Dear blog,

today wasn’t bad. I miss something though – I used to love school so much. I’d say “I LUV SKOOL” out loud and proud, everytime. Now, today, here, it just isn’t the same.

Sigh, change takes place so quickly, I lose track of it just as fast. Maybe I DID like CCKSS alot...but...
gah, FUCK it. I’ve long been through.

so, Presentation’s tomorrow. Yeah, I know, I said that 2 days ago. But it’s been pushed back, twice. But tomorrow's it! Tomorrow’s the day, and everything’s all set. The presentation’s been pushed back so much, so much so that we actually managed to have enough time to prepare for it.

Tomorrow, we win. ^_^ but then again, Jojo’s group and Jacinthe’s group are 2 hard bunches of people to beat. Both of them, excellent job.

Farhan’s presentation today was hilarious! Actually, today’s COB presentation session has got to be the best one yet. It was a nice air-conditioned classroom, properly furnished, and had a decent projector (some of the non-air conditioned classrooms have crappy projectors). I mean, today’s COB presentation session was...just...really, really good.

Jacinthe and Farhan’s presentations really got the class up on their feet, a stark contrast from the first groups which presented, such as Ancherle’s group, where virtually no one from the class was listening. Today’s groups which presented got the entire class involved, and actually them asking questions about the projects. You know, like an actual Q&A session at the end of a presentation. These groups actually had it going, they had the class going.

I really doubt tomorrow’s session will be as good, which is why I was thinking of presenting today. At least, it was an air-conditioned classroom, with a decent projector, and it was properly furnished. At least, there would be a chance, the class would listen to our presentation, because Jacinthe and Farhan had already got the class on its feet.

but as usual, bloggie, you know my group. <_<

hm...I clearly remember Shafiqa telling me the project was about our grades, and not the people in the group. Yes, I know, we have to make professional decisions for our project, and not emotional decisions. But wait, way didn’t we present today again? I’m sure this was what she was talking about.

you know what, bloggie? i’d bet $5 bucks on half the class not listening to our presentation tomorrow. Yup, just like Ancherle’s and Jojo’s group. Although, Jojo’s group was really good, especially Jojo herself. I bet half the class didn’t notice this anyway, they weren’t just paying damn attention.

I just realized; in my class, more people than I thought really don’t give two hoots about their studies. They treat revision, lecturer’s advice, studying, and exams as a joke.

lol...bloggie, i’d like to call today, “Lecturer’s advice day”. It started straight from the morning, when I first entered the class (and yes, I made it on time), all the way to the day’s end.

I walk into the computer lab for POA, we were doing FACT software accounting for the last time today. Ms. Cynthia starts telling the people present in the lab, at that time, about her concern for the class. Her concern was mainly due to the Cash Book test we did recently; she said that she’d marked half of the answer scripts so far, and it was pretty badly done. She also said that she extended her concern to our CA, Mr. Chow, and also to the Course Manager, Ms. Jenne Foo (is that how you spell her name?).

And so Ms. Cynthia tells the class, giving us some advice. You know, the usual. How some of us would not be able to make it to the poly if we carry on like this, and so on. However, what I really like about Ms. Cynthia’s advice which she always gives to the class, is how she puts it into the adult world’s context.

Ms. Cynthia always emphasizes that a higher Nitec certification won’t be enough, and she always, always always always puts it nicely into context. Like, today she said that we could probably just get $1200/month with a Higher Nitec certificate, and –CPF, we would probably take home just $900+. Minus all the expenses, savings for a rainy day, and spending, we probably won’t be able to lead a good life at all. She says this everytime, and it works.

I quoted what Ms. Cynthia said in class today on Facebook: “Opportunity has came knocking on our door twice”. ITE isn’t where one would actually want to be, but if anything, ITE’s one hell of a second chance, waiting to be seized. This second chance that has been given to me, I won’t take it for granted.

That leads to another point. Continuing with Lecturer’s Advice Day, during the COB presentation session, Ms. Jenne Foo walked into our classroom (WTF). After Jacinthe and her group finished their presentation (Ms. Jenne Foo was nice enough to wait for them to finish, and not interrupt the class), Ms. Jenne Foo stood up, and started talking to us. Being the Course Manager, I personally was prepared for a verbal spanking from her to our class, just like how Mr. Leong, our Level co-coordinator in CCKSS would always do when he stepped into our class.

