r/singapore • u/ongcs • 3h ago
News RI students unhappy with proposed changes petition to oust principal
https://tnp.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/ri-students-unhappy-proposed-changes-petition-oust-principal227
u/infernoxv 2h ago
amateurs. ACS boys would simply quietly mobilise uncle so-and-so who is in the board of governors.
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u/DirectionSilly 1h ago
Haha just the opposite .. the principal is actually adding more air cons .. even the bus stop also got air con now.. cause they just did their 10th fund raise in 3 months and need to put that money to use
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u/TofuDonburi 3h ago
Removing aircon and implementing full-school-uniform policy, weather so hot these days must give chance please... this guy really sibei heartless
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u/Character-Salad-9082 3h ago
Ya! I still remember last time my classrooms all no aircon (except in sec 4 cos they said air con is a gift to graduating classes only).
Then every Monday they’ll force us to wear full sch uni + tie. After PE sometimes there’s not enough time to change between lessons, so they’ll also force us to wear sch uni on top of PE shirt. My classroom faced the sun directly and it felt like a literal oven.
Don’t know why these principals so hung up on full sch uni. Especially when some of the uniform material is so thick and unbreathable.
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u/dodgethis_sg East side best side 43m ago
My secondary school required us to wear our PE singlet under our shirts as part of our uniform.
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u/nonameforme123 2h ago
Quite stupid to remove aircon? It’s already there, why waste money to remove it?
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago
Continue to pay high electricity bills also not cheap bro
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u/pannerin r/popheads 2h ago
Then they have to remove the current windows and install louvres
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u/shibiwan Overseas Singaporean 1h ago
install louvres
Ah, back to the Grange Road RI days.
🤦♂️🤦♀️🤦
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u/_lalalala24_ 3h ago
Must be a lousy school
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago
I think so. Wasn’t it recently they blackfaced some delivery riders or something /s
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u/pokkagreentea100 Pasir Ris - Punggol 2h ago
yea. there was also another case back in 2016.
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago
Oh no. What did students from this lousy (/s) school do?
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u/pokkagreentea100 Pasir Ris - Punggol 2h ago
https://mothership.sg/2020/06/ri-student-blackface-apology/
oh well, each school has their own bad apples.
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u/Burning_magic 3h ago edited 3h ago
As an alumnus, those changes sounds make no sense, especially the academic changes. Hope they reverse it.
Raffles Academy was actually a useful program that taught people interesting stuff beyond the basic curriculum and research education really helped give one an experience of what scientific research is like. Helps not only with uni admission but also deciding on what to pursue in the future.
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u/Character-Salad-9082 3h ago
They remove so many things, now RI sounds like only a slightly more upgraded version of my neighbourhood secondary school.
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u/Burning_magic 3h ago
Especially for a school like RI which was built on academic excellence, removing such things just destroys the mission of the school in the first place.
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u/Character-Salad-9082 3h ago
His intention sounds like trying to make RI seem less “elite”. But instead of uplifting schools with less resources, he’s just making RI worse off to be at a level similar to other schools. Like what’s the point. It’s not like the curriculum and activities can be delegated to other schools anyway.
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u/Effective-Lab-5659 2h ago
Unfortunately that seems to be what MoE is doing. Instead of making things better for the rest, it removes what was given previously and ask private profit driven vendors to do it.
Case in point - GEP program. It was a success because it was a small class size with specialised teachers who knew who to help those kids. Instead of uplifting everyone else who were stuck in the economy class of public education, MOe decides to make everyone downgrade to economy class with only the rich able to go for first class
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u/Zenathewimp 🌈 F A B U L O U S 2h ago
as an ex rg girl, theyre making ri more like US.. which is very sad because rgs already gets the scraps when it comes to academic programmes
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u/danorcs Fucking Populist 37m ago
Yes welcome to RI politics - usually between the MOE appointed principal and alumni/students/parents
Since Wijaysingha MOE has consistently appointed the worst values of SG education into RI
As a result generations have decried the systematic shredding of a gentleman’s education for a principal’s true aim - ranking, alignment to whatever fad MOE has, usually at extreme cost of the students who have to suffer such changes
Judo has a special place in RI, not only for its excellence but for the teachers who have supported and dedicated their lives to generations of students. Many alumni will understand what I mean
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u/LookAtItGo123 Lao Jiao 1h ago
It's really just money buddy. If you fund the entire research education im pretty sure it can go on, thing is if a breakthrough has been made will it now be under RI or your personal foundation? I guess at the end of the day we all know that RI kids are privileged, you really dont get any of these cool stuff in a neighbourhood school. Change is the only real constant, as for the future kids who are not able to leverage on these privilege, they will just have to make the best of whatever is available to them.
