Op-Eds

Commentary, Opinion, Student Issues

It’s Okay to Not Know What You Want to Do!
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Andrea Ng (22S06B)

To the lost Rafflesian:

Ever see your older cousins or aunts and uncles get pelted with questions about their jobs and relationships during family gatherings? Those questions never fail to give me a good laugh and I would think to myself that thankfully, that is a problem for another day, because I am still studying. 

As I grow older, I realise that age does not matter when it comes to being asked the BIG question: what do you want to do in the future?

I myself am guilty of using this as a conversation starter. However, this is a bad one that usually gets me nowhere in developing a stronger relationship with the other party because when the same question is thrown my way, I simply answer: I don’t know.

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Commentary, Nationally Speaking, Op-Eds

National Examinations: How Standardisation Benefits Us
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Clara Chai (22A01D)

104 twenty-cent and fifty-cent coins. 1.134 kg. Sound familiar? 

While browsing through countless memes of Helen and Ivan last year, I came across this interesting news article. It touched on the stress that the PSLE brings to young children, as well as how our approach towards the national exams may be causing more harm than good. Yet, it also encouraged readers to maintain a positive attitude towards these exams.

For most students, the grades that they attain from their examinations are very important. To them, their marks impact their academic confidence and future educational pathways. For this reason, the scores they obtain for their national examinations may carry more than double the weight in their hearts. Words like ‘bell curve’ and ‘national performance’ strike fear in many students’ hearts as their grades seemingly hang on sheer unpredictability.

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Commentary, Op-Eds

Covid-19, My New Housemate
Reading Time: 10 minutes

By Faith Ho Enki (22A01A)

A fully vaccinated household contracts Covid. Here’s what happens. 

Day 0

Thursday, past nine. My brother stands outside my room, slightly over a meter away, holding up a thermometer. “Jie (Chinese name for older sister), I have a fever. But I can still taste and smell, so I probably don’t have Covid.” 

*

Past ten, I hear two knocks on the door and my mother’s muffled voice from the other side. “Your brother has Covid.” 

I walk out, feeling a bit like I’m in a dream. My parents are seated at separate sides of the dining table, both wearing N95 masks. I take the proffered antigen rapid test (ART), and for the first (but not last) time stick a swab up my nose. I slip the N95 that’s lying on the table over my head. It’s almost surreal; we were just here a few hours ago laughing and talking over dinner, and now we are spaced apart, breathing hoarsely into our masks like budget Darth Vaders. 

Truthfully, it never crossed my mind that my family would have a Covid case—it was always something that happened to other people.

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Op-Eds, Student Issues

Let’s Talk: Productivity Is Overrated
Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Lara Tan (22A01B)

You know that funny feeling you get when you open your Instagram account (if you hadn’t already deleted it) around Promos season, and your friends are posting about a certain leafy productivity app that helps them stay focused for hours at a time? 

Yes, you know what I’m talking about. 

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Op-Eds

Spilling Out Of The Lines: In Celebration Of ADHD Awareness Month
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Mirella Ang (22A01C)

A pair of boys went to a park, smashed a beehive, got chased by bees, jumped into a reservoir, got caught in a whirlpool, and almost drowned. Luckily, they were saved by a passing policeman who threw them an oxygen tank. This was what my brother wrote for a primary school composition based on the picture of a cartoon beehive. 

His incredulous story’s origins aren’t all that incredulous. A few years ago, he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental disorder. 

Think autism, but a little crazier: several studies have identified overlapping traits that people with ADHD and autism possess. (However, autistic people hyperfixate on the little details; people with ADHD hyperfixate on every detail.) 

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