By Huang Han Cheng (26S05B) and Lerraine Neo (26A01A)

The average student spends around five hundred and twenty days enrolled in JC. For most, the number is a countdown, with each passing day one step closer to liberation. Yet every year, several students of the graduating class make the brave (if confusing) decision to return to RI – not as students, but as teachers. 

This year, RI’s teaching staff was temporarily joined by three Y7s, as well as a few Y9s returning after their stint in the National Service. We spoke at length with some of them to hear their experiences working in such a strangely familiar place. This is their guide on surviving an extended stay in Raffles Institution. 

Part One: Expect the Unexpected

Unsurprisingly, being a teacher is pretty different from being a student. There are a few key differences to keep in mind. 

1. Reduce time spent in school

When asked if there were any differences between their daily routines as teachers compared to when they were students, three of our four interviewees began by detailing how much later they could wake up. 

“I don’t have to report for morning assembly; usually I’ll just come in about thirty minutes before my first lesson, so I can wake up a bit later,” Xin Xiang (Mr Gan Xin Xiang, a H2 Mathematics teacher, for those who skipped our introductory photos) reveals. 

Haotian (Ms Pan Haotian, H2 Geography) is the only one who’s routine hasn’t changed much, time-wise. She still wakes up at around the same time (7.00 am), leaves her house at around the same time (7.30 am), and reaches school sometime past 8.00 am. 

We are unsure of how she made it to school on time as a student.

2. Remember that you do not have to sit for A Levels

Perhaps the scariest part of RI is the looming dread and horror that goes by the name of the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Advanced Level. Without it, school can be a much more relaxing place. 

“It’s so much easier to wake up in the morning,” Haotian shares. “There’s just less pressure – less existential dread.”

“It’s so chill,” Sijia (Ms Cai Sijia, H2 History) adds. “I mean, obviously we aren’t grinding for A levels, so it’s really chill. Not having the loom of a national exam over you – it fundamentally changes you in so many ways.”

3. It’s not always about teaching

Technically, Sijia and Haotian are allowed to leave school after lunch, as long as they don’t have any classes to teach. 

“But usually we don’t leave,” Haotian clarifies. “Because we love work.” 

“And each other,” Sijia pipes in. 

As a boarder, Ken (Mr Lau Ken Ern, H2 Knowledge and Inquiry) is stuck in school most of the time. Which, on the bright side, means he spends a large percentage of his time in school not working. 

“Pre-TP season, I had to continue doing work from 7.00 pm to 11.00 pm, sometimes 12.00 am. But on good days like now [during post-TP season], I can just rest. Usually I’ll make music, or I’ll watch movies, Netflix, things like that.” 

Even during lessons, not all your time has to be spent teaching.

“A lot of classes were disrupted because of the Team Raffles Ceremony. More than half of my class wasn’t there – there were only like five or six people who weren’t involved,” Xin Xiang justifies. “So I thought it was quite pointless to teach when three quarters of the class wasn’t there. And it was the last day of the term.”

Instead of teaching, he took the opportunity to learn more about his students, chatting with them about their CCAs and hobbies. 

Part Two: Enjoying Yourself

Yes, it is actually possible to have fun in school. 

1. Security in familiarity 

It’s no secret that school life is extremely structured and routine. Every week, we follow the same timetable, pick from the same few canteen stalls, wear the same uniform and crash out over the same four or five subjects. For some, the endless repetition feels monotonous, mind-numbingly slow and boring. But as Haotian shares, routine can also offer a sense of structure and comfort. 

“I’m not a very structured person, and I like that school is such a familiar routine,” she says. “Except that I’ve leveled up, which is especially enticing.”

This sense of familiarity extends even beyond schedules and routine. Having just graduated last year, Ken finds that student culture in RI hasn’t changed much in the few months he was gone. 

“The prevalence of brainrot has significantly increased. But honestly, especially for 1A – the class I was from – student culture is pretty much exactly the same. The same nihilism, the same defeatism, the same crashouts, the same attitudes.”  

2. Clinging on to the last vestiges of your youth 

With how hectic JC can get, it’s easy to forget that it only spans less than two years. Two years isn’t a very long time, especially considering one has to juggle socialisation, academics, and (hopefully) sufficient sleep all at once. 

The infamous triangle

Returning as a teacher can be a nice way to relive your student days, but without the stress and sleep deprivation. 

“I loved JC, I really loved JC,” Haotian professes. “I wasn’t really ready to let go of school when I graduated, so it’s nice that I could come back. But I think I wouldn’t do this if Sijia wasn’t here.” 

That final part is a familiar sentiment shared by many students. Most days, it isn’t the promise of knowledge that drags us out of bed and into school in the early morning, but the thought of speaking with our friends, of spending time with our classmates and community. And sometimes, that sense of community even stretches to include teachers. 

“I eat with [my class] in school sometimes,” Xin Xiang comments. “They’ll invite me to lunch at the canteen, so I’ll just go with them.” He’s also tagged along to match support several times, cheering alongside his students at various NSG matches (though the presence of several new cheers has been rather confusing). But underlying these experiences, is a clear level of similarity and relatability between them, which allows for sincere conversations. After all, we have all been students under the same roof these few years. 

3. Laughing at others (and yourself) 

Xin Xiang shares a story he heard from another teacher about graphing calculators. Some students had figured out how to import periodic tables into their graphing calculators, and were happily showing their new achievement off to their friends. Unfortunately, their breakthrough was short-lived, as their teacher coincidentally decided to teach the class how to reset their graphing calculators later that lesson. 

Haotian, who states that her students are generally well-behaved, elects to share a story about herself instead.

“Sometimes in the morning I can’t turn the projector on,” she starts. “There have been times when my lesson has been delayed by more than twenty minutes because I need to call Estate for help.” 

To her horror, the Estate crew sent not one, but two staff members up, who promptly informed her that in order to turn on the projector, she first has to turn on the switch on the wall. 

“This has happened more than once. And they always send two guys up.” 

As for Ken – we’ll let the footage speak for itself. 

We are unsure of the rationale behind this. According to Ken, the three guys from Raffles Rock in his batch “thought it would be a good idea to do a roll competition.”

“I even thought of a bad pun for it,” he says. “I bet you’ve heard of Rockout, but not Rollout.”

It seems returning as a relief teacher after graduation is a vast improvement from being a student. At first glance, it seems like the best mix of fun, nostalgia, and freedom.

But it isn’t always sunshine and butterflies. Head over to Part 2 of this article to find out more about the challenges they’ve faced, how they’ve overcome them, and their final words of advice to current students.