Tag: school

15 Things Only S’porean 90s Kids Will Remember From Their School Days

Going to school back in the 90s wasn’t about having the latest iPhone or MacBook. There was a time when kids played in sand-filled playgrounds and depended on school bookshops for affordable novels and comic books.

If you grew up in Singapore as a 90’s kid, then you’ll remember how much fun we had in school even without phones and social media. We were born in a time where we got to witness the evolution of technology and the proliferation of the Internet – which is pretty damn cool, if you ask me.

The 90s brought us lots of fond memories. Here are several things you’ll remember about school as a 90s kid!

1. OHP 

Remember when every class had leadership roles for everyone? Class Monitors, Group Leaders for different subjects and the most important role of all – AVA Monitors. They were always responsible for the set up of the OHP Projectors.

Don’t forget the shadow puppet shows we’d always perform using the OHP.

Cheap thrills ah they say.

2. Morning Silent Readings

Remember dragging your feet to school at 6:30am begrudgingly to sit in the parade square for morning assemblies?

We used to call it “Silent Reading” and your teachers would walk down the row to inspect the books you brought to school. We’d read everything from The Bookworm Club and Enid Blyton to True Singapore Ghost Stories and Mr Midnight.

[caption id="attachment_35168" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image Credit: GizTrendZone[/caption]

Secret compartments, in-built sharpeners and some even had compasses.

4. Country Eraser

You could get these country erasers for 10 – 20 cents from your school bookshop!

We used to keep ourselves entertained by flipping our erasers and celebrating mini victories whenever we won because that meant you could keep your opponent’s erasers.

We used to staple our erasers as well and transform it into a mini gasing. Just remember not to get caught by your teachers during lessons.

5. Corporal Punishment

Caning is also used as a form of corporal punishment and disciplinary measure in primary and secondary schools.

Remember public canings? Oh they were the worst.

If you see your discipline master with rolled up sleeves with a cane in his hand up on stage, you know things are about to go down.

6. Floppy Disk

Before thumb drives, we had floppy disks.

Can you remember the smell of these things? Remember the sounds the computer made when it was reading the disks?

We used to carry stacks of these for IT classes or to simply store pictures in them.

7. Phone Cards

Instead of carrying coins around, your mom would get you a phone card with a certain amount of money in it instead.

We’d rush to the nearest phone booth just to call them during recess.

“Ma, today got remedial at 1:30pm.”

“Until what time, later I fetch you.”

“Okay ma, I need to go oledi. Bye bye.”

8. Kiwi Shoe Whitener

Weekends were always reserved for cleaning your shoes.

Remember spending a whole hour scrubbing your shoes, air drying them, using the kiwi shoe whitener and drying them again?

If you come to school with dirty shoes, be prepared for after school detention.

9. Young Scientist Badges

You know you’re a true Young Scientist Master if you collected these badges.

Long before computer games came up with the achievement unlocking systems, we grew bean sprouts, ran around collecting leaves and did many other things to earn these young scientist badges.

Remember pinning these badges on your uniform collars just to show it off to your other classmates?

10. Dental Care 

Every kid in primary school used to get a free toothbrush and container from the school dentist. We used to line up outside the dentist in two rows while the dentist would teach us how to brush our teeth the proper way.

“Okay remember, don’t forget to brush your gums also. Up and down 5 times.”

11. Collecting Stickers

Sticker books was the in thing then.

Autograph books were exchanged and classmates you like would take a turn to write in your book, decorating it with poems. There was even a section where friends were ranked. Ouch.

We only used sparkly gel pens to write in it because we were hella fancy.

13. Velcro Wallets with Silicone Coil Chains

This was the noisiest thing to ever exist.

These chains came not only in block colours but also in neon rainbow colours. They were the top selling item in almost every Primary School bookshop.

If you are a boy, you were considered cool if you had one of these hooked on your school shorts’ belt loops. I remember dodging many Spider-Man and Billabong Velcro wallets when sweaty boys run around during recess.

14. Trolley Bags

They see me rollin’, they hatin’.

The lucky kids who owned trolley bags soon realised that dragging their new bags up the stairs was much more troublesome than it looked.

But the thrill of owning one made up for that.

You’re basically Regina George in Mean Girls.“I have the coolest school bag now. Everyone else is irrelevant.”

15. MSN Messenger

Before we had WhatsApp or Facebook messenger, we all had MSN accounts.

I’m sure all the 90s kids would sigh with nostalgia at this. We’d rush home after school and made promises to our friends to go “online” at a certain time.

Everyone had to have some kind of status message (mostly emo lyrics) else they weren’t cool.

Rawr means I<3 you XD 

What are some other fond memories you remember from school?

Also Read From June 20, Your KFC Drinks Will No Longer Come With Plastic Caps And Straws

(Header Image Source: Pinterest , Wikipedia , 

NUS Opening 140 Modules To Alumni Sounds Good, But Not If You Read Closely

Yesterday, the National University of Singapore (NUS) announced that it will be opening 140 courses to its alumni over the next three years. This comes as part of its efforts to promote lifelong learning.

When something sounds too good to be true, it often is. Before you get excited and start making plans with all your ex-uni mates from NUS, here are some things you should know about the courses being made available to you.

1. It will only be free for one year

Don’t be misled by the headlines. While alumni can attend for free for the first year (August 2017 – July 2018) of this three-year offering, the subsequent two years will not come at completely zero cost.

While the $3,000 to $3,500 per module course fee will be waived, a student service fee of $261.85 will be charged per semester.

2. NUS Alumni can only take a maximum of 2 modules over the 3-year period

Before you get excited thinking about going back to school, you should know that you can only take a maximum of 2 modules. Not per semester, not per year, but for the entire 3-year period. You are also limited to taking only one module per semester.

3. Modules you are eligible for heavily depends on your degree/major

Most of the modules offered are at the post-graduate level, with entry pre-requisites including Bachelor of Engineering/Science/etc., or the stricter Bachelor with a specified major. More lenient pre-requisites include Bachelor degree relating to a particular are of study (e.g computing), with only a handful of courses available with zero pre-requisites.

Being a Psychology major who studied in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, who also took a couple of business modules, I can see from a quick glance that I am only eligible for a total of 15 unique modules out of 140, spread over the 2 semesters—most of which are offered by the School of Business.

These modules include Project Management, Decision Analytics Using Spreadsheets, Legal Environment of Business. From the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, which offers courses with no pre-requisites, I am also eligible to take Social Entrepreneurship and Value-Focused Negotiation.

4. Representation of Arts and Social Sciences courses limited

For those who studied at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences like I did, you’ll be disappointed to know that only 2 modules are offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences during AY2017/2018: Prescribed Texts In Literature and Seminar in Chinese Pragmatics. To attend, you must have an NUS Honours degree (2^nd Class and above) or equivalent, or a good Bachelors degree.

Before you get excited thinking about returning to your alma mater and giving your uni experience a do-over, taking modules you missed out on or learning things you didn’t get the chance to back when you were in school, these are some things you may have missed that are worth taking note of.

As far as these courses are concerned, it’s not about learning for the sake of learning or to expose yourself to different things—it’s much more about deepening your knowledge in your existing field.

(Top Image Credit: Isem.nus.edu)

Also read NUS Clinches 1st Place In Asian University Ranking For Third Year Straight; NTU Rises To 3rd