Victoria

Image from TPJC fb page

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when TPJC is being mentioned? Its definitely not something nice, but rather in between the lines of being a "slacker school" and "those who messed up their o levels". These are real quotes from what I heard from others who aren't in my school. I know TPJC hasnt had a good reputation among everyone in the past few years and it is definitely not the first choice to many. After two years in this school and having to experience what its like to be in this somewhat notorious school, Im here to clear up the misconceptions and stereotypes that people have as well my very honest opinion about TPJC.

1) Most of the students did not choose TPJC as their first choice

This is definitely true. Most TPJCians came into this school with a raw score of 13 for L1R5 and the smarter ones maybe ranging from 9-10. Most of the people ended up in TPJC because they couldn't go anywhere else or they have rejected by other JCs just because they miss the COP by 1 mark. Most of the people aren't happy in the school and all of them wish they could just get out of TPJC as soon as possible and find any ways to get out of here. Being in an Orientation Group(OG) back in my J1 this is definitely true because when my OGL asked around who wanted to transfer and out of the 23 people, at least half of us wanted to transfer out of here and constantly checking their watches to wait for their appeal time slot to leave. I wasn't one of them though, because i know my score couldn't get me anywhere else so I had the mentality to stay, but given a choice, i would have transferred too.  

But the sad truth is most appeal cases usually fall through, unless you are really talented so don't bother transferring if you are posted to TPJC. You may think that u only need that 1 more mark to get into XXX JC, but there are at least hundreds of others just like you in the country too. Chances are slim.

Why?

Simple reason being we have the mentality that TPJC sucks without even giving it a try. We were asked why we wanted to transfer and most of the people said other schools are better and when asked in what way it was better, the only answer was results. Which brings me to my next point:

2) TPJCians don't excel in A levels

It really got me curious why so many people said that TPJC A level results sucked and I went to do some research on TPJC past year results. And to my surprise I couldn't find any. I only remembered them showing AB % rates instead of A grade % to boost up their percentage. I honestly feel that the school as a whole didn't do very well, but there are people who did extremely well too. There are 3 people in the cohort who got 90 rank points for their A levels. I know you must be thinking... ' 3?! Other schools have handful of them! This school must really suck! ' But before you go on and judge, ask yourself this question: Are you capable of getting 90RP in the first place? Getting 90RP isnt about being studious and hardworking, it's also whether you have the capability to sit through papers after papers and be the top few % to clinch the A grade among your other peers in other JCs taking the A levels. Its really a matter of if you have the x factor to do that well. That's just life.

Talking about doing well,  it really doesn't matter if you are in TPJC which is deemed as a bad school or if you are at the higher end of the spectrum of JC, you are still in the same race together competing for the same medal. I have compared notes of some JCs with TPJC's and there is really nothing different on how they are presented in lecture notes because they write the same content and teachers teach the same content.

 Ultimately, it boils down to you and your attitude and you can never blame anyone else or the school for your results because no institute would fail to educate and gear them with what they need for A levels.

 We have night studies that opens up the college till 10pm for students who want to study in and classrooms with aircon are opened for a conducive enviornment to study in when nearing A levels. There is also a power up station organized by the PSG whereby students are provided snacks such as sandwiches and even mini tea break buffet forked out by parents own pocket money in order to provide students who stay in school to study every Tuesday so that they wont go hungry. The teachers are always in school for consultations from 7am in the morning to as late as 7pm without having any lunch break. They are so committed to their students who are willing to reach out to them and get help. The college have definitely done their part, what about the students?

So why are TPJCians not doing well for A levels?

 This is a rather sensitive topic and no one really explicitly say it but I'm just going to be honest about it: Either we are just not cut out for studying, chose the wrong subject combination to begin with or we have not tried our best. Let's face it, people like me who worked so hard for my o levels but only getting 13 when there are many, and I when I say many I meant many who said that, ' oh I fudge up my o levels la, i never study get 13 so sucky. ' I have heard that so, so many times that I feel like screaming OMG SHUT UP ITS ENOUGH.

- Wrong mentality

People who brag about how they dont study and end up in TPJC are the ones that are going to screw up their A levels as well because their attitude is just wrong. Habits dont die, you dont change your attitude overnight. Having a mentality that you dont even want to try and give your very best is just going to cause your downfall at having a bad A level result.

Its all about the attitude, never the people, or the school. You reap what you sow, as simple as that.

If you dont have the right mentality dont even think about doing well for A levels because thats not going to happen. People who tell you A level is a piece of cake and you dont have to study for it or work hard for it are just lying to you because they are the one who are secretly mugging their ass off everyday at home and get the good grades. So dont be fooled by those people who did well and said they didn't study for it.

- Wrong subject combination

Please go and find out what you are really good at and capable of doing well before settling down on a subject combination. PLEASE. As many of you already know if you have been following this blog of how I always told you all that I regretted my decision to take up H2 math without A math background. I damn well know that me(being someone who redid O level E math TYS thrice and getting a freaking A2) Im gonna commit suicide if im gonna take H2 math because math was never my thing and i just obviously suck at it. But no, stubborn me chose to stick to, ' Im going to prove all of you wrong, ALL SO WRONG'. Im just a girl who is always up for a challenge and I have never been filled with regrets. Ever. I took H2 math which meant it consists 20/90 of all my rank point and trust me when I said mastering this subject was not worth the tears staying up feeling self defeated and worrying if im ever going to make it and the pain having to sit for math paper and getting fever immediately after every paper. Its just like how I took Physics when I know I obviously suck at it and girls just suck at physics, well at least most. Stereotype happens for a reason. However, there are also departments in TPJC which does extremely well like TSD with almost 100% AB rate, History, Literature, Econs. Most of the people chose the wrong subject combination and couldn't handle it and thus didnt do well just like me. So please find out what you are really good at and not just choose the subject combination because of your friends. Its not worth it at the end of the day when you dont do well for your A levels.

