Coming from a Normal Academic Stream in secondary school, I was disregarded and frowned upon by relatives, teachers and peers. This negative stigma associated with the Normal Academic stream greatly affected my self-confidence for a long time, turning me into a rebellious teenager who in turn disregarded her studies. Looking back, I am of the firm opinion that a good teacher must advocate not just academic excellence, but holistic personal and character development. Allow me to share my educational journey below.
Recalling back, a major turning point for me was when I tuned in to a series of documentaries one day on the television after school, which sparked in me a newfound passion in Environment, Human and Animal Rights. It was then that it dawned on me, the problems I faced were merely trivial and that many people out there going through much more. It would instead be more worthwhile dedicating my time and effort into creating change. Positive changes in Society, its values and ecosystem. At 16 years old, I set my heart on pursuing my dream course —The Environmental Studies Degree Program at the National University of Singapore. The course only admitted an ‘elite class’ of students, with a minimum cut off score of 3.81 out of 4. This meant I would have to score well in my N and O levels and excel in a related polytechnic course. My best bet was to concentrate on getting as many A’s as I could in my subjects.
With only a few months left to my N level examinations, I remember sleepless nights burning the midnight oil and pushing myself harder than I ever did before. I knew then my efforts were not in vain as it started to show in my results. That year I scored above 85% for all of my Additional and Elementary mathematics examinations, and eventually emerged with the highest results in my cohort for the N level examinations. The success I had with my N level examinations spurred me on further. The following year, I emerged as one of the top students for the O level examinations in Woodlands Ring Secondary School.
