ok i've been thinking about this for quite a while. When i mean for quite a while i really mean for quite a while. Like, about more than 8 months.
So, let's get it started eh. The first ever one and only 'Alan's honest assessment of SAJC'.
(this is going to be written in sort of a formal tone, since.. it's kinda serious. =) so if you're here for fun and games then just skip this post yea! ill be back with more interesting posts next time :P)
This is rather long, so grab a drink or something and sit back and enjoy =)
Link this to as many friends as you can! :)
Well firstly some brief introduction - i've been in St Andrew's since i started schooling (SAJS-1996-2001) (SASS- 2002-2005) (SAJC- 2006-2007) so i guess i am what they call a 'true blue Saint'. I've always been very supportive of SA - just ask any of my friends and acquaintances. When people ask me what school i'm from, i say 'S A' with pride. This same pride has led to a cloud being formed over my judgement and assessment of the school.
But just as a cloud, as long as a ray of light shines bright enough, it will shine through. Similarly, having thought about this for a long time, i decided to throw away all prejudice and bias towards SA and make this post. I just have to do it, as i'm not entirely happy with the way the school works anyway. I'll section the post as much as i can for easier readability.
-Takes a moment or two to turn on politefilter* to prevent any potential incidents-
*politefilter (defn) (n) - instantly changes any insulting phrases or sentences to as politically correct sentences as possible.
LecturersRating: 2/5
Sad to say, there aren't many good lecturers in SAJC. Now this is speaking from the perspective of a Science Faculty student who takes Physics/Chem/Math/Econs. I don't know about the other subjects - maybe the lecturers of those subjects are fantastic.
To be an effective lecturer, he/she needs to
1) Keep the students attention
2) Be clear in explanations and don't just read off the notes
These two are rather broad categories - point 1 can be expanded to humor, intonation, emotivespeaking, variety, usage of visual aids, etc. Point 2 may overlap with point 1. And i must say that these 2 are the basic fundamentals of a good lecturer. Noone is going to learn anything if the lecturer rattles in a monotone, reads off the notes only or is terrible at analogies.
In all my lectures, only 3 lecturers stood out to me - Miss Hon (Econs), Mr Manan (Physics)(HoD of Science)(no wonder) and Miss Sunarfa. These 3 have the ability to keep the students' attention with relevant and concise examples, as well as using appropriate visual aids and humour.
I'm being strict here - i refuse to classify those 'not bad' lecturers as 'good' lecturers as these two. Some noteworthy mentions are Mr Fong (my Physics tutor :P ), Mrs Tay(Math)(HoD). These teachers are clear in explanations, but each have some flaw that sometimes overrides their strengths. For example, Mr Fong although humorous and clear, tends to be too draggy sometimes (took 1 hour to explain accuracy and precision?!?), etc etc
Now this is really bad, only 3 out of probably 20 lecturers whose lectures i have attended whom i think are good. That's less than 20%!
It must be made clear though that 'lectures' and 'tutorials' are quite different. Some teachers may be bad at lectures but are excellent in tutorials. I must say i find Mrs Tay (Math) and Mr David Chong's (Chem) tutorial extremely helpful. Their in-class explanations are.. comprehensive and easy-to-understand.
(e.g. - mrs tay was on maternity leave for some time, and just came back this week. So for the first 4 weeks of school this other young lecturer was teaching Vectors. I understood close to nothing for all 4 weeks.. despite not sleeping in lecture and paying attention. Mrs Tay, after just 1 hour of tutorial, made HALF the chapter CLEAR. =) )
Time-tableRating: 3/5
Another area which SAJC flops. I heard that timetabling was done with some computer program. Well, exactly because it was done with a COMPUTER program, it can't think like a human would.
Some simple examples: I have a friend who only has PE on Thursday in the morning, and the only other lesson is at 2.30pm, Chem lecture.
For me, i only have Maths in the morning of Thursday as well as the chem lecture.
Hello?! That's like 4 hours+ of wasted time?! Couldn't they rearrange it to put the chem lecture earlier? Well because of that, i think attendance for Chemistry Lectures on Thursday is about 60% - everyone skips it.
The weird long breaks all over the place also unnecessarily extends days - break after PE is 2.5 hours. -_-
Another always-skipped lecture is Friday H1 Lecture which is 1 hour after our last lesson. Who wants to stay around for 1 hour just to attend another hour of lecture?
The timetables need to be better adjusted. Maybe what they need is a human touch.
Study EnvironmentRating : 4/5
I must say that there is quite a conducive environment for studying in SAJC. This is a matter of opinion, others may think likewise.
Let me give some examples - nice spacious library with many many study tables in it. The tables are big and wide too, adequate space to place several books or sets of notes. There is a peculiar smell though, think it's the airfreshener.
This was a phenomenon since some time last year - the school made some bulk order of wooden study tables and scattered them all over the college. From the 1st to 4th storey, there are more than sufficient wooden benches for you to do your work on.
A study corner located just above the cafeteria - plenty of tables. The only complain is that it may get noisy due to the noise coming from downstairs.
Food2/5
Bleahz.
I can count the number of dishes which are nice in SAJC on one hand. In general, the food sucks!
The prata is like crap, it used to be run by this indian uncle who was fairly decent.. now it's 2 indian ladies who cant make prata for nuts. The prata they make all taste doughy and sometimes isn't well done.
The western food is sub-par, lucky there's a lady with an amiable, friendly smile to save it.
Wantonmee uncle is nice and friendly too, but he doesn't cut his noodles and they taste very floury. Not nice.
Cai Fan (vegetables/meat/rice) serves cold food , the rice is hard and the food isn't nice most of the time anyway.
Noodles stall- although this stall has its fair share of customers, i don't think the food is nice though. MeePok tastes weird most of the time, the horfun/meegoreng/charkwayteow etc taste too.. bland.
Of course, there is good food:
Chicken Rice stall always has long queues. Manned by a very recognizable big Ah-Beng-looking 20-something guy and his mom (and since this year, his good-looking girlfriend with gentle and pleasant features has been helping out too), the chicken rice is awesome.
The portions are big, you get more than enough chicken.
Now this can be a plus/minus point : the rice is slightly too oily. =) Some people love it, (such as me) though it's probably kinda unhealthy.
I love their chicken porridge =)
Malay stall - i haven't really tried their dishes (like Cai Fan) yet, but i think they're not bad seeing how people always buy them. Their Pattaya Rice is one of my favourites! Super delicious man =)
Miscallaneous
Rating: 2/5
I don't really like the Principal. Ok let me rephrase that - i don't like the Principal. She is too stubborn, scolds her teachers in front of students (what kinda principal does that?!), close-minded... etc. I want Mrs Charles back. :/ (The ex-Principal of SAJC, now the SASS principal)
Any pretty girls? Handsome guys? Well better ask someone else, apparently my standard is rather low. But if you ask me, i would say yes, there are plenty of both.
Ok i'm actually pretty tired at this point, i shall end here. I think i have said most of what i have wanted to say for a long time.. so.. hope you enjoyed reading. Have a nice day and maybe see you in SAJC :p
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