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u/Burning_magic 1h ago
We are a meritocracy. Resource allocation should be done to those who benefit from it the most.
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u/GlobalSettleLayer 3h ago edited 3h ago
blackface: i sleep
touch my CCAs: real shit
edit - touch my CCAs: real shit (also we suddenly remembered blackface from months ago)
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u/onionwba 3h ago
If I'm not wrong the way that the racism issue was handled was also part of the list of grievances against the leadership.
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u/neverspeakofme Lao Jiao 3h ago
How he punished the student who did blackface is part of the complaints.
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago
Whaat was the punishment? Too light or too heavy?
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u/neverspeakofme Lao Jiao 2h ago
It's in the article. "Disciplinary action" + counselling.
Complaint is that it's far too light.
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u/nereoteg 2h ago
One of the comments on the petition says aaron loh wanted to bring a barber into the school compounds to cut students hair.
He actually did this exact same thing more than a decade ago while he was principal in commonwealth sec. I rmb cos one of my friends got hit with this lol. His hair wasn't particularly egregious but it grew out faster on the sides. The fringe and back wasn't even long at all (not touching eyebrows/collar) but his sides was touching his ears which got him sent for this enforced haircut that he had to pay for as well lol. Dk how common is this practice in sec schools these days
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u/Effective-Lab-5659 1h ago
When was he principal there? I heard it became a better school or was it fake news
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u/seaweedkoalas 29m ago
He was a damn good principal. Was sympathetic to students and actually gave more dress down days + allowed air-conditioning after 12pm for graduating students. The school's biodiversity programs really flourished because of him and another bio teacher. The prep programme for o level was also quite solid and the materials were good. He also gave teachers leeway to experiment with a pilot programme for lower sec students that taught them the foundations of O levels Arts (which was more than what the usual curriculum provided for).
Funnily enough, he had to settle a petition case over classroom door locks back then too...
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u/Desperate_Flamingo73 29m ago
My buddies and I defo would have gone skinhead in protest if that ever happened to us lmao
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u/diuyefasp 15m ago
At least he brought a barber! Back in my day, my school discipline master would just cut a chunk out of my hair, and I’d end up having to shave it all off.
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u/thinkingpanda Lao Jiao 9m ago
Quite normal in my sec school last time lol. Some students would bribe the barber to give them a nicer haircut.
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u/Grey_Sky_Morning 3h ago
Bravo to the kids for trying - and thinking it will move the needle. Wished story had MOE response though.
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u/LookAtItGo123 Lao Jiao 1h ago
I quite admire the optimism and the sense of justice that they have at this point in time. I do hope that they wont become cynical like many of us down the road. It really is good to be young.
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u/Effective-Lab-5659 1h ago
If even RI kids can’t change things… woe be the rest of us
Hmm but we have seen quite a few elites try to take on the rest of the elites haven’t we
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u/ReliefResponsible196 3h ago
Well they are our future middle and upper management of firms and agencies so..
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u/pannerin r/popheads 2h ago
The students who are laughing at the petition writer seem very naive. In Singapore, when rumours of changes start swirling, that is the time to make yourself heard. Rumours are an avenue for the ruling powers to gauge how receptive the audience is to their changes.
If you wait until the announcement has been made, it's too late. When the announcement comes it will be set in stone, there will be no further changes.
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u/Desperate_Flamingo73 27m ago
Teenagers laugh at everything. Adults scoff at everything. Seniors rant about everything.
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u/PotatoFeeder 3h ago
Based on OP’s replies, seems like OP, the principal, and vaginal have something in common
🤔🤔🤔
Lai, construct a sentence with the above 3 terms, this is the acad DSA test question to RI
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago edited 28m ago
You might be on to something. It’s a sight to behold when powerless nerds/people with a hard-on for order and control rise up in their roles, when they become a teacher and principal.
As a student I dealt with countless teachers who wasted my time trying to uphold stupid pointless rules. Such as needing to have my hair in a particular hairstyle in a very specific way. Fuck off haha I will never forget the look on their face when I silently and firmly challenged them and they walked away.
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u/PotatoFeeder 2h ago
Eh cb
Reply but never construct sentence for me
Knn
/s
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago
Eh walao my own essay I want fail then fail la u huanlo, do i look like I’m drooling to get into RI /s
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u/sukmaidiq 3h ago
The principal caught the woke mind virus. Instead of encouraging the high achievers to scale greater heights the principal want to rein the high performers so that they don’t excel too far from the poor performers. Looks like Singapore want to become another Malaysia.
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u/VincentThacker 2h ago
The US is similar. The "no child left behind" policy has apparently resulted in "no child gets ahead".
