my letter to stlife...
Friday, September 22
this part is not included in the letter:well i wrote to Straits Times Life! today, but i sent it in rather late so i dun think it'll be coming out tmr XD well maybe it will, but i highly doubt so. it'll probably come out next week saturday, IF it even comes out for that matter. just wrote it for fun...so let you guys read it. it isnt very well organised cos i did it over the course of a whole day, walking here and there, eating meals, doing work, so i forgot bits and pieces of information. i also didnt bother to read through it again, so it is rather messy and all.I refer to the article, 'Singapore A-Z... once more, with feeling' (Lifestyle, September 17) and the section about 'GEP, also GIFTED' under G. The article states, "The jury is still out on whether this is a programme to separate the smart from the stupid and make the stupid feel worse and the smart even more arrogant and antisocial…" This implies that the 'stupid' students are the ones that suffer, while 'gifted' students are the ones that distance themselves from them treating them as people who would bring down one's reputation.
However, how true is this? I, as a GEP student myself, have experienced the life of a GEPer. Through the course of my past 3+ years in the GEP, I have found that it is in fact the GEPers that end up suffering at most times. Yes, it is true that there is an invisible barrier between the two groups, but the reason for this is entirely different from what is thought, and the barrier is not made by us but the express/normal stream students. We on the other hand always have the initial intention of getting to know others out of the GEP circle.
Firstly, some students in the express or normal stream tend to be inferior. This might make them slightly discouraged, but rather this stirs them to insult us just for the sake of spiting us and taking our their anger.
Secondly, some of them also immediately classify all GEPers into the false stereotype of being nerds. This creates another reason for them to constantly insult us. For instance, when we want to play a sports game, some people just have to come along and purposely say aloud, "These nerd GEPers playing sports! I didn't know nerds can play sports one! But they still quite lousy lah... I bet we can trash them easily.”"
These two reasons alone are enough to make us want to keep our distance between us and them, as it is only natural that we do not want to hear ourselves being insulted.
That action stirs up more reason for people to find fault with us. Thus, we start hearing, "These GEPers think they so great, purposely stay away from us because they think we lousy. Who they think they are?" What makes things worse is that these false accusations are always purposely made within earshot, to make us feel angry with them.
Slowly, the words of malice develop a tone of glee, watching us suffer in silence while they continue their endless stream of insults. Some GEPers end up being pushed to the limit and burst in a fit of anger.
The whole chain reaction continues and the tables of the stereotype are turned. Instead of the GEPers being superior, we end up being the ones that suffer. Instead of the stereotype, "Don't associate with those express/normal stream pupils, you'll catch they're stupidity," said by GEPers, it is actually, "Don't associate with those GEPers, you don't want to become as nerdy as them," said by the express/normal stream pupils.
When some GEPers challenge them to come up with evidence to show that they are truly nerdy, or that they will contact our so called 'nerdiness' just by mingling with us, they give no solid evidence, and tell us things like, "Your face just screams the word 'nerd'!" or, "Your results are always so high, you must be mugging all day to be able to achieve those kind of results. Sure nerd one," etcetera. All these statements are either biased opinions or false conclusions.
For the record, many of my friends, including me, do not mug before examinations, but we always manage to perform well. Perhaps it is just that we have better memory, I don't know what the case really is, but how does that lead to the conclusion that we are nerds?
Nerds are people who mug all day and never give time for their own life and leisure. As the idiom states, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." We GEPers are not like that. We are highly sociable people and have never stopped having the love for fun. In fact, many GEPers are mischievous and play good-natured pranks on fellow classmates once in a while.
It seems almost as if they forget that we are humans with feelings too, just like them. They constantly mock us and laugh when we get angry, whereas when we try to get back at them we're faced with a whole lot of threats about us stopping else ending up in fights or other violent activities. Why is it that they can freely mock us and not feel guilty about it, whereas when we mock them, they feel that we are in the wrong? It's almost as if they are think only their feelings matter, and what we feel don't matter just because we're plain nerds.
What I hate most is when one of them starts insulting one of us, and the rest of them start joining in and it ends up being a gang bang. When we try to rebut, we are cut off because there are so many people there.
So why are we GEPers being 'punished in the endless suffering just because we are smart? It is not like we could choose whether we were smart or not. Are we supposed to regret that we were born smart? Is there anything we can change about that? The answer is of course no. So why can't people just accept that, learn to put differences aside and get to know each other? In fact, they might just get something productive out of the friendship.
As an ending note, I have to admit that I am thankful for those who bother to be different and try to make friends with us, making life much less harsher for us. These people are clear examples that express/normal stream pupils and GEP pupils can get along, but only if both parties are able to put their differences aside.
AMEN;
10:54 pm
