Commentary

Commentary, Features, Raffles Reviews

Most Exhibits Focus on Pollution. This One Didn’t.
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Gregory Ng (27S05A)

The room was haunting: zero light (except for the green “Exit” sign), but the silence was pierced by harrowing echoes, groans, and moans.

This isn’t a description of Halloween Horror Nights, but the atmosphere made it feel almost like it. Instead, it was one of a dozen art exhibits at the ArtScience Museum’s latest gallery, Into the Deep: Journey Beneath.

Unlike most environmental-awareness galleries, which typically focus on the devastation that we humans have caused the Earth, this exhibition takes a noticeable break from the usual fearmongering. Let us, then, explore this museum to answer the question: What is the story this exhibit wants to tell?

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Commentary, Culture, School Life

Roblox: An iPad Teenager Essential
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Tran My Linh (27A01B)

For a game designed for 9-year-olds, it is rather odd that so many Rafflesians are playing Roblox. Having grown up in the booming digital age, many of our childhoods were spent playing online, rather than offline. While many of us have now grown out of Subway Surfers and Candy Crush Saga, Roblox has surprisingly proven to be an anomaly. My class, for instance, often hosts Roblox parties during breaks as a bonding activity. So what is so appealing about a gaming app that sets it apart from all the other trendy games that have been in vogue but subsequently cast aside?

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Commentary

Why You’re Secretly Superstitious
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Saadhana Kalimuthu (27A01C)

In the age of Google, ChatGPT, and instant access to every fact in human history, you would think superstition would be dead. But no: it survives in TikTok trends about “manifesting” good grades, group chats that blame bad weeks on Mercury retrograde, and students who absolutely refuse to take an exam without their specific “lucky” pen. Is all this simply a silly joke? We laugh and behave as if it is one, but it’s difficult to proclaim that we don’t believe in it at all.

So, why do we still hold onto these beliefs when we know the science behind them? Why do perfectly rational students still hold their breath when walking past a dark corner?

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Commentary, Raffles Reviews

Paved Over the Dead
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By: Saadhana Kalimuthu (27A01C)

You know that instinct to sprint up the stairs the second you turn off the lights? Or the hesitation before looking into a mirror at 3 AM?

For a country as modern and brightly lit as Singapore, we have a surprising number of ghost stories. We pass by these supposedly haunted spots on our daily commutes, and we’ve all heard the legends passed down by friends or family. But have you ever wondered where these stories actually come from?

Many of our most famous haunts aren’t just fabricated to scare people, but rather deeply rooted in history. Once you look past the surface-level scares, you’ll realise these places are much more than just urban legends.

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Commentary, School Life

Tab Overload: Clearing the Digital Clutter
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Lee Yi Ning Megan (27A01B)

Working online often begins innocently enough. You open a document, a few sources for research, perhaps a dictionary or a video in the background. Before long, however, the number of tabs begins to multiply.

Some are immediately useful. Others are kept open because they might be needed later. A few have probably been sitting there for days, long after you have forgotten why you opened them in the first place.

For many students, this has become a familiar part of studying online. Tabs often serve as reminders of unfinished tasks and pages we intend to revisit, but as they accumulate, the tab bar can quickly become cluttered and difficult to navigate.

So, why are we so reluctant to close them, and what can we do when our tab bar starts getting out of hand?

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