A not-serious-but-critical review of "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli. [You could interpret this fragment in 2 ways, but obviously only one is correct]
When I read "The Prince", I felt like I was reading "FAQ about Princedom". Take note of the length and title of each chapter, and you might agree with me.
Personally speaking, Niccolo Machiavelli is a damn cool name (though "Machiavalentova" would sound cooler), and he makes interesting comments like "It is far safer to be feared than to be loved" and "Fortune is the mistress to half of our actions yet leaves the control of the other half to ourselves", which makes anyone who quotes him feel good. Still, that doesn't immunize his work against critical review.
Since the knowledge of government is a posteriori knowledge, we would expect much of the arguments to be inductive. One example of such argument in his book is:
P: In all the places I have been to and from all the historical documents I have read, inherited Princedoms are more stable than new Princedoms.
C: Therefore all inherited Princedoms are more stable than new Princedoms.
Of course, in his book, this is not so clearly spelled out. He simply states that inherited Princedoms are more stable than new Princedoms, and gives one case of such(although if you look at the example he gave, you can clearly see that it is a hypothesis contrary to fact). That is a weak inductive argument. An example of a strong inductive argument in support of the statement "all inherited Princedoms are more stable than new Princedoms" would be:
P1: Princedom A is inherited, and Princedom A is stable.
P2: Princedom B is inherited, and Princedom B is stable.
-
- (ditto)
-
-
Pn: Princedom n is not inherited, and Princedom n is not stable.
-
-
- (ditto)
-
PN: Princedom N is not inherited, and Princedom N is not stable.
C: Therefore all inherited Princedoms are more stable than new Princedoms.
We can see that making a table of stable/unstable princedoms and comparing their characteristics would make a more convincing argument than just stating a couple of examples, which Machiavelli had done. Nowadays, tables of statistics are necessary for political studies. Just look at all the papers that support the "monadic democracy peace theory". If you put Machiavelli's book next to those papers, "The Prince" would just seem like a collection of opinions. However, note that in his dedication to the Italian Prince, Machiavelli claims that the things he had written in his book are what he has learned and known through a great deal of suffering, danger and hardship. This is supposed to give all the statements in his book the backing of authority on the subject, but this still leaves much of his statements open to doubt.
One example of another type of argument he uses is as such:
If you use mercenaries, there are two possible cases. Case one: the mercenaries are too cowardly and stupid to be of any use in war. Case two: they are so courageous and smart that they would plot against you in war. You do not want either things to happen, therefore you should never use mercenaries.
Clearly a fallacy of false dichotomy.
I apologize in advance to anyone who might be offended by my lack of intellectual humility, but I do wonder how this book became a classic. If this book were so good, why didn't the Italian Prince keep it properly in a secret closet and use it to conquer and control other princedoms, rather than letting it be read by everyone? Kinda interesting, isn't it?
Summary: Quite nice to read, but not very reliable.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Thursday, February 07, 2008
There are vegetarian foods that are designed to imitate the look, taste and texture of meat. Generally speaking, these foods are highly processed, and are not a healthy substitute for meat. By hasty generalization, I generalize that the vegetarians who eat such foods are not doing so for health reasons, but for the sake of compassion.
Some people question whether the vegetarians who eat these sort of vegetarian food really become vegetarians for the sake of compassion, since they are still have the desire to eat meat. However, I do not think it is problematic. The desire to eat meat does not necessarily imply a desire to take lives. I suppose their motto is "When the buying stops, the killing will too." If you have issues with vegetarians who eat imitation meat, I'll suppose you'll have issues with people who eat imitation sharks fin too.
One loophole in the motto "When the buying stops, the killing will too" is that stealing shark's fin soup is actually fine, since you are not buying it. You also can't be said to be contributing to the demand of shark's fin, since you have the desire but not the ability to eat shark's fin. So one way to eat shark's fin and be environmentally friendly about it is to steal shark's fin soup from the restaurant.
I've once thought about this: how do the people who make and sell imitation meat know what they taste like? Then I recalled that one doesn't have to be a vegetarian to sell or make vegetarian food. Generally speaking again, most of the people who sell Muslim food are also Muslims, so maybe that explains why there isn't halal imitation pork on the market yet. (I await the day that one can order "nasi babi" without getting hollered at.)
So if we follow the standards of vegetarians, it seems like only the next thing to do to get the cannibals to make and sell imitation human meat. After all, having a desire to consume human meat doesn't imply a desire to kill humans. My eldest sister once said, "To know if a French restaurant is good, you must see if the French patronize it." Therefore, if you see many cannibals patronizing an imitation human meat restaurant, you'll know if it's really good. Of course, a small problem comes in when you want to find out which people in the restaurant are cannibals.
