Breaking news! RI and RJC are merging, but RGS opts out. Since both RI and RJC are both so dear to me (though more dear to those not under EESIS), I feel obliged to indulge in wild speculations about this matter from the perspective of an average Rafflesian. Oh wait, I'm already an alumnus.

Now the merger of RI and RJC is really nothing but the restoration to the 1970's times. You could also claim that it is a copycat of the HCI merger. Either case, this announced merger not really a ground breaking idea(on hindsight at least). They started planning since 2004, the year which HCJC and TCHS (THE Chinese High School) merged to form HCI and started abusing their status by sending their J1 athletes to play B division. This exploit was fixed by the Singapore Sports Council the following year, so revenge is out of the question.

Of course, when large organizations act, it is usually not out of goodwill or for old times' sake. On the news, they representatives claim that the merger between RI and RJC means less admin work for both sides. However, I suspect that in reality they are going to get a lot more admin work, since they will have to gather feedback about this new thing, propose changes, and evaluate the feasibility of the proposals. 2008 will be a tough year for the teachers of both schools.

Surely there are some other benefits? RI doesn't need to rent the track and Multipurpose Hall from RJC any more; they just need to apply. RI prefects can go to RJC to book people who cut queue in the RJ canteen and 7-eleven. RI prefects and RJC councillors can alternately summon each other for match support (or they might even merge too, but I highly doubt so). RI boys can go study in the RJ library and RJC people can go to sleep in the RI library. Of course, VERY importantly, as mentioned by Ho Wen Jun, a larger pool of teachers. RI boys who are very 'on' could crash RJ lectures during Research Education (does it still exist? I really hope not) on the grounds that they are, after all, from the same school. From the looks of it, RI-RJC merger appears to benefit RI more.

Let's take a look at the CCAs. If RI and RJC merges, then they can have 6 year CCAs. This wouldn't be very much different from the status quo for Sports and Performing Arts CCAs. Clubs and Societies have a problem, though. RI Clubs are, frankly, war machines to help RI win competitions. RJ Clubs, on the other hand, are interest groups. Interest groups and war machines operate in a different manner, in the sense that minions of war machines are more elite and motivated than members of interest groups. You put the minions into the war machine, tell them what to aim for, and they will work hard at it, because they can see the goal. Interest groups don't have a goal unless they set it. "We love chem! Yay! ... Now what?" (Really, the natural thing to do is to cast an invulnerability spell on the members, and put them into a Chem Preparation Lab. I can guarantee unanimous support for the above proposal, unfortunately it is not entirely feasible.)

On the surface it doesn't make sense to merge Clubs from RI and RJC together, since they are so different. But we could promote the RI Science Club into a 6 year club, and split it into divisions for each Olympiad. From the crushing defeat at SPhO, RJC ought to realize by now that they REALLY need a war machine if they want to "reign supreme in ev'ry sphere". Currently an RI quiz team member can look ahead and see "NUS Physics", "Eureka", "VJC" etc. Stretching it to 6 years would simply be bringing (an) additional goal(s) into their line of sight. I foresee a side effect though. I suspect that some RJC Clubs currently survive partly because of their perceived elite status. When RISC is pushed to 6 years, some of the RJC Clubs may lose some of their stronger members to RISC, and the perceived elite status will be removed. This may kill off some RJC Clubs.

And of course, this plan wouldn't work if RJC don't hire trainers for the proposed 6 year RISC. RJC, please hire trainers. You've seen that it makes a difference. Since you wish to scrap A levels, you'll need to have something else to show that you are still good enough to do that a few years from now.

Speaking of the scrapping of A levels, it's not for the whole college. The scheme is called "Raffles Diploma" (a rip-off from NUS High), but it is a continuation of Raffles Academy (A two year programme for an elite group of Secondary 3 and 4 students). Only 100+ students will be doing Raffles Diploma per batch. Note that each batch of RJC has 1200+ students. Quoting statistics, in 2006 A-levels, 912 RJ students scored at least three As or more (the highest number among all the junior colleges). I think this pretty much justifies that the top 100+ students from RJC will pwn A levels anyway.

Some people are wondering why RGS is not in the merger. I'd suppose it's no surprise to Rafflesians. RI and RJC are next to each other. RGS is in the middle of somewhere else. You can't even take a direct bus from RI to RGS(Correct me if I'm wrong). And to RI boys, RJC is just RI with girls. It's almost the same uniform, crest, school anthem and school cheers. RJC was born when it was split from RI in 1982. RGS was split from RI in 1879. Big difference. Claiming that two schools so far apart physically, historically and culturally are one would sound superficial.

Besides, you'll need to change the School Anthem, since the melody of anthem is such that you'll only need to hear it once to know that it wasn't composed for girls. Compare "Come heed the call Rafflesians all" and "With God to guide the way". And I wouldn't expect the RGS girls to sing the line "The Sons of Singapore", when their own song has so many "Sisters" in it.

After RI and RJC merges, what shall it be called? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Raffles Institution(RI). Just reverting back to the same old thing. No harm done, really.
2. The Rafflesian Institute(TRI). Good for mocking Hwa Chong. TRI is also oxymoronic because TRI consists of two schools instead of three.
3. Raffles School(RS). "School" doesn't sound impressive enough for me. I'm sure it wouldn't impress the very school that coined the term "Raffles Academy".
4. Raffles High School(RHS). Sounds like a rip-off of NUS High. RHS also stands for "Right Hand Side".
5. Raffles College(RC). Sounds very nice, but RI+RJC doesn't qualify as a college, unless it teaches undergrad courses. It would be near impossible, but if they do try, it would be very interesting indeed.