JOSEPHIANS | LUMEN
19 that had no historical record . SJI International proved to be all the things I had expected . In my first week , I was anxious about fitting in , whether I could get to a good university , and most importantly if I could be happy in the school . By the end of the International Baccalaureate ( IB ), I knew I had made the right choice . I was always engaged in class as I could explore new scientific , philosophical and cultural horizons through lab experiments in almost every science class , books of esteemed authors and their philosophical and literary persuasions , and I also learnt to appreciate speaking my mother tongue again .
All of these was situated against a backdrop of asking about the value of things , ethics , morality , and more . We were often exposed to social issues facing the world , having to do commentaries on current economic situations related to a part of our syllabus , and going on fieldtrips to less developed parts of Asia . My own experience included visiting the villages around the Mahindra United World College of India and getting to know about the microcredit schemes , literacy schemes and female empowerment programmes that were undertaken by both the school and local Non-Governmental Organisations to improve the economic well-being of the area , as well as a trip to teach English in rural Chiang Mai , Thailand . If the Community Involvement Programme in SJI allowed me to realise the social realities of Singapore , these trips and projects exposed me to the global dimension of such issues , which in turn enhanced my ability to appreciate the realities of my subjects and taught me how to express my views more confidently than I was previously capable of .
The way classes were conducted and assessment was weighted in all my subjects enabled me to improve how I expressed my views and my thoughts . Thus how I developed and articulated my views with the nuances , precision , accuracy and necessary force to persuade people , was a very important part of the IB experience ; the ultimate lesson I took home was essentially a Josephian one : that all of my skills and abilities are useless unless I put them to use for the good of the community I am a part of . Therein lies one of the reasons why I chose to apply for the Public Service Scholarship , and to read Law as I believe it will train my mind to understand , analyse , and ameliorate social problems . After two internships I knew I could not work simply based on a profit motive , and needed
They say that you can take the boy out of SJI , but you never quite take SJI out of the boy . I would say that and more : the boy tends to bring SJI to others in his life as well .
an ideal to work towards . It is one of the many ways in which the Josephian experience has shaped my view of life and the choices I make . It is my desire to help ameliorate the income gap that is becoming more prominent in Singapore in the future .
I was immensely fortunate to be successful in my application to the University of Oxford . Not only is Oxford a very beautiful place that inspires due to the sheer beauty of its surroundings , ancient libraries and buildings but it is here that I have also been inducted into a very close knit community of law students in my college , St John ’ s College 1 . It is only after you leave school that you realise that sense of community one has in SJI , or SJI I , and that belief in caring for the last , the lost , and the least , does not permeate all parts of society . Yes , there are many people in Oxford who believe in serving the last , the lost and the least , but it does not have the same Josephian sense of community . People are not as sensitive about other socioeconomic realities in their actions and this becomes apparent , making me realise I had taken many parts of my Josephian experience for granted .
The pressure and stress of learning does not come from competition like it tends to back home ,
Facing page : On an Oxbridge varsity ski trip to the French Alps organised for students of Oxford and Cambridge
This page ( top ): Ian with his friends at matriculation
This page ( bottom ): With his St John ' s College Boat Club Novice ' B ' team mates but from the sheer challenge of the material and work that are given to us . There is some level of competition , but it is friendly . While Josephians tend to be a more generous group , the difference is that the people here are more likely to help each other out , as a bell curve system is not used . If your work reaches a certain standard , it does not suffer simply because more people have the same standard , or if it is simply the case that you are part of a cohort that is more intelligent on the whole .
The system of learning here is also different . There are weekly tutorials , a one hour session in groups of one to three with a tutor who reviews your weekly essay and work with you 2 . To be honest , I have not found my views and understanding of my work more challenged , probed , and analysed than before my tutors , to the extent that I do feel quite inadequate sometimes in the sheer face of their intellect . But I feel that this is also the best way to learn . The rest of the learning is self-directed and one can choose which lectures to go for albeit one is encouraged to go for them all .
My experiences in SJI and SJI I have helped me to no end to cope with this new educational experience . I have learnt to manage large amounts of material , in a variety of subjects , giving me tools to look at things in a variety of ways . But I think the one important lesson the Josephian experience has given me is the lesson of empathy , and to use that to identify and solve problems that are within one ’ s sphere of influence . They say that you can take the boy out of SJI , but you never quite take SJI out of the boy . I would say that and more : the boy tends to bring SJI to others in his life as well .
1
Oxford is a collegiate university , made up of a federation of autonomous colleges governed by academic faculties and a central governing body ; almost like classes within a school as it were .
2
At least , this is the way it is for essay-based subjects like mine .