If imitation human meat becomes a hit, I wonder if the stem cell researchers would try to catch up by introducing consumers real human meat into the market. Sounds interesting. Would you want to try human meat?
Some people question whether the vegetarians who eat these sort of vegetarian food really become vegetarians for the sake of compassion, since they are still have the desire to eat meat. However, I do not think it is problematic. The desire to eat meat does not necessarily imply a desire to take lives. I suppose their motto is "When the buying stops, the killing will too." If you have issues with vegetarians who eat imitation meat, I'll suppose you'll have issues with people who eat imitation sharks fin too.
One loophole in the motto "When the buying stops, the killing will too" is that stealing shark's fin soup is actually fine, since you are not buying it. You also can't be said to be contributing to the demand of shark's fin, since you have the desire but not the ability to eat shark's fin. So one way to eat shark's fin and be environmentally friendly about it is to steal shark's fin soup from the restaurant.
I've once thought about this: how do the people who make and sell imitation meat know what they taste like? Then I recalled that one doesn't have to be a vegetarian to sell or make vegetarian food. Generally speaking again, most of the people who sell Muslim food are also Muslims, so maybe that explains why there isn't halal imitation pork on the market yet. (I await the day that one can order "nasi babi" without getting hollered at.)
So if we follow the standards of vegetarians, it seems like only the next thing to do to get the cannibals to make and sell imitation human meat. After all, having a desire to consume human meat doesn't imply a desire to kill humans. My eldest sister once said, "To know if a French restaurant is good, you must see if the French patronize it." Therefore, if you see many cannibals patronizing an imitation human meat restaurant, you'll know if it's really good. Of course, a small problem comes in when you want to find out which people in the restaurant are cannibals.
If imitation human meat becomes a hit, I wonder if the stem cell researchers would try to catch up by introducing consumers real human meat into the market. Sounds interesting. Would you want to try human meat?
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Random:
We had orange for dessert during lunch at live range.
Sarge is still called sarge in NS.
If you really want to hardcore your studies, when you dream, you should only spend your time doing math. This is because mathematical knowledge is a priori, so no matter what crazy situation you find yourself being thrown in, a mathematical proof that's right in your dreams would be right out in the real world, unless you made mistakes.
If you ever suspect that you are trapped in Plato's cave, you should get a mathematics degree. Even if some guy decides to drag you out of the cave and bring you to the "real world", your degree will still be recognized! Sad for the people who study medicine and astronomy; all their mugging will go down the drain.
There is a platoon sergeant called "Valentova". I think Valentova is a cool name. Maybe it's cool because of the -ova suffix.
Alwynova.
Xiamanova.
Alexova.
Clementova.
Mitchellova.
Lincolnova.
Jimrova.
We had orange for dessert during lunch at live range.
Sarge is still called sarge in NS.
If you really want to hardcore your studies, when you dream, you should only spend your time doing math. This is because mathematical knowledge is a priori, so no matter what crazy situation you find yourself being thrown in, a mathematical proof that's right in your dreams would be right out in the real world, unless you made mistakes.
If you ever suspect that you are trapped in Plato's cave, you should get a mathematics degree. Even if some guy decides to drag you out of the cave and bring you to the "real world", your degree will still be recognized! Sad for the people who study medicine and astronomy; all their mugging will go down the drain.
There is a platoon sergeant called "Valentova". I think Valentova is a cool name. Maybe it's cool because of the -ova suffix.
Alwynova.
Xiamanova.
Alexova.
Clementova.
Mitchellova.
Lincolnova.
Jimrova.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Random:
Yes, I do think that Zheng Ning is damn chio.
And I would like to see a tanned Alwyn with crew cut and black rimmed plastic spectacles.
Chairs are bad for the environment. This is because in the production of chairs, metal ores are dug up, trees are cut down, and fossil fuels are burned during the production of chairs. All these lead to the degradation of the environment. Not only that, chairs themselves also degrade the environment after they have been discarded. Burning chairs releases toxic fumes in to air, leading to air pollution. Plastic and metal chairs can take a long time to degrade in the landfills, and even after they degrade, they leech poisonous substances into the groundwater, which eventually flows into the seas, leading to water pollution.
Water pollution poisons fish. At a first glance, this appears to be bad news for fishermen. However, we must recall that even though the fish may be subject to poison, most can actually still live in polluted waters. Those fish that get adversely affected are the larger predatory fish, as the small amounts of poison from the fish they eat tend to accumulate in their bodies, and their population will drop. As water pollution tends to kill the larger fish more, there would be less big fish to eat the smaller fish. As a result, the fish can multiply even faster since there are less things gobbling them up. Therefore, water pollution actually leads to an increase in the fish population in the seas, and hence water pollution is good for fishermen.