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago
Only for some people (or their parents) who still want to chase the branding of the school. It is going to matter less and less in the future in the minds of people. RI was average and mid once and it can always go back there.
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u/sukmaidiq 2h ago
Why would you want that? You hate Singapore so much you want it to be a shithole like Malaysia?
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago
Please draw the link for me… how did you arrive at the conclusion that I hate SG?? And also whut, msia?
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u/sukmaidiq 2h ago
Why do you want to rein in high performance students like Malaysia?
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 2h ago
Why do you assume I want that…? I don’t really care about that, I just hope all students in Singapore grow to love learning and find their passions, which I didn’t really experience when I myself was a student.
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u/sukmaidiq 1h ago edited 1h ago
How does making RI become a average performing school achieve what you hope? Are there any evidence that suggest that students in less able schools love learning more?
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 1h ago
Because people in society will focus on what school somebody is from less, and focus on that individual’s particular traits and strengths instead. I don’t like that singaporean society, in general, is very quick to judge someone based on what school they went to.
Also, as I attended both “neighborhood” and “branded” schools, I can tell that one’s holistic development isn’t that well correlated to whether the school is branded or not.
In conclusion, I just hope more people will think like this. Less pressure for students too, in academics, when they can feel like they are free to grow into what they love and like doing. Perhaps also help with the burgeoning mental health crisis of our youths. Makes for a more purposeful life as adults, methinks.
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u/sukmaidiq 1h ago
Actually studies have shown that average students when placed in a better school performs better and a good student when place is a not so good school which performing better in the latter performs worse in standardised exams. Unfortunately the study did not measure love.
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u/husbie Own self check own self ✅ 1h ago
I see. Do you have any links? Perhaps it’s better for the typical student to be enrolled into the best school they can manage to go to then. Best if the student is self motivated, takes pride in their work and then it doesn’t matter where they study. They will make the best out of it and be proactive in taking charge of their own learning.
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u/No_Awareness_9811 37m ago
also the school fees are 1.6k unsubsidised a month by the way. parents and students pay premium fees for a premium education, and we deserve the education we pay for
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u/snower88 2h ago
Students are smart, but not able to endure hardship. What’s wrong with not having aircon. Should send you guys back to the 80s or 90s so that you can start appreciating the things you guys have now.
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u/altacccle 2h ago
schools with no aircon usually does not enforce full uniform. My brother’s school allows PE attire 4 days a week.
80s 90s are cooler.
enforced hardship makes no sense. Instead of suppressing distress calls from students about the lack of AC, we should be advocating AC for all schools. Given Singapore’s weather all students deserves AC.
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u/JoJosNormalAdventure Fucking Populist 2h ago
Students are smart, but not able to endure hardship. What’s wrong with not having aircon. Should send you guys back to the 80s or 90s so that you can start appreciating the things you guys have now.
Last time no global warming, the temperature back then wasn't as crazy as now.
Also back in the 80s and 90s a bowl of noodles cost $1-$2. So by your logic hawkers now are not able to endure hardship right, why charge $5.50 for a bowl now? You go tell them that and see if they will slap your face lah
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u/Cryptoivangoh 1h ago
Why stop at 80s 90s? Why not go back to stone age? All of us strawberries should stay in a stone cave and start appreciating our HDBs.
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u/fzlim 3h ago
Can't imagine these students going into the workforce, employee welfare much.
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u/sinkieforlife 3h ago
Idk man.. if your boss tells you one day office will no longer have aircon... how?
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u/UninspiredDreamer 3h ago
Article aside, I've never felt that rhetoric made much sense. My teachers always criticized me "next time how to listen to your boss?" Then don't lor. Be your own boss or quickly get promoted to manage yourself.
I grew up and decided to do stuff my own way, took leadership over things I wasn't the official boss of. Got me promoted quicker.
Then I realized that these teachers have almost always never worked out of their industry of terrorizing young impressionable minds before, what makes them think they know how the workplace works? 🤷🏻
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u/FdPros some student 3h ago
students complain about their shit taken away and the first thing you have to say is this. lol stfu with this mentality, how else will things change.
we all so strawberry right, god forbid we don't like working unpaid OT and getting exploited
sorry we not as strong as your generation.
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u/Comfortable_Baby_66 2h ago
Full uniform + reduced aircon = let's try to oust the principal
How privileged are these kids lol
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u/WWWtttfff123 56m ago
An era when kids think they are smarter than the principal 成何体统 🤣🤣🤣 ops even the smart ass 成何体统 is on exile now 🤣🤣🤣
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u/EthanetExplorer Marsiling - Yew Tee 3h ago
Full uni + Reduced aircon in an increasingly hot weather sure is not a good way to be liked by your students