the divide between ITE graduates and JC graduates is becoming increasingly apparent, or so it seems as my NS days pass me by. back in the days of basic training, my bunk kept to itself, rarely socializing with the other 2 bunks. reason being, first of all, my bunk was english-speaking; the others chinese-speaking. logically, there would be little room for fruitful discussions between two parties as such. interestingly, the other 2 bunks were filled with ITE graduates, as compared to my bunk (3 JC grads, 1 priv. dip. grad). in fact, the other 2 bunks were utterly childish, as they would play lame pranks on each other as well as us every so often, and engage in childish discussions packed with lame jokes. as a result, my bunk kinda ostracized itself from the other 2 bunks. at first i thought such disharmony couldn't be helped, it was kind of ca circumstantial thing. but i was indeed wrong, as such an educational divide exists even now, in my new PCG squad.

basically, during lessons, everyone sits in their cliques. the biggest clique of all, inevitably, happened to be the mat gang (it happens alot here in NS- somehow they just coalesce together). the next group, is kind of a sparsely-knit cluster of people, mainly chinese, and ITE graduates. together, these 2 cliques occupy the front half of the classroom, and they tend to socialize fairly well during lessons. next comes the neutral zone, housing about 6 of us (all from various backgrounds- diploma, ITE, A levels). we aren't particularly close or anything, but we have pretty decent conversations from time to time. this group occupies the middle portion of the classroom. and finally, there's the clique of JC grads (all of them SC CPLs, mostly english-speaking, pretty closely-knit) which occupies the back half of the classroom. the mats seldom or never mix with the neutral zone or JC grad clique, choosing to hang out with the chinese clique instead. and, the chinese clique has this grudge against the JC grad clique (apparently they can't stand the attitude of the SC CPLs). by now, you should have realised that i must be one of the most neutral people around in the squad, lest i would not have found out the nature of the different cliques. in fact, i pretty much am. i get along well with the CPLs, mainly coz they are english-speaking. for the chinese clique, i try to acknowledge them whenever possible, laughing along at their lame jokes (probably rolling my eyes mentally). as for the mats, well. i've never gotten along well with this kinda people, even back in my sji days.

ultimately, i'm like stuck at the crossroad? liked by both the warring cliques (chinese clique vs. CPL clique), though the former has expressed clearly its disapproval of me siding the latter.

sadly, when forced to take sides, i'd probably join the latter. even though the latter may be the minority. the reason? well, i kinda agree with naveen that most of these ITE guys are 'tards. note, that was a qualified statement: MOST not ALL. there are exceptions, like for example this ITE guy in our neutral zone clique, who i get along with pretty well.

in a way, such behaviour can be attributed to the education system i guess. i mean, how often do you see ITE grads and JC grads hanging out together, chilling out and hsving coffee together? like virtually never? sad, but true. its pretty sad.

which brings me to the point of this post: basically, squad 04/05 is as disunited as 52/04. enough said.