Once, when I was in junior college, the discipline master reprimanded a schoolmate for having his shirt tucked out while school was still in session. He said to the errant boy, “How dare you walk around with your shirt tucked out like that? What do you think this is? Your grandfather’s school?”
My schoolmate thought for a bit, then decided to say it. He said, “As a matter of fact, yes, it is”, as he pointed to the plaque at the college’s foyer, which informed all and sundry that the college was built thanks in no small part to the very generous donations of his grandfather, one of the pioneers of Singapore’s banking industry.
Of course, that schoolmate was punished to a few days’ worth of detention, but if I remember correctly, he also said, “damn, that was worth it – how often do you get to say that?”
So insensitive, this boy, for keeping the discipline master in his proper station.
But apart from the occasional derisive, “eh, your friend government school one ah?”, we got along fine at this institution, where we schooled with the likes of the Tans, the Shaws, the Tangs, the Wees and the Liens. (Other families went to a less fun college).
P.S. photo has nothing to do with this post, so don’t read anything into it. I couldn’t.
iTunes is playing an illegal copy of The Ground Beneath Her Feet from the album “The Million Dollar Hotel” by U2 & Daniel Lanois of which I have the original CD.
Technorati Tags: elitism, Singapore, wee shu min
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