Education System - Primary

In the early 1980s, PSLE results were based on 4 core subjects: English, Mother Tongue, Mathematics and Science with more weightage on the languages.  
As far as I can remember, the ratio of the marks for English to Mother Tongue to Mathematics to Science was 2 : 2 : 1 : 1 respectively.  However, by the time I took my PSLE, the weightage had changed to equal weightage for all subjects.  The ratio of the marks for English to Mother Tongue to Mathematics to Science was changed to 1 : 1 : 1 : 1 respectively. This was good news to me. I had always been very good in Mathematics so this meant a higher overall score for me. Since then, there were many changes to the PSLE. The latest information can be found on the MOE (Ministry of Education) website. With subject banding, primary school students now had the opportunity to take the subject at a higher level if they excel in it, unlike the system prior to that (EM1, EM2 and EM3).  Click here to read more on this.

In my time, students were streamed in Primary 3. Those who did not do well in their Primary 3 examinations will be streamed to study up till Primary 7 or Primary 8.  Those who studied till Primary 7 would still be able to take PSLE and proceed to a normal secondary school.  Those who were streamed to study till Primary 8 could only go to VI (Vocational Institute) to learn some technical skills. The problem was, some parents heard a lot of bad things about VI and worried that their kids might get into bad company. Thus, they did not let the children study at VI. So, at the age of 14 or 15, they would go out and work. With only primary school education, their choice of jobs was limited. Of course they could go for 'BEST' and 'WISE' classes offered by ITE later in life, but not many of them knew of this option especially if they don't work in the government service or big organizations.

Students now have more options when it comes to choosing their secondary school.  Students can apply for direct school admissions to the schools of their choice based on their achievements and talents before the PSLE results are released. Click here for details.  Students who are academically strong can also apply for the Integrated Programme.

Apart from the usual secondary school, they can also enroll in independent schools such as the Singapore Sports School,  School of the Arts, NUS High School of Math and Science and School of Science and Technology to develop their potential in the respective areas.

Mobile phones

Pagers were the rage in the 1980s and 1990s.  I bought my first pager when I first started looking for a job.  How fast things have changed in Singapore.  Mobile phones are now very common. It changed so fast that this generation of children, that is Lynn and Sera, had never seen what a pager looked like. 

I bought my first mobile phone in the late 1990s with the first bonus that I got from the company that I was working at that time. That mobile phone cost me $300+.  It was a simple thick phone with an antenna and keypad. The screen size was small. That was considered cheap then and with a subscription plan (classic plan) of $40 per month!

Subsequently, when M1 and Starhub came into the picture, subscription fee had gone down to $28 per month for classic plan as Singtel wanted to keep their subscribers. 

Now, you can get a smart phone with touch screen at prices less than $100 with many functions and applications on an average price plan.  Phones are now slimmer too. Nearly all smart phone comes with a camera (which I like).  In the past, there were times that I felt like taking some pictures but couldn't because I did not bring the camera. Now, we will definitely bring our mobile phones out so we can take pictures any time we want as long as the phone is not low on battery.

Mobile phones had gone from being thick and big to slim and small with small screen size, and now to slim and big with big screen size.  That is the only irony (big to small, then to big).

If you compare the phones then and now, yes, prices of mobile phone, in relative terms, had gone down.  For the same price, you can get better quality phones.

Cameras

My family did not own any camera when we were young.  So we did not have many childhood pictures.  Most of the pictures we had were taken by other people who had cameras. Cameras were expensive then and my parents probably feel it was not necessary to buy one.

I bought my own camera when I started working in the 1990s. It cost me about $300. The camera I bought required photographic film to capture the image. The photographic film usually came in rolls that can take up to 12, 24 or 36 pictures. We had to finish using the whole roll of film before we could get the pictures develop by the photo shop or else it would be wasteful.  

Now at the price of $100+, you can get a decent digital camera with video recording function.  We can view the images on the camera's LCD screen once we capture it to see if it turned out well.  We can edit the pictures ourselves, display them on a digital photo frame so that we do not need many photo frames to display many different pictures. We can save the pictures in a SD  card, flash drive, our computer, CD or even online.  This means fewer physical storage space as compared to putting pictures in photo albums. We can print out the pictures using a printer when we need them. This is especially useful when the children's schools want their photos for some class activities; we do not need to "sacrifice" any photos for that purpose.  