Therefore, we can safely conclude that chairs are good for fishermen. Since fishermen are part of the country, what's good for the fishermen are also good for the country, and since chairs are good for fishermen, the government ought to give tax incentives to encourage factories to produce more chairs.
Yes, I do think that Zheng Ning is damn chio.
And I would like to see a tanned Alwyn with crew cut and black rimmed plastic spectacles.
Chairs are bad for the environment. This is because in the production of chairs, metal ores are dug up, trees are cut down, and fossil fuels are burned during the production of chairs. All these lead to the degradation of the environment. Not only that, chairs themselves also degrade the environment after they have been discarded. Burning chairs releases toxic fumes in to air, leading to air pollution. Plastic and metal chairs can take a long time to degrade in the landfills, and even after they degrade, they leech poisonous substances into the groundwater, which eventually flows into the seas, leading to water pollution.
Water pollution poisons fish. At a first glance, this appears to be bad news for fishermen. However, we must recall that even though the fish may be subject to poison, most can actually still live in polluted waters. Those fish that get adversely affected are the larger predatory fish, as the small amounts of poison from the fish they eat tend to accumulate in their bodies, and their population will drop. As water pollution tends to kill the larger fish more, there would be less big fish to eat the smaller fish. As a result, the fish can multiply even faster since there are less things gobbling them up. Therefore, water pollution actually leads to an increase in the fish population in the seas, and hence water pollution is good for fishermen.
Therefore, we can safely conclude that chairs are good for fishermen. Since fishermen are part of the country, what's good for the fishermen are also good for the country, and since chairs are good for fishermen, the government ought to give tax incentives to encourage factories to produce more chairs.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
My last blog post as a civilian.
During last year and for the small bit of this year combined, the events that have occurred were somewhat bizarre. Although I really wanted to be in the National Team, I didn't quite see myself in it, so the whole Olympiad experience has been rather surreal. Some events that are pretty unlikely happened anyway. It has been hard to make sense of a lot of events, and I figured it would be easier to just take things as they come by. This could be why I'm not quite as anxious about NS as my parents and siblings and friends are.
I'm hoping to take the two years in army as a chance to learn as much as possible. Although I wouldn't expect NS to be a bed of roses, I'm sure that it would be an enriching and enlightening experience.
I remember in J1, Zilin told me that she was crossed with someone, because he commented on a lousy essay being "something that even an ITE student can come up with", and I didn't know why that comment pissed her off. I went back to my mother and sister, and they immediately picked out that it was derogatory to ITE students. That incident had left me thinking how horribly narrow my perspective had been all these while. Having spent 4 years in RI, I was not exposed to the people from neighbourhood secondary schools and ITEs, and had formed prejudices against them unconsciously. Hopefully, by being exposed to people from different strata in the society, I can gain a broader perspective of things.
In any case, for girls and people from countries without conscription, working for the military must sound pretty exciting. I mean, some ang mohs take a year off to work in an office or do community service in Africa after they graduate from High School, serving the military (especially in a combat position) probably sounds quite refreshing. I agree that life in the military is not something everyone wants to experience, but then again, it's not something everyone gets to experience.
People say that it's a waste of two years, but hey, compared to average lifespan of 80+, it really doesn't make that much of a difference. And for the RJ guys who are complaining that the girls in their batch don't look pretty, serving NS means that you're not going to be in the same batch as them again in university. We would go to university in the same year as Koh Zheng Ning!!! Doesn't that alone worth 2% of your lifespan?
Hanging around with a new bunch of people is going to be a test of my social skills yet again. I shall try to do better than I have done before. If I succeed, it could be rewarding.
Maybe I'm still young and idealistic. NS has a proven track record for turning people into cynics, but well, at least if I do, when I read this post again, I get to laugh at myself!
Ok, see you in at least 3 weeks. NS has a proven track record for killing blogs too, so I may not see you again after all.
During last year and for the small bit of this year combined, the events that have occurred were somewhat bizarre. Although I really wanted to be in the National Team, I didn't quite see myself in it, so the whole Olympiad experience has been rather surreal. Some events that are pretty unlikely happened anyway. It has been hard to make sense of a lot of events, and I figured it would be easier to just take things as they come by. This could be why I'm not quite as anxious about NS as my parents and siblings and friends are.
I'm hoping to take the two years in army as a chance to learn as much as possible. Although I wouldn't expect NS to be a bed of roses, I'm sure that it would be an enriching and enlightening experience.
