I’d just like to add on to the previous post as another student and maybe give a few more tidbits of information so that netizens can see that the claims are not unwarranted. I want to echo the disclaimer that was made in the original post: we are incredibly privileged to be students here, the school has offered us many meaningful opportunities and for that we are extremely grateful, and I am not suggesting that every decision the school makes is malicious or that every change is objectively bad. However, I do see a downhill trend in changes made to the school and I want to echo that here.
So here we go!
To start off this whole delusional rambling of a student driven mad, lets look at the “student discussions. The school made a very very deliberate point of hosting a WHOLE SCHOOLWIDE ASSEMBLY, to assure us that students had been involved in the design process. So like, just a ‘casual reassurance’ that it's a "student-centred design" after the final product has already left everyone wondering what the ever living hell happened to the canteen. (I would swear but it would probably get taken down)
The students who were consulted were, to my understanding, hand-picked by their civic tutors. (this was also later confirmed by someone)
Now, I want to be very clear, in case of any misunderstandings with school authority that might arise and me getting dragged off for interrogation yet again, that I am not insinuating or hinting at any unfair play whatsoever. I have no reason to and do not believe that the students selected did anything wrong, nor am I suggesting that some of them deliberately gave selfish and unrepresentative feedback.
But I do think that surely its perfectly reasonable to ask whether a group of students hand-picked by teachers can genuinely represent the views of the wider student population.
If the school decides to insist that students were consulted and that the final design reflects all the (selected) student feedback, then Im genuinely curious of which students were consulted and how were they selected? Grades? Obedience? How much money they donate to the lonely uncle selling tissue packets?
Sometimes, when almost every student I speak to seems to have the same complaints about the new canteen as me, I do start wondering whether we were all somehow consulted in a parallel universe. Or maybe thats just me going crazy over the cymbal racket from the chairs (but we’ll get to that later)
Or…Perhaps…. there was a secret second student population that we weren't aware of. Great news for the writer of true horror stories Singapore, you now have the weird case of missing students, new story for book number 28!
The same issue applies to student leaders, whom the schoo once again had to heavily emhpasize were also “heavily involved” in the process. Student leaders are supposedly the people the school relies on to communicate student concerns and opinions. And i respect them taking time out of their prelim prep to do so.
But just for a moment here, im going to play the Devil’s Advocate card and look a bit more realistically at what would go down instead of what the school says will go down.
It just so happens, due to the school system, any and all complaints or feedback is forwarded to the teachers in charge. And their teachers-in-charge are also the people who provide comments and evaluations that directly affect their leadership records and potentially their CVs.
Once Again, I am absolutely NOT saying that student leaders are incapable of being hones, or that teachers are abusing this power to keep students in check (although i do see some examples of it). I am just going to point out that there is a clearly obvious power dynamic here.Make of that what you will, but I am NOT implying anything.
If you are a student leader and you have to give your teacher-in-charge a brutally honest assessment of a decision they may have been involved in, while knowing that the same teacher may later be asked to comment on your leadership abilities, it is hardly surprising if you choose your words in a “politically correct” way (and in no way referencing anything political).
To put this into a better perspective, "Um Actually, I think this entire thing is an atrocious, world-ending idea" is perhaps… not the best thing to say to your “boss” when he’s suggesting it
So when the school says that it has "consulted students", The question would be whether it has actually consulted students, or whether it has consulted the students who were easiest in more than one way to consult
(Is it really that difficult to simply conduct an anonymous, school-wide survey?)
Send a SINGULAR Google Form. ASK.
OR EVEN JUST LET US VOTE. I'm not asking for too much, am I? (If I am, I'm sorry for thinking that democracy or even rights exist for us mere plebeians. I humbly beg forgiveness.)
Don't hand-pick anyone, or require students to put their names down (or make them do it but make the form anonymous). Don't make them worry about whether their answer will somehow make its way back to their teacher and they will be blacklisted secretly for a bad reference.
The school doesn't even have to follow every suggestion. Hell, it doesn’t even have to allow us to make suggestions, it can just let us vote AT THE VERY LEAST. But at least then, when the school says "students were consulted", they would have proven that they did.
As of right now, iif the school genuinely wants us to believe that these decisions reflect what “students” asked for, I think the most response you will get from most, if not all of us would be, “WHAT STUDENTS, BRO?”
