A Year In Review: TPJC

2008 was a year of changes for TPJC. Staff and students saw quite a number of new additions to the school: the turnstiles, the plasma TVs, the new security guards...As a student taking her A Levels this year, here are my thoughts on the changes we witnessed.

1. The turnstiles
The turnstiles caused quite a bit of commotion in the early stages of its implementation. Forum threads, in particular the one created by Zizie Zuzantie of 07A07, were rife with complaints, suggestions and even pleas to do away with the turnstiles. Photoshare was, for a while, dominated by photos of the long queues caused by the turnstiles after remedials in the late afternoon. Apart from the turnstiles accomodating only one person at a time, another problem with the turnstile was that once you went out, you had to walk all the way to the main gate to come inside again. Yes, the turnstiles seemed like the worst possible thing.

On the other side, I feel like the turnstiles were a blessing for students who stayed back late to study. Before their arrival, students were chased out of school as early as 7 or 8 pm, and could not study later than that. As the turnstiles were open until 9 pm, students were given another hour to study. After a while, students either became accustomed to the turnstiles, or became more concerned with their studying.

2. Plasma TV sets in time for the Beijing Olympics
The plasma TV sets caused another round of unhappiness: students complained about how "The school [has] the money to install plasma TV and turnstiles but no money to replace the mirror in the [boy]'s toliet next to LT1 or change batteries in clocks". Nonetheless, the Beijing Olympics saw clusters of students (and even teachers!) gathered around the TVs, in the student cafe or the foyer, necks craned to catch the action on screen. Admit it: we all love the plasma TVs.

3. Security guards
A forum thread on students' experiences with the security guards revealed that many students found them unnecessarily unreasonable and sometimes even rude. In a case of students' voices being heard, however, there was a change in their behaviour: they were kinder and friendlier to students. This, I believe, improved the students' mood, because with friendlier security guards one has no reason to be annoyed. My own experiences with them reinforced again how even security guards are people too. A simple 'good morning, uncle' brought a smile on their faces, and a smile on mine as well as they returned the greeting.

So these are some of the changes that TPJCians saw in 2008. Whatever changes 2009 will bring, I have to admit that I wish I could be there for it. All the best for the coming year!