I remember in J1, Zilin told me that she was crossed with someone, because he commented on a lousy essay being "something that even an ITE student can come up with", and I didn't know why that comment pissed her off. I went back to my mother and sister, and they immediately picked out that it was derogatory to ITE students. That incident had left me thinking how horribly narrow my perspective had been all these while. Having spent 4 years in RI, I was not exposed to the people from neighbourhood secondary schools and ITEs, and had formed prejudices against them unconsciously. Hopefully, by being exposed to people from different strata in the society, I can gain a broader perspective of things.
In any case, for girls and people from countries without conscription, working for the military must sound pretty exciting. I mean, some ang mohs take a year off to work in an office or do community service in Africa after they graduate from High School, serving the military (especially in a combat position) probably sounds quite refreshing. I agree that life in the military is not something everyone wants to experience, but then again, it's not something everyone gets to experience.
People say that it's a waste of two years, but hey, compared to average lifespan of 80+, it really doesn't make that much of a difference. And for the RJ guys who are complaining that the girls in their batch don't look pretty, serving NS means that you're not going to be in the same batch as them again in university. We would go to university in the same year as Koh Zheng Ning!!! Doesn't that alone worth 2% of your lifespan?
Hanging around with a new bunch of people is going to be a test of my social skills yet again. I shall try to do better than I have done before. If I succeed, it could be rewarding.
Maybe I'm still young and idealistic. NS has a proven track record for turning people into cynics, but well, at least if I do, when I read this post again, I get to laugh at myself!
Ok, see you in at least 3 weeks. NS has a proven track record for killing blogs too, so I may not see you again after all.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Went back to school today in RI uniform. I initially intended to crash some J1 lectures, but I forgot to consider the fact that it's Wednesday, and the J1s end school early. Thus, I didn't get to crash any lectures. However, I got to screw around in CCA Feste. Sadly, Dr Chan banned a lot of demonstrations (partly my fault), so it wasn't very exciting.
I asked a teacher if the RI and RJC merger means anything for them, he said that the school didn't tell them anything. Apparently, RI and RJC weren't planning to announce it; it just so happened that some reporter got the scoop, and the schools had to tell them some things "so that [the reporters] have something to report, else they anyhow report then even worse right?"
Talked to Mrs Lim, my ex-former physics teacher. She said that she is thinking of suggesting to the school board that they hire a trainer for Physics Olympiad. If it follows through, then we'd have NUSHS and Ricardo to thank for raising the standards of the Singapore National Team. I'm sure that if RJC can afford Air Conditioned classrooms and an unused Plasma TV in the Library, they would be able to afford a trainer.
And this batch of J1s are very lucky. They have the Campus Super Star 2 finalist: Dance Queen Koh Zheng Ning! DAMN CHIO! I didn't dream that I'll get to see her in real life... *drool...*
Recently I watched an interesting debate. It was a debate on whether people should go for cosmetic surgery. Egypt was the proposition, and Korea was the opposition. The irony is that Egypt is an Arab Republic, while Korea is almost the Land of cosmetic surgery. I was sniggering all the way when the Korean representative was saying "Cosmetic surgery is the product of the misogynistic standards of beauty that men have set for women, yet many women still continue to subject themselves to such self-mutilation." As the judge pointed out, "It was as though the Korean women have suffered years of oppression by men, simmered their indignations for all these while, and took this debate as an opportunity to lash out at their tormentors."
I asked a teacher if the RI and RJC merger means anything for them, he said that the school didn't tell them anything. Apparently, RI and RJC weren't planning to announce it; it just so happened that some reporter got the scoop, and the schools had to tell them some things "so that [the reporters] have something to report, else they anyhow report then even worse right?"
Talked to Mrs Lim, my ex-former physics teacher. She said that she is thinking of suggesting to the school board that they hire a trainer for Physics Olympiad. If it follows through, then we'd have NUSHS and Ricardo to thank for raising the standards of the Singapore National Team. I'm sure that if RJC can afford Air Conditioned classrooms and an unused Plasma TV in the Library, they would be able to afford a trainer.
And this batch of J1s are very lucky. They have the Campus Super Star 2 finalist: Dance Queen Koh Zheng Ning! DAMN CHIO! I didn't dream that I'll get to see her in real life... *drool...*
Recently I watched an interesting debate. It was a debate on whether people should go for cosmetic surgery. Egypt was the proposition, and Korea was the opposition. The irony is that Egypt is an Arab Republic, while Korea is almost the Land of cosmetic surgery. I was sniggering all the way when the Korean representative was saying "Cosmetic surgery is the product of the misogynistic standards of beauty that men have set for women, yet many women still continue to subject themselves to such self-mutilation." As the judge pointed out, "It was as though the Korean women have suffered years of oppression by men, simmered their indignations for all these while, and took this debate as an opportunity to lash out at their tormentors."
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)