Op-Eds

Commentary, Op-Eds, Student Issues

Why I Rejected the Raffles Academy
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Yeo Jia Qi (15S03H)

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Photo courtesy of the Straits Times

On May 28, RI alumnus Nominated Member of Parliament Eugene Tan, speaking about the issue of meritocracy and inequality in Parliament, ignited controversy when he called his alma mater “less of a beacon of hope”. This brought to my mind Senior Deputy Principal Mr Magendiran brandishing a copy of Christopher Hayes’ “Twilight of the Elites” in the Multi-Purpose Hall during the January Induction Programme, and discussing whether the book’s argument, of America having been consumed by a “cult of smartness” that created ever greater inequality, was applicable to our esteemed Institution.

Beyond the common debate about the enormous gulf separating Rafflesians from the rest of Singaporeans, few of us have paused to consider the question of inequality within our own school and the broad divides that exist among Rafflesian students. In particular, I believe that equality within our institution has been undermined with the Raffles Academy (RA) programme, creating a curriculum within a curriculum, and a widening academic gulf between the haves and the have-nots.

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Commentary, Op-Eds, Student Issues

What I’ve Learned From Fasting

Reading Time: 3 minutesBy Wahid Al Mamun (15A01A)
Photo credits to On Singapore

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Over the last month or so, I have undergone the ritual of fasting as a practising Muslim – the tenth year in which I have done so. This is the period where all Muslims abstain from all food and drink from sunrise to sunset in accordance with the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. In the process, I have been asked many questions about the entire ritual, many of which are out of pure curiosity. “Can’t you even drink water when it’s too hot?” some people have asked me in exasperation. Naturally, to see a group of people voluntarily give up all food and drink for an extended period of time is bewildering to many.

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Commentary, Op-Eds, Student Issues

A Little Less Than Kin, A Little More Than Kind…

Reading Time: 5 minutesBy Myko Philip (15A01B)

I distinctly remember one of the most touching scenes in Evan Almighty was where God, played by Morgan Freeman, talked about random acts of kindness to Evan Baxter whilst feeding his dog water. It’s a well-known trope in a generic feel-good movie, and something you’d not expect in real life.

As I write this, it is around 7.40 am on the last Friday of term before the June holidays and the skies are inauspiciously grey. For the first time in a long time, I arrived at the Marymount gate when it was still dark. I’d messed up my sleep cycle again and slept at 8pm only to wake up at midnight distressed and flustered. I had promised myself I’d do my International History term paper as soon as I could but ended up spending most of my afternoon reading Michael J. Sandel’s Justice and the early evening at a meeting. I stayed up from midnight and decided to get to school early in a desperate bid to get an hour of sleep before work. But this is what greeted me at 6:43am in the school canteen:

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Commentary, Op-Eds, Student Issues, What We Do

A Final Letter: Looking Back to Stride Forward

Reading Time: 4 minutesBy Lee Chin Wee (14A01B)

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For the first time in more than twelve months, a Raffles Press article appeared on Word of Mouth without my direct oversight. I found my cursor reaching reflexively for the ‘share’ button, my fingers ready to type out a Facebook message instructing my team to re-post the article. I catch myself. Moments later, the article is publicized by new people, with different names and profile pictures which I have yet to firmly associate with Raffles Press. Perhaps this is what Bertha Henson means when she writes on her blog – “This morning, May 10, my newspapers didn’t arrive at my door step. (It) has finally dawned on me that I am officially an ex-journalist and no longer entitled to free newspapers – which I have had for 26 years.” While my year in charge of Raffles Press pales in comparison to her storied career as a journalist and editor for the Singapore Press Holdings, I could immediately identify with her sentiments. It is an unsettlingly foreign, yet cathartic experience to find myself missing the daily mundanities of editing sports or arts reviews throughout the night, the chagrin of making a bad editorial decision, or the joy of seeing a well-written article go viral for all the right reasons.

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Commentary, Internationally Speaking, Op-Eds

Why There’s No Such Thing As “Not Feminist Enough”

Reading Time: 6 minutesThis article was written in response to an opinion-editorial by one of our members, which we published last week. You can read it here.

Cover photograph reproduced courtesy of the Huffington Post

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By Michelle Lee (14A01B)

I’ll preface this opinion piece by saying that yes, I am a fervent feminist. I am that girl who spends her free time writing rebuttals to sexist RJ Confessions, who can’t watch a movie without asking herself whether it passes the Bechdel Test, who has interned with AWARE in the past. In short, the kind of ardent advocate for women’s rights who might be caricatured as being a bra-burning, man-hating, humorless lesbian.

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