When you compare the prices of cameras then and now, you can now buy a lower priced cameras with better functions and quality.  So, in actual fact, prices of cameras had gone down. 

Public Transport Then and Now - Buses and MRT

Bus services were not so frequent in the 1980s.  On top of that, all buses were non air-conditioned.  On hot days, when the buses stopped for passengers to board and alight, and at traffic lights, the heat could be unbearable if there was no wind.  On rainy days, it was even worse! If we closed all the windows in the bus, it would be very warm and stuffy especially if the bus was very crowded. If we did not close the windows, you would get rain splashing into the bus.

In the past, we had to bring enough coins to take a bus.  For students, we had the student bus card to enjoy concessionary bus fare. We could also purchase the bus stamp from the bus company at $12 or $15  to enjoy unlimited rides for that month. I used to think how nice it could be if we could use the bus card even as adults so that we do not need to bring so many coins. My friend said that was not possible.

When the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) started operation in 1987, we started to use a fare card when taking the MRT.  They also came up with a stored value fare card that could be used on MRT trains. Later on, SBS and Trans Island added the machines so that we could use the stored value fare card on the buses. This fare card system enabled passengers to enjoy some rebates when switching between MRT and buses or switching between a few buses during a journey. Passengers just need to slot the card into the ticket machine, press the correct bus fare amount and a bus ticket would come out. 

Now, the stored value fare card is replaced by the ez-link card which is also a cash card. We just need to tap on the machine when boarding the bus and tap another time when alighting.  Then the correct bus fare will be deducted from the ez-link card. No bus ticket will be issued. We no longer have to remember the correct bus fare to various places.  We no longer have to worry about paying less than the correct amount of bus fare and get penalised by the bus ticket inspector. Most importantly, we no longer need to carry many coins to take buses.  This system turned out even better than what I could have hoped for. The only thing we need to remember, of course, is to top up the ez-link card when it is low in value.  Passengers can still pay for their bus fare by using coins and dollar notes if they forget to bring the ez-link card or when their ez-link card have negative value. 

Students are now issued a student smart card which acts as an ez-link card to enjoy concessionary bus fare.  This smart card and ez-link card can also be used for admission into public swimming pools etc.

Now, all the public buses are air-conditioned. Bus services are more frequent. Of course during peak hours, there will still be delays due to traffic conditions. There are now more MRT routes to many parts of Singapore. Public buses and MRTs are still very crowded during peak hours. That is one problem that nobody has been able to fully resolve.

My House Then and Now

I've read about many people saying about "the good old days" so I thought I would write about the old days and compare them to the things we have now.  

This series of posts is not meant to offend anyone.  It is solely based on my own experiences and perspectives.  

I used to stay in a shophouse in a rural part of Singapore in my childhood years. The roof was made of some kind of metal (called "sa li" in Teochew, not sure of the English name). On rainy days, there would be water leaking through the roof into the house. At night, I could hear the neighbours' dogs barking and cats crawling on the rooftop.

Being in a rural area also meant there were very few bus services. There were only 2 bus services available and you could wait for more than half an hour to 1 hour during non-peak periods. We also encountered frequent blackouts.

Even though we had our own bathroom and toilet in the house (unlike those shown in the TV drama "甘榜情" whereby they had to walk a distance to the common toilet and bathroom), we would still need an umbrella to go to the toilet on rainy days. There was no sheltered walkway from our house to our toilet and bathroom. Our toilet was not the flushing type so someone had to come to the back of our house periodically to clear the manure. Can you imagine doing your "business" halfway and someone pulled the bucket away to clear the manure? Life was such then and this was in the early 1980s.

Now, I stay in a HDB flat in almost the same part of Singapore. This place has developed a lot. I can walk from my flat to the MRT station in about 15 minutes.  There's no water leaking problem from my flat's roof. Hygiene conditions and the overall environment are much better now. I no longer have to wait so long for buses and there are many bus services at the main road to different parts of Singapore. Don't forget the MRT line that goes straight to Singapore's shopping district, Orchard Road. So far, we have only encountered one blackout in June 2004 which also affected many other parts of Singapore.

All HDB flats that are 3 rooms and above have 2 toilets. Waste matter can be flushed down the drain with the press of a button. All of the waste matter is eventually recycled, even the water.

Although I do reminisce a bit about the past, I do not miss it, especially when I think about the above. The good old days? Well, doesn't seem all that good to me.