I Remember

Page 33

My years in National Junior College

Back in early seventies, National Junior College (NJC) was a premier educational institution. It had several prominent alumni since its founding in 1969. It was the first Junior College (JC) to be set up in Singapore. After my GCE “O” Level, I took a giant and bold leap into this college from my humble secondary school Gan Eng Seng School. There were just a handful of us coming in from Gan Eng Seng School. On the other hand, there were so many students from Catholic High, ACS. This was painfully obvious when I stepped into NJC. They knew each other and they were already in cliques. I felt so alone. To break into these cliques seemed impossible. When you mentioned that you were from Gan Eng Seng, some of them cooled to your presence. So what did I do to ease my stay in NJC? I conversed in Mandarin with some of them even when Mandarin was not my forte. I made some friends, those who were willing to engage me and got into their confidence. Through these limited friends I broke through and got into their cliques. I remember a group was playing carom at one time. I sat down and showed my magic. From that game on, they were impressed and viewed me differently. I remembered that I struggled with several subjects, like Chemistry, Physics, Economics. I had no one to turn to for help. There was no sharing of notes or solutions among students outside of the cliques. The lecturers/tutors pitched their lesson deliveries at a much higher level than I could cope. After all NJC students came in with very good academic results. I was just about made it for its cut-off point, so was considered not good enough in my mind. That was my inferiority complex coming to the fore again. I had no private tutors or friends who could help me. Approaching our tutors for assistance was never in my agenda because I was too shy. So, I studied the textbook, lecture/tutorial notes and sometimes imagine I was on the right understanding. (I was wrong.) I was not adequately prepared for the GCE “A” Level examinations. It showed in my final transcript of my GCE “A”. Two years of NJC were short when compared with secondary school education. It was just another but small part of my educational journey. The camaraderie among friends in Gan Eng Seng School was so much stronger. I came among the best in Gan Eng Seng School. I was ranked 6 out of 283 in the standard at Secondary 4. But it was a different story in NJC. I was like a tiny fish in a very large pond. I was just glad I was not “eaten up”.


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Articles inside

Epilogue

1min
pages 59-60

From Executive Diary to Smart Phone

1min
page 56

My Uncle from Malaysia

1min
pages 57-58

Coopers & Lybrand

1min
page 55

My Education

2min
pages 53-54

My First Driving Licence

0
page 52

My First Property to Live In

1min
pages 48-49

My parents stayed in rental flats of public housing

1min
page 47

Investing in Investment Property

1min
page 50

Joy of Reading

1min
page 51

My journey through National Service

2min
pages 45-46

My Parents stayed at Craig Road before

0
page 44

DBS Fixed Deposit in 1993

0
page 43

Do you plan for retirement?

1min
page 42

National Day Parade in 1971

1min
page 38

Matriculation for Accountancy course in 1978-9

1min
pages 39-40

GCE “O” Level Results were published in Newspaper

0
page 37

Enrolled in English-Medium stream in primary school (1964

1min
page 41

You write long-distance and then wait days for reply

1min
page 36

You will know this special bond

1min
page 35

PSC Undergraduate Scholarship 1976

1min
page 34

National Library of yesteryears

1min
page 31

My years in National Junior College

2min
page 33

Early years of bus transport

1min
page 30

My Hobbies

0
page 32

I did woodwork and metalwork

1min
page 29

My National Service Days

1min
pages 27-28

Bukit Ho Swee Fire

0
page 25

My First Savings Account (POSB

1min
page 26

From poor to rich

1min
page 24

Chinese New Year

1min
page 22

Games played

3min
pages 19-21

Credit facility

1min
page 23

My Home at Ganges Avenue

3min
pages 17-18

Living each day as it comes

0
page 16

A Private Person

2min
pages 14-15

Saving habits

2min
pages 12-13

I Remember

2min
pages 7-8

Preface

0
pages 5-6

My School Days

0
page 9

Career

2min
page 11

Inferiority Complex

1min
page 10
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