April 12, 2009
Playing with stereotypes
A Facebook quiz reveals that I'm an RGS girl at heart
By Ignatius Low
This week, I took a Facebook quiz that proved something I may have secretly known all this while.
On the outside, I may look like the average goateed, slightly balding, masculine kind of guy.
But inside, I'm really an RGS girl.
I know this from decades of being great friends with other graduates of the famous Raffles Girls' School.
We get along because we think alike. And we react pretty much in the same way to life's toughest moments - which is to analyse everything to death, and then go with a gut feel based on how the costs and benefits stack up.
For those who haven't seen it yet, the Facebook quiz is entitled Which Singaporean Elite School Do You Belong To?.
'It don't matter which elite school you went to or never been to,' reads the cheery introduction. 'It is more important to know, deep down, which elite school you should have been in!'
Then it launches into a string of 10 fairly well put-together questions.
Some are innocent enough, such as 'What do you do in your free time?' (My answer: 'Watch TV') and 'Which of the following values do you cherish the most?' ('Empathy').
Other questions are cryptic, such as: 'if you were to choose an animal to represent you, what would it be?' ('Tiger').
Then there are a couple that lay the quizmaster's prejudices bare.
'What do you think of poor people?', the quiz asks. (My answer: 'They need more education.')
And also this: 'If you just learnt that you have lost a competition to another person, what do you do next?' (My answer: 'Analyse where you've gone wrong.')
After submitting the answers, you get a little commentary on why the quizmaster thinks you are from this school or that.
'You are smart and motivated,' it says.
'But sometimes, you wish you can unleash your inner being - either the rebellious ah lian or the slutty party-animal.'
How true, how true, I think.
'You want to do everything because you feel that you are expected to do everything,' the commentary continues, before ending with an observation which brings a lump to my throat.
'In your quiet moments, you think... How did I become so lucky?'
This quiz is really just the latest incarnation of one of Singapore's favourite parlour games - played everywhere from high-powered business lunches to casual get-togethers.
'Which school were you from?' someone will invariably ask, before excitedly screaming: 'Wait, wait... let me guess!'
Having played this game so many times before, I've come to develop a set of practised reactions to other people's guesses.
The most common answer I get is Anglo-Chinese School or St Joseph's Institution, which warrants a goofy grin. I take it as a compliment because I see this as an acknowledgement of being socially adept.
But when someone guesses Raffles Institution, the smile is steely as I try to hide my alarm and dismay.
No offence to RI boys out there, but that is the one school that I least identify with. In fact, when I re-did the Facebook quiz - giving all the answers I would least likely to have submitted - the result was indeed RI.
No one ever correctly guesses which school I went to - but then I guess Catholic High isn't really on everyone's 'elite school' list.
The tables are, of course, turned when you become the guesser of what school someone else went to.
Suddenly, you have to summon every ounce of diplomacy you have in you - as I'm clearly trying to do right now for this column. One trick is to avoid setting people off with 'landmine' schools that some people could possibly feel strongly about (like the aforementioned RI).
That's because even if you pair the guess with a genuine compliment such as 'I think you are from RI because you are so intelligent', the person who hates RI will never remember you called him intelligent.
Things turn out better when you choose a more 'neutral' school and pair it with a compliment: 'Chinese High, because you seem like a loyal friend' or 'CHIJ or Methodist Girls, because you're free-spirited'.
So, even if it's the wrong guess, a fairly successful, secure person will more likely latch on to the compliment, not the school.
Why is there all this sensitivity about which school you went to anyway?
One reason could be that, in Singapore, academic achievement is such a key component of a person's success.
As a result, people often see their own success, at least partly, in terms of the excellence of the schools they attended.
This accounts for the strong and lasting 'school spirit' that you often see in people, especially those who have come out of the right end of the education system.
It also means that while outsiders are allowed to extol the strengths of a school, its graduates sometimes tend to take outside criticism of its weaknesses personally.
And this is particularly true when people lampoon a school with negative stereotypes, or - like in the Facebook quiz - try to tar everyone who attended it with the same brush.
A second reason for the sensitivity around schools has something to do with the national debate on elitism.
Schools that hold themselves up to be a cut above the rest naturally become lightning rods for criticism from those who did not make it into the halls of the rarefied elite.
But here's where the conversation about elite schools becomes more serious.
Singapore has always been about not having equal outcomes for all in society, but about ensuring equal opportunities for all. That means every student should have a fair chance of attending RI, RGS or any of the other elite schools in Singapore.
The stereotype of the RI boy as smart but uncool, or that of the RGS girl as analytical but combative, may be irritating to some.
But be thankful that it has not yet morphed into something more sinister - that in future, an Internet quiz would peg the RI boy as the son of someone rich or related to someone powerful.
As long as that doesn't happen, I'm happy to live with school stereotypes, flattering or not.
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