Raffles Institution
Source: http://www.facebook.com/mcpeanuts/posts/184581534908068?notif_t=share_reply
Heyy. Quick scan and quick reply before i head off for fencing training.
Well, the fact that a large number of our old teachers left because they did not get to teach GEP classes exclusively (let’s not quote names) suggests a noticeable difference in the teacher-student interaction. I doubt there will ever be a conceivable metric of demonstrating this intellectual buzz to the ministry, but having been in it for seven years, it was huge pain to be removed from such an environment and thrown into RJ.
Post RJ, i spent time teaching a decent number of students (typically 15/year). Among the RI boys, i can usually tell within the first hour which boys are the GEPers. Even outside the raffles family, there is something different and tastefully weird about the GEPer. Quite often it’s typified by a relentless question and inquisitivity and a quicker ability to parse knowledge from disparate parcels of information in an academic setting. I often end up teaching GEPers in a very different way. Less rote (drilling is still important), but both teacher and student end up very much more satisfied when we are, say, able to relate post-transcriptional modification with molecular structure and its extracirricular implications in Polio.
Same thing with locum teaching. The boys in the GEP classes demanded more of me intellectually. And i do mean demand.
As for myself, i remember a debate in lit we had on the significance of the Hobbesian social contract (that in turn from philo) in Shakespearean society. And the fact that Boon Huat tried to shove erasers and quantum physics down our throats, with ourselves gladly choking on that.
Just because we cannot put our finger on it means it doesn’t exist. That fact GEPers often talk about the GEP in experiential terms would suggest its positive effects are much wider than we would dare suggest. This is a system that possibly does not exist anywhere else in the world, and us lucky 150 have a responsibility to cultivate that elsewhere even if it might not produce any of the stereotypical tangible results such as results. And thank god raffles understands that the IB will always be a poor copy of the quality of its GEP programme.
Here at Imperial and beyond, i doubt i will ever see that buzz of intellect ever again. I sorely regret that.
RA – nah i doubt RA will ever be a substitute for a daily atmosphere of learning and flying erasers and Rosie Smith. You simply cannot replace a culture with discrete science projects.
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