- Pure laziness

Some are just pure lazy and unmotivated. Enough said.

No matter what the reason is, ultimately if you do well or not really depends on how much effort YOU put in and not what school you came from. There are people who couldn't make it even at better ends of the JC as well, there are people struggling in other JCs as well. So don't have this mentality that if you go to other JC you will automatically do well because it really boils down to how much you have worked for it.

3) Most TPJCians hate the school

You either love it, or hate it. You will definitely love it because of the friends you make here because everyone is so warm and welcoming and everyone just click. You will hate it because of the school system.

4) The school system is messed up: Long school hours, strict latecoming and absentee rules, rigid school rules.

- Long school hours

Its true that most of us ends school on 5pm, but every other JC ends around that time too. Its just because there are some lucky JCs that are able to end lessons at 2pm, 3pm daily because they dont have lectures just tutorials that others will find our school hours long but actually its just a normal JC schedule. Just ask around anyone about their timetable, JC timetable is never gonna be nice. Ever. I had the better timetable out of all the science classes during my year but I stll end quite late everyday though because of exra lessons. Yes you gonna have that when nearing A levels.

- Late coming

Im not sure how this works but if im not wrong you are only entitled to maximum of 3 late days per term and if you exceeded it you will need to serve detention, suspended etc. I dont really know the late coming rule for other JCs though do tell me about it. But from what I know they are pretty strict about it and you WILL get suspended and it will leave a pretty bad mark on you- meaning u are banned from overseas trips, OGL selection and scholarships. But hey i guess the moral of the story is just don't be late? Its just a basic thing that you have to do and that is to be on time. Next time, its not only gonna cost you just all those privileges the college has to offer you, but your job.

- Absentee rules

Okay, this is the part where i  get pretty fustrated over because they are really strict on this.

you only have 3 parents letter in A YEAR. Yes, a year. And other than that you can only submit MC or they will count you as truancy. Maybe its because i've came from a secondary school that doesnt really care if you turn up to school or not and dont collect MCs or letters that i've gotten so used to it that i find this system very strict. They will literally go up your class and print the exact time, date and lesson that you aren't present and haunt you till you give them a valid reason or let them count as trauncy. Like argh, I know many especially in JC many people are just too tired to even drag ourselves to school ( we all have those days ) and feel that we can study at home. I guess the college really has to be more flexible on this absentee policy and trust that when we give parents letter for a valid reason.

 Its not uncommon to see us giving parents letter to skip school... just so we could study at home and be more productive.

Asians.

5) TPJC has too little school activities

Even though we have limited school activities, we do have activities every year such as Cheerleading for sports day, being an Orientation Group Leader, HOT Project whereby its a student initiated concert to raise funds through selling tickets to improve the school environment, Interhouse games whereby everyone can sign up for different sports like netball, soccer, floorball, basketball and compete against each other. There are so many chances to go overseas for study trip for different subjects such as Korea Trip for econs, Brisbane for Math, Japan for Physics, Cambodia for CIP and GP and a lot more.

There are commendable amount of activities in J1 and its enough to make your student life busy and vibrant, its up to you whether you want to participate in those activities to make your college life a fulfilling one.

images from hot concert tpjc fb page

My thoughts on TPJC:

After being in the school for 2 years, I've came to love it because the people here are so welcoming and friendly. We always have this saying in TPJC:

Ohana means family. And family means nobody gets left behind.

Even through the struggles of A levels, everyone still encouraged each other even though everyone is stressing out. Everyone got together and quietly study at classrooms though they dont know each other, kind random notes and sweets are being left around in school for students to take and encouraging them to press on. People critisize that the school has no school spirit. I do agree on that but after being through orientation and an OGL it no longer holds anymore. When i first stepped into TPJC everyone was so hipped up and trying their very best to integrate us into the school and even though the whole hall was dead silence they still tried so hard by doing cheers and dancing together and it was so effective that it got everyone to start doing school cheers by the 2nd day of orientation.

As an OGL, I saw how people from different cliques in school who barely spoke to each other just got together and work together to bring the whole TPJC spirit up. TPJC definitely has school spirit, and its something that I can't explain till you experience what its like to be in a room full of hyper, friendly OGLs. I struggled through my years in TPJC, but not because the school wasn't good enough to provide me with what i need, but because i think im just not cut out to study.

But with that said i tried my best and im so thankful to have teachers supporting me throughout these 2 years. If you happen to take Physics and Mr Kuah is your teacher, thank God because no matter how lousy you are, his dedication towards you is only going to make you work hard and improve your Physics, just like how he turned my straight US for physics in J1 to at least passing in J2. If you have a PE teacher like Mr Kwok you will have a fun time laughing at him trying so hard for trying to be fierce but fails miserably by ending up getting bullied by us with stupid jokes. If you have a teacher like Ms Tan, you will not only earn yourself the best econs teacher you can ever get, but also a good friend that you can confide in.

I wouldn't say TPJC is the best JC, there are definitely rooms for improvement just like other JCs as well, but I can definitely say that i've grown a lot through these two years in TPJC and I wouldn't want to go into any other JC if i had a alternative.

Love it or hate it, you decide. If you happen to be posted to TPJC, don't feel that its the end of the world. For all you know, it might be the start of something amazing.

OG 19 Jango Road Run

If you all really want to have a little insight of what its like to be in TPJC family, do drop by at TPJC on 13th January from 10AM-4PM. Till next time.