compiled by Nur Izzati

RGS in the 90's

The first thing the average Singaporean thinks about when RGS is mentioned is that we are a boring, stagnant school of grade-grinds and over-achievers. We, as students, beg to differ. We're really very interesting when you get to know us - and we most definitely are not stagnant.

So, what happened in the 90's? For one thing, the school moved to a strategic location in Singapore near a particular strip of road which just happens to be a favourite haunt of RGS students. I'm sure you all know which famous road we're talking about. It has been rumoured that the prefectorial board has specific days on which they are scheduled to patrol the said road and arrest miscreants, but we don't exactly know for sure if this is true.

The 8-day cycle and floating-classroom arrangement was officially implemented in the 90s, as we all know. For the years we have been at RGS, we've settled into the 8-day cycle remarkably well. Once you get used to it, it really seems no different from our usual 5-day week, except for having fewer (and longer) lessons per day, but there are more days in a "week" just to make up for that. We don't know if this is universally true or if we're just weird, but now it seems rather odd to hear people talk of a 5-day week, and how they have to get something done for next week's lessons, etc.

Floating classrooms, which we mentioned earlier, have become part and parcel of our schooling lives. In a nutshell, it involves moving from one room to another for different lessons. We think they're more conducive than sitting in fixed classrooms, because we like to move around. This arrangement is perfect for the physically fit and the restless, who together make up most of RGS. (There aren't many people who are both.) However, this does tend to create corridor jams between classes.

Culottes joined the ranks of official RGS wear in 1999. These fascinating articles of clothing are of undetermined and varying length; are they skirts or shorts? They are fastened in the back by both a zip and a button, both of which serve two purposes collectively : to fasten, and to remind us constantly to watch our waistlines. They have since provided us with many entertaining assemblies, what with the shorten-it-today, lengthen-it-tomorrow issue.

by Chen Cuifen, Jolyn Chua, Sylvia Chen