Disclaimer: This post is but the humble opinion of the owner of http://people-need-the-Lord.blogspot.com and should not and cannot be taken seriously as it will be biased, just like the opinions of everyone else. Whatever is written is general and are not personal attacks.
Warning: This post may have content that may be offensive to some parties as the writer is extremely emotional over this topic. Should you be unhappy with what has been written, kindly stop reading. You may contact the writer to remove the post to prevent it from offending more people.
THERE. AHA! So now no one will be able to sue me for writing about this topic.
I refer to the article "Gifted scheme kids to mix more with others" The Straits Times, November 3 2007.
(To begin with, let me point out that the word 'kids' refer to baby goats. The word "others" here also seems to hint that Gifted scheme children are antisocial creatures who do not talk to people. Hmmm... Gifted scheme baby goats to stirr well with non-gifted scheme baby goats.)
The article says that "The push for integration [between mainstream & GEP pupils] is in part a response to long-held criticism that the GEP is elitist and churns out students who have problems relating to their non-GEP peers."
Well, I say, "DUH it's true we have problems relating to non-GEP peers."
I have friends in church who don't know anything.
They aren't from RGS and they don't know and don't bother what class I'm from, and well, I find myself fine.
I just asked one of the church people if I'm stuck up.
YAY I'M SO HAPPY.
I got a reply of "nope".
SEEE?
Doesn't that prove my point here?
I think I can talk to people, more or less, as long as they don't find out.
Fine, I trust that church people are kind people, but I can't say that about everyone.
Let's say Laura goes and joins this.... martial arts class.
And she makes friends, good friends.
AND one day one friend asks, "How many times a year are NYPS exams?"
And I say, "ER..... Sorry, not sure."
And she says, "That's not possible...."
And I say, "Welllllllllllllllllllllll................."
And she says, "Don't tell me you're one of those stuck up GEP pupils?"
And I say, "Uhhh.... yea"
And she says, "No wonder you're so egoistic and so full of yourself and look down on me and so etcetcetcetc"
And then the person tells the whole world and no one wants to talk to Laura ever again.
DOESN'T ANYONE ELSE BUT US UNDERSTAND HOW TERRIBLE IT FEELS for everyone to think GEP pupils are bullies who look down on mainstream pupils and all that crap?
I shall now show you something.
GEP pupil: hey what did you get for .... test?
mainstream pupil: sure lower than you, GEP stuck-up kid. see? All GEP kids are stuck-up
another mainstream pupil: hey what did you get for ... test? I got GPA 4.0!
mainstream pupil: sighs, YOU are always so stuck-up
Do you see that?
When a mainstream pupil is stuck-up, people say "it's just HER"
When a GEP pupil is stuck-up, they say "all of them are THE SAME"
We're HUMAN.
And we're not perfect.
And we're all different.
And we do need friends.
Let me quote from Janne's blog.
" And when they walked by us, they were like "GEPers". And they said it in a really nasty tone... And we didn't do anything to them."
It's like, being a 'GEPer' has become something nearly TABOO.
People dislike us when they hear that we are 'GEPers'.
Well, many people, though not all.
We don't go around boasting to people about our so called 'GEP status'.
We don't want to, and even if we do want to, it wouldn't be worth it losing 958715932743289041290540598209 friends at a go.
And we don't go around calling everyone who isn't from the GEP 'MAINers' or anything else for that matter.
I don't think we're that bad.
SO WHY DO PEOPLE HATE US?
Sighs.
I'm not trying to boast, but some people say GEP people are like, "the nation's 'brightest'".
And IF so, why do people treat "the nation's 'brightest'" so poorly?
Sighs.
My GEP days are over but unfortunately, persecution continues xD
Persecution is a tad too strong, though! xP
Oh by the way, I don't like the idea of integration.
#1 If the GEP IS really elitist, integrating the top mainstream pupils with GEP pupils will only increase the pool of 'elitist' pupils in Singapore, aggravating the problem and obviously not doing anything to solve it.
#2 I know I'm going to sound very proud and all that saying this and contradicting everything I've said about the GEP not being elitist, BUT I have to say this.
Actually, GEP papers are much harder than mainstream papers.
I've done both.
NOTE: I am NOT saying that GEP pupils are SMARTER, nor am I saying that mainstream pupils are DUMBER.
I am only trying to say that the GEP programme is FASTER.
Take english as a perfect example.
From P1-P3, english was my best subject.
I remember getting 100 or close to 100 for every paper.
P4 & P5, everything changed.
In P4, I think I scored 59 for english.
In P5, I think I scored 60+ for english.
In P6, in preparation for PSLE, we went to mainstream papers.
I think I scored 89 for my prelims though :(
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the programme IS REALLY FAST.
If the pupils are not intergrated into the programme LIKE GEP PUPILS, TAKING ALL THE GEP LESSONS FROM THE START, they will not be able to 'compete' with the GEP pupils and might feel discouraged that they don't know what the GEP pupils have already learnt.
But if they are mixed into the GEP classed from P4 onwards, why not just scrape the GEP programme altogether and do something like IP which is top 5% or something?
That way, more people will get in and naturally less people will complain.
BUT DUHH I'M AGAINST THIS.
I've benefited a great, great deal from this programme and I can understand why there ARE actually people who want to send their children for GEP preparatory classes, because they want their children to benefit from the programme (although I do not support people to do so.)
And one of the reasons I've benefited from the programme is the competition.
Competition is necessary to motivate people to do well.
Healthy competition, of course.
Okay I think every word I say is throwing my own credibility away because I certainly sound arrogant.
But REMEMBER.
Arrogant people are all over.
Not everyone who is arrogant is from the GEP.
And not everyone who is from the GEP is arrogant, even though I admit I think I am.
xD Though I hope to pass off as normal, of course.
And after reading this long long long long post,
LOVE ME, HATE ME, KILL ME NOW
xD relevant right?
Yikai, Zhener!
Must support!
Although my parents won't allow me to go, YOU must go! (:
<3 laura (:
hold me now at 1:16 PM
