TPJC

There were many articles that caught my attention in yesterday's Sunday Times but none more so than the article about the TPJC scandal that took up half a page.

I realise that being an ex-TPJC student, my views on the issue maybe a little biased but like it or not, I cannot sit and watch my school being torned apart - a school I have learnt is more than onlookers think it to be.

Proud are we to be, a part of Tampines Junior College

Before the school ranking system was abolished ,back in 2002, when I first entered junior college, TPJC was ranked no. 9, just a notch lower than Saint Andrews Junior College.

It came as a surprise then ,that then I broke the news that I was posted to TPJC to my mum, her face darkened. She had wanted me to enter TJC, that year in no. 5. Although I never got around to telling her, I secretly wanted to be there too. When I tried to tell her that all JCs were more or less the same, she became more agitated. What transpired was a confrontation that I hope would never happen again.

TPJC's reputation is too well known. Our affectionate Slacker JC title may seem like a bitter pill to swallow at first but, like medicine, with a little water and a little time, it feels almost like a second nature, a reputation to fulfill, to uphold.

Being in a better JC for the first three months I am sorry to say that the teachers in TPJC far outshine any of those I have met in my brief visit there. They are more patient, more hardworking, more able to understand that we don't assimilate information as quickly. So they conduct remedial lessons, design mind maps even fashion funny analogies to drive home a point. In all my years as a student, The teachers in TPJC are easily the most dedicated .

Our years here we'll perseverse, Our learning forever treasure

Sadly enough, we as students are somewhat of a letdown. We skip classes to sleep in the library when students from other JCs rush to the library to study. We do our minimum for tutorials while elsewhere, the standard is to be two tutorials ahead. While I would like to say we did the best we could, by the end of the first term, nearly half the seats were unoccupied.

Our reputation may be sad, but it is especially so when in walks a teacher who destroys it totally. Said the accused teacher,

There was no ill intention on my part but I should not have been over-friendly towards any student. From now on, such over-friendliness will stop.

We all know too well what an over-friendly conversation sounds like and most of the time it does not include words like "sexy" "legs" and "prominent limbs". Using euphemisms to make up for his stepping over of social boundaries is certainly not the way to go. Ill-intentioned or not, the teacher has clearly not acted in the best interests of the child.

Like Tammy, the girl concerned has had her social life and studies disrupted. Unlike her though, she had a chance to rein everything in, to show the school the pervert he really is, to expose the travesty. Instead she kept mum and let another, in this case, the user of the computer she forgot to log out of ,to spill the beans on the teacher and in the process paint her out to be a willing partner.

But the real losers are neither the girl nor the teacher concerned. The real losers are the faithful, hardworking teachers toiling day after day, ticking answers, answering questions and finding new ways for students to learn . This incident has dealt a deadly blow that vapouries the little reputation they have tried to save. It has done what sceptics have tried to do before and more - to lose faith in themselves.

It is an cruel irony then that it was done by one of their own.

So when we leave your hallowed portals, We will go with courage

I fear for the future of the school. What becomes of the students now that teachers are too tired of trying to prove themselves? What becomes of the institution I graduated from - a school I think deserves more than just scandals, unfounded titles and sorry days?

The website that got both student and teacher into trouble now only displays a "page not found'. But the answer I think cannot be found there.

Many of the batches before me prefer other JCs over TPJC citing that age old reason that they produce students with better results.

But I beg to differ. All Junior Colleges teach the same syllabus. What matters is the attitude the students take towards learning. What matters is that we stop looking at students from a certain school at a certain way, lest they prove to be better than us. What matters is that the teachers plow on with their mission to educate and to show the world it can be done.

Ready are we to face life's challeges

I do not dispute the fact that it isn't easy , going against public opinion. Already rumours are rife that the teacher planted a virus into the school's intranet. Already I see some students taking this to be a joke. Somewhere , out there, someone is praying for us to fail.

Titles, titles, scandals and titles. Slackers, hardwokers, science, arts, 02S24, 05A12, gold, red, green, I see TPJCians. And until we prove ourselves, how do we staunch the rumours, change our title and end the bigotry?

To bring thee glory alma mater