Operation Overlord

Write to live, live to write.

AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY Wednesday, May 6, 2009

A letter
The following letter will probably be insulting to a good many people. However I did not and do not intend to insult anyone of these people - it's just a complaint letter. I'll try not to mention ANY names. I find that there are quite a few things wrong with this school and it's time to say something about it. So once again, if anyone finds this letter offensive, I offer my sincerest apologies and will take this down immediately.

***

To whomever this may concern,
I am writing this because I am concerned about a few things going on in our school.
Firstly, regarding the Morning Jog, I would like to point out something. During this H1N1 Virus pandemic, you are right to say that we should avoid crowds. Now, a morning jog is also known as a mass jog, correct? What does the term 'mass jog' mean? Many, many people. At least 300 people, if not more. And what is another word for 'many, many people'? A crowd. Didn't I just hear someone telling us to avoid crowds during this pandemic? Wait a minute...aren't they the same people who tell us to go down for assembly and morning jog?

ANother thing - the Student Forums that you have are quite frankly an absolute, utter and complete waste of time. During the first student forum in Term 1, you got us to talk about school uniforms and that sort of thing, adding that we would not be scolded for our suggestions. Fine. But I'd rather get scolded and get the question answered than let you evade it like you did. Every suggestion made and you would come up with some stupid reason that is, I might add, poppycock. When we pressed on for a proper answer you evaded it completely and changed the subject. And those that were 'sensible' enough to not get an evasion from you got a "we'll look into it" which in your language translates into "We'll take your suggestion, shelve it and not look at it until ten years later, thanks". And not only that. If the student council had no idea what to say they would look at a certain teacher sitting besides them who would nod or shake her head. This is a student's forum, if I recall correctly. It's power to the STUDENTS; the teachers shouldn't even be in there in the first place. And when one of the netballers asked a question the netball teacher blew his top. I thought someone said something about "not getting scolded"? Or is that just my hearing?

The second student forum held you chose to do something much safer - school spirit. No more pesky, annoying questions. Smart. But it was totally and utterly useless as well.

The next topic is a sore spot for many secondary school students. Every Monday morning we have to stand in the field while the cute, dainty, innocent little primary school girls saunter down to their seats, carrying their funny little books. And whenever we do the family dance (Which is actually an unnecessary thing. It does increase bonding, but we're bonding against the school. And it's stereotypical too. Not all girls can/like to dance, you know.) the primary girls sit there and stare at us blankly or bury their adorable little noses in the books.

One: Why is it the Primary School Girls get to sit down? Every day we are the ones that stand. There is barely any day when we sit down. And if you give us that stupid "Oh, we have to take care of our mei mei men" excuse, PLEASE. You're insulting us. We're older and that's why we have to sit down, because we got arthritis and rheumatism. In any case, it's unfair. (And don't give me that "life is unfair" thing either. Some parts of life are unfair, but this one doesn't have to be.)

Two: Why is it the Primary School Girls get to stay in lass every day except for Monday? You know how we long to just stay in class. We have more tests than the Primary school girls could ever dream of, we need the time to study. Last minute mugging is very effective. If you argue that there's not enough space, think again. Ever heard of this huge place called the "Hall"?

Three: Why don't the primary school girls have to do the family dance? Surely they have learnt it. The Primary Twos have been in this school longer than the Sec 1s have, and yet it is the Secondary One girls who have to dance. And maybe the P1s and P2s are too young, fine. How about the upper Primary? Can't they dance? They've been watching the Secondary Section dance for three years at the very least. They know how to do it. Why can't the secondary section sit down one day while the Primary school girls dance and see how nice it is to be forced to do something against your will while being stared at by other people?

And now I shall move on to another subject. Our principal talks far too long at assembly, when she does. She has never talked for less than two minutes and her personal best is twenty one minutes and forty two seconds, which is roughly equivalent of Barack Obama's inauguration speech. Our principal may be the principal of this school, but she is not the president of the United States. She does not have to talk that long, in any case. If you cut out all the repetitions and unnecessary comments, her 21 minute speech would be less than ten minutes.

Now there is something else I would like to say. House Practice. You might say some are longing for Sports Day. But there are others who can't wait till it's over. Me, for instance. I don't see the point in making it compulsory for someone to sign up for two events. Not everyone is born an athlete. Some just can't run or jump or throw, and some just hate it. You can't force people to do something they don't want to do. And there's no point in saying that "If we don't then no one will join" because no one really joined. Everyone went for the 100m dash, and not a lot went for the high jumps. So basically all that this compulsory thing is doing is making a long queue and a headache for the teachers in charge of the 100m.

The last thing I shall talk about is something that would probably get me sued. Freedom of speech. You don’t know what freedom is until you lose it. I've never known freedom. Singapore may not have a reputation for having no freedom of speech, but it doesn't. Fine, it's not like in Thailand where one bad word about the King and you get jailed. But in Singapore isn't it turning towards that? The ruling party has been the PAP for a very, very long time. The other parties, the opposition never get to say anything and when they make the news, they do it because they're going to get sued for 'defaming' someone high up in the PAP (like I promised, I won't mention names). Don't know about you, but it doesn't sound like a lot of freedom to me.

Take America. Mr. Barack Obama called Mrs. Sarah Palin something along the lines of a pig with lipstick. There was a bit of an uproar but did Palin sue Obama? No.

Take England. A person - I forget his name - called Mr. Gordon Brown a "one eyed Scottish idiot". He was forced to apologise, but did Brown sue the chap? No.

You see how we lack freedom of speech? Our student forum is a very good example.

I suppose the moment you read this sarcastic and controversial letter you will a)"look into it" (i.e. shelve it), b) tear it up and throw it into the shredder before anyone can see it, c) sit and stare at it in shock and the sheer audacity of it all, d) Find the person who wrote this. But that will just prove what I've been trying to say - that you have no idea what freedom of speech means.

Yours sincerely
A friend
(or 2)
(or 3)
(or many more)
(a crowd?)

~Today in History~
1945: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

~Quote of the Day~
Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
-George Orwell

>>Forgotten by04:44