A gift of a programme

What I remembered most regarding the GEP system in Hwa Chong, is what a senior said, “What GEP?” Hwa Chong has the Centre of Scholastic Excellence, a profound and cool sounding name given to its crème de la crème, and while the rest of the people are called the “mainstream”, the term GEP no longer applies in Hwa Chong. When I entered the institute in 2007, the consortium system already in a way diluted the GEP, as we had the “non-GEP” joining us, and by the time I was Secondary 3, the GEP term was obsolete, and even now, nobody from other schools asks me if I am from GEP.

Not that I mind, of course. While the article raised the concern about “elitism”, where the GEP would become snobs, knowing that they were the best of the best, my life was a cute opposite, where the GEP in my school were labelled “nerds” by the “mainstreamers”, a ironic case of reverse elitism. Of course, some of my friends who were at the lower echelons in the GEP, were very snobbish and haughty that they were in GEP, the most of us were just normal children, hoping to lead a peaceful life without conflicts with the mainstream. We weren’t much different from them, just either more hardworking, more creative, or more lucky (Famous cases of jokes who guessed their way into GEP). It has been a long time since I was in the Gifted Education Programme, but it is still of concern to me if the programme I was in is “a gift of a programme”?

True, the GEP tend to do better but perhaps it is not so much of the programme, but the children themselves. The true elite are able to adapt well and excel at anything regardless of the circumstances, surroundings or programmes they are in. I am of the viewpoint that with our without GEP, these people who have won coveted awards such as the Prime Minister’s Book Prize or being the Rhodes or President’s scholars. I have many friends who chose not to enter the GEP, and still did extremely well in PSLE, and are still aceing their subjects. While the programme is unique, with special features such as projects, debates, more in-depth discussions that help to further develop the talent of these gifted, the whole thing is quite a flop and nobody gives a hoot about it as we grow older and no longer feel our heart swell up in our chest when others ask us if we were from the programme. If they even ask, that is.

The horrible part about the GEP is not the concept of segregation, but the usefulness of the programme itself. The programme and the people are not effective usually. I have had my fair share of teachers who could not even answer the questions I posed, much less capture the class’ rapt attention, and have seen many of my friends ignore what makes GEP special from the rest. Projects were thrown aside, debates scripts were “crapped” out 10 minutes before the period, three line long reflections, paper planes and rubber bands constantly in the air while the teacher rumbled on incessantly. It is true that the GEP has exposed me to many opportunities that the mainstream would not present, which gives me the cutting edge over my peers in avenues such as forum discussions and projects especially, but many of my GEP friends are floundering in Hwa Chong and do not paint a good image of the “elite” in Singapore.

As we grow older, GEP fades from the mind, as it is finally marks that determine your calibre and definitely not whether you are GEP or not. With the best schools in Singapore such as Hwa Chong Institution and Raffles Institution nearly scrapping the Gifted Education Programme, the question is: How effective can such a programme be in nurturing and cultivating the nation’s elite if it ends before our secondary school life. The fact that GEP students have excelled is not because of the programme, but because of their own individual effort. GEP has done nothing much, as in the CSE, I share the same teachers, lessons and facilities as people who were not from the programme. It does not boil down to this programme that ceases its use by the time were are upper secondary, but the intelligence and diligence of the few GEP who obtained such honours. Whether there was this GEP programme or not, I am confident that nearly all of these top scholars would still have attained their scholarships, prizes and awards.

GEP to me has become a thing of the past, and truth be told, the word “GEP” has not been in my mind even once for the past few years until I read this article that brought it up in the first place. It is not the programme that nurtures the elite, but rather the elite that glorify the name of this ineffective programme, and make people think that it is still worth pining over. There is definitely no cause for alarm over elitism, as why would there be elitism in secondary schools and junior college, when there is no GEP in these institutes in the first place?