But actually, no. Ms. Jenne Foo was remarkably composed. She gave our class advice. She spoke to us regarding the examination debarments, so on, and so forth. It was pretty scary at times, because she knew a couple of names from our class. KC was one of them (that wasn’t surprising, to me at least). That poor guy has been dismissed from the course already, he’s gone. He’s gone from SC, and he’s never coming back.

Ms. Jenne Foo also put things into context, too. Literally. If what Ms. Cynthia said wasn’t enough, Ms. Jenne Foo said that even a Diploma these days doesn’t earn you much. I thought Ms. Jenne Foo was pretty nice, talking like that, in that composed tone, to such a problematic class. But when I told Ancherle this, she just smiled. I mean, hell, she’s our course manager. She’s our lecturer’s boss.

Ms. Jenne Foo said a couple of other things which made alot of sense also. She said that it was easy to dismiss a student from a course, or to debar a student from an examination. But she said that it was hard to salvage what’s left of a student in a student. I thought that was an interesting take on things.

Oh, bloggie, did I mention that our CA, Mr. Chow, was there also? Yeah, he was there, he came into the class shortly after Ms. Jenne Foo came in (WTF). If that isn’t enough, after everything was over, after Ms. Jenne Foo and Mr. Chow left the class, Ms. Cynthia came in, looking for Mr. Chow.

wow. Seriously, today must have been a big deal among the lecturers. I think things are getting pretty serious, it’s just that our class doesn’t realize it. The urgency for the upcoming exams is just not there. The lecturers do care about us, but our class...

Continuing with Lecturer’s Advice Day, it was Mr. Chow’s turn to talk to us during BSE lesson. I could tell, Mr. Chow pretty much has said everything that has needed saying. He kept shrugging his shoulders. One thing struck me though, Mr. Chow was being slightly more straightforward about things. And for the first time, I heard my own thoughts, our loud, by my very on CA:

“if I were you, I would work my butt off and do anything in these 2 years to get the hell out of this place as soon as I can”

I’ve always tried accepting ITE for what it is. It’s a good second chance, yada yada yada. But there you have it, Mr. Chow said it himself: Just get the hell out of this place as soon as possible. ITE just isn’t the place many of us should be in.

EPIC Win.

here’s something else which Mr. Chow said:
“Some of you guys are basically just getting the results which made you end up here in ITE in the first place.”

yeah, bloggie. You would have guessed by now: today was a day full of meaningfulness from our lecturers. If or not people heed it, I really can’t be bothered anymore. SC’s just full of people who don’t take these matters seriously. Which is a pity, because I think our class, SC, is a nice decent bunch of people.

I know life isn’t all about studies, but when you’re in a subsided government school, taking a course as a full time student, studies should be a first priority. If you don’t realize that, like Ms. Jenne Foo said, these people should to a private institution. It would probably fit their lifestyle more. Like Mr. Chow said, sort out priorities. So, if people don’t realize the gravity of everything that is ITE, if they can’t seize this second chance here, they probably don’t care about themselves either. Zhi Min was right.

Mr. Chow was more than honest, he actually can predict the future! He said that, when the exam results are released online, some people may look at their lousy results, and just laugh it off. The people who just laugh off their lousy exam results, they just want to put up a brave front. Mr. Chow said that few in our class would actually cry over lousy exam results; most of the people here in SC are just too “hardened” for that.

yes, that is EXACTLY what Mr. Chow said.

another point brought up today which I thought was useful, was that this semester was the easiest to score. The next academic year would have all the tougher modules and assignments. Ms. Jenne Foo said that this was the time to score, because in the second year, with the tougher modules ahead, we probably won’t be able to score well, and with that, our steam and drive would probably go down with it as well. So, whatever I do, this is THE time to score. So what if I think the COB project might not be well-done? it's just a minor setback.

Well, nice talking to you. I need to start revision for stuff.
With all these in mind, bloggie, I continue walking.

Word Out,
Self-motivated Ramesh