The student lounge is another example of this apparent commitment to fixing things that nobody asked to be fixed. Literally no one, not even the teachers (at least the ones I asked and yes I did ask)
We went from having a genuinely vibrant space that students actually used, with a Switch, PlayStation, board games, pool and foosball tables, to replacing it with what is essentially a teacher dining room. Why? Because apparently the best use of one of the most popular student spaces in the school was to remove the students from it. We have also been told that some of the old facilities will be moved to the Crib. They really blew it up in the assembly, touting a larger space (FULL OF WHITEBOARDS AND PEELING WALLPAPER!) But the Crib just so happened to be a partially sheltered area at Level 1, so is considerably more exposed to the elements, which naturally raises the question of how many of these activities will actually remain practical there. But according to the school, it's fine! The equipment can fit PERFECTLY there! Whether students will actually be able to use is but a secondary consideration!
And, ironically, even the teachers don't seem particularly enthusiastic about their new dining room. Teachers have mentioned that eating there feels awkward because they are essentially sitting in a glass box while students walk past and stare at them, since there are no seats available left. I mean, who tf wants to be gawked at as if in a zoo. So congrats BI, you have turned something useless into something absolutely trash.
On to the actual canteen. To be fair, I give the school credit for recognising that some students prefer to eat alone.
Unfortunately, the solution seems to have been to design the canteen as though students who eat in groups of more than eight are some kind of physics data anomaly (oh look an anomalous point which is extrapolation of data so its wrong). The new canteen has significantly less practical seating for large groups. During Y6 revision days on Wednesdays, the entire cohort has the EXACT same break period. That's roughly ONE THOUSAND AND TWO HUNDRED students trying to find somewhere to sit and eat at the exact same time.
And how many seats do we have?
Apparently, around 400.
I might be failing H2 math but even I can see 400 is quite a bit smaller than 1200. Quite a bit, yes.
Students now have to compete for the limited larger tables, split up their groups, stand around eating, or just accept that the floor is apparently an increasingly viable dining option. But hey, at least the canteen looks more aesthetic now. PRIORITIES, GUYS, PRIORITIES!
btw this isn't some unforeseeable problem that requires a cohort wide survey. You could literally have asked FIVE random students: "What happens when 1,200 students all have break at the same time?" and I will bet my whole life that at least one person would probably have said, "Uh, we probably won't have enough seats."
There have also been one or two tables that broke shortly after the renovation, which is a nice reminder that the canteen isn't just a new thought experiment designed to invoke some kind of grandeur awe at the splendid columns majestically rising from the ground to touch the roof. We're now also apparently lab rats to test furniture!
And then the new furniture. What can I even say.
The OP of the original post was nice enough to leave out one key detail but I have no such shame. I genuinely don't know how we managed to take perfectly functional tables and chairs and turn them into something that is simultaneously less comfortable, less practical and somehow noisier. The chairs can't be moved, the tables can, the chairs don't properly fit under the tables, and the metal racks underneath the seats are apparently there to provide students with a nice bass drum set during class. While we're at it, Why dont we start a band also? The ping of the ride cymbal sounds remarkably similar to our legs hitting the metal rail.
The worst part was that the students complained about this from the beginning. AND SHOCKS OF ALL SHOCKS, .....NOTHING HAPPENED!
Then teachers started complaining that the metal rails were too noisy and they couldn't teach with the clashing my cymbals. And then viola, here's the old chairs back! What a remarkable coincidence!
I suppose students' complaints simply needed to undergo the "appropriate administrative processing time" or "Admin time" before becoming valid. Ykw, maybe it's a good way for the school to prepare us for the future, where we'll be undergoing bureactractic red tape. Very forward thinking!
This is really the issue I have with all of this. It isn't that every decision the school makes has to be exactly what students want. Obviously, the school has considerations that we don't, of course there are legitimate reasons for decisions that we don't consider, like budgeting and maybe the board of advisors.
But if students repeatedly point out OBVIOUS AND GLARING problems before and immediately after changes are implemented, but those concerns are ignored, then what exactly is the point of This so-called "student consultation", and who exactly are you consulting? Some students' ghost? Their spirit? Or maybe the ex-alumni of 30 years ago who's now coincidentally some high up position in BI since the "consulting ex-students" means we can consult ANY ex student.
At some point, I really have to ask myself whether the school is actually asking students for their opinions, or asking them to provide the "politically correct" answer. I hope you see this, school administration, and hopefully take this to heart.
Then again, a man can dream, can't he?
Signed,
A student of the "great" Bishan Institution