I may have my gripes about it, but it did play a huge role in shaping who I am today. I had my fun in school with the friends I made, and some memories to cling onto as I grow older.

Activities were not compulsory to have, and I didn't join any organization or group for more than a year. I only joined the 'wei qi' (or Chinese chess) club during my fifth year, and not going to it right after that. Learned a bit of this ancient game, and played a little with friends in the club too.

At the final year at NYPS, I took the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exam). Even though I studied hard for it, I only managed mediocre results. Interestingly, I scored the exact total score as my brother, but my grades were AAAA+, while my brother had AAAB.

Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)

There are actually 2 ACS (Anglo-Chinese School) secondary schools in the country. One is called ACS(I) ('I' for Independent, or privately-run), and the other is ACS(Barker Road) which is government funded. ACS(I) had all the name and prestige, and was where students with good grades went. If you have read about my primary school before this, I had normal grades and went to ACS (Br). Both schools were boys only.

People hold a misconception that it is a school of unruly boys, and couldn't make it to a good school. I really enjoyed my years in ACS(Br), and it is common for a lot of graduates to form strong bonds, and still keep in contact after leaving the school. Not to forget, bad chinese was the norm for students or even in fashion!

Mr. Ng Eng Chin was (and still is) the principal of ACS(Br), and was a respected figure. He had solid belief in the students he had, and was a father figure to us. 'Walk by faith and not by sight' was his motto, as he continued to inspire us to work to our best. We did make comments about his hair, which had a white spot on the fringes of his black hair. The teachers too were great, and we will always remember them. Right now, quite a few of the teachers have left the school.

In ACS(Br), I was in about 2 activities in my 4 years. I joined the Athletic Club for a year, only to leave after a year, and no one followed up on me after that. My other activity was the Scouts. My time in the Scouts was certainly memorable, as I made close friends from there, learned skills not taught in the classroom, got to know passionate Scout adult leaders, earn badges, do footdrill under the Sun, go to a Malaysia cycling trip, and even attend a Jamboree (huge collection of Scouts) in my homeland. I held 3 positions during my time which were Patrol Leader, Scribe and Venture. After I left the school for my Junior College, I did return to continue my involvement with the Scouts. I went on for a year, and held the Chairman post in the light of the Chairman's stepping down.

Certainly, I save the best for the last, and that is my class for secondary 3 and 4, or known as 'A2', and everybody actually looked forward to school. After 5 years since graduation, the class still meets up to hang out together and have fun. In the past get togethers we had roudy lunches, sumptous dinners, played in LAN shops (Counterstrike), and even held a laser tag game in a park! It was certainly a great class as we always reminise the crazy stunts (I would not recall them here), and the stupid things we did. I would like to say right here, that was the most united class (and school) I was in.