What’s A Small Victory?
As young school kids, we took what we could, and cherished the smallest of wins.
We didn’t have to get top in the class. We didn’t have to be first across the finish line at the NAPFA tests. But we made sure that even when we accomplished something small like ‘Best Class Decorations’, we celebrated it as if we had won the World Cup. And if you were lucky enough to have awesome friends and family, they’d support you and tell you how cool you were. To us, the small things were everything.
1. Winning Inter-House Competitions
Surely not something he says every day… Source
While we weren’t sorted by a Sorting Hat, and were from neither Gryffindor nor Slytherin, winning the inter-house Captains Ball Championship feels as good as winning the Quidditch Cup. The camaraderie formed while training was real, and we fought tooth and nail for bragging rights and glory. And while the best players on opposing teams could have been best of friends on normal days, inter-house games provided friendly rivalries that we’ll remember for decades to come.
2. Being First In Line At The Canteen
Source: The Lion King – Walt Disney Pictures.
To a young Singaporean kid, nothing matters more than being first, especially when there’s food at stake. If you had really good friends, you could divide and conquer and send someone to order while you grabbed a table. The recess bell was generally the signal for a mad rush – some wiser schools stagger their recess timings to accommodate this, since the ‘no running’ rule often fell on deaf ears.
3. Chalking Up CCA Points
This was a more pertinent issue in secondary than primary schools due to the ‘O’ level points system. In the run-up to the exams, many of my friends were concerned that they had not accumulated enough points to qualify to get CCA points deducted. This announcement by my CCA teacher-in-charge sums it up:
“Okay all listen up, when you all fill up your CCA points form to hand in, make sure you all put CCA achievements we can count. School competition or national competition can. Community service also can. But you don’t come and put some ‘Buangkok North Community Centre Table Tennis Championship’ ah. Sorry. This kind tak boleh. No count”.
4. Getting Them Young Scientist Badges
I might be getting old. I remember that there were only 3 in my primary school days. Today, there are 17, including a Young Water Ambassador and Young Meteorologist badge. Well, to the youth of today, the older generation has one thing to say to you – you gotta catch ‘em all.
All primary school students can participate in the programme – you need to buy an activity card from the Singapore Science Centre and do the activities listed. After that, just submit it to your class teacher, who will acknowledge your completion and award you a badge for your hard work.
For more information on the Young Scientist Programme, check out the Singapore Science Centre website.
5. Being Appointed Class Monitor (or Prefect)
That is, until the teacher comes in… Source
Back then, being appointed class monitor felt like being elected to be the king of the castle. The class was under your command. It was sobering when you finally realised you were only a caretaker for when the teacher wasn’t around.
Prefects were a more prestigious appointment. In my school, they got to wear special badges and ties and were the envy of many. It was also an appointment you got to keep for at least a year. Still, it wasn’t for everyone. The more carefree people were happy to let it go.
6. Not Studying For Tests… But Still Doing Okay Because You Paid Attention In Class
Some, including myself, argue that it doesn’t make sense to cram just before tests. If we take a step back and consider that the ultimate aim of education is long-term knowledge and not blind memorisation, it follows that the student who listens regularly in class and only does simple revision leading up to the test has internalised the most from classroom lessons – arguably more than the student who burns midnight oil the night before.
In short, we gave our parents this reason for not studying before tests – “aiyah, pay attention in class can already lah”. Strangely, they didn’t seem to buy it. But kids, remember that those who get full marks are those who pay attention in class and study for exams!
7. Running And Making It Into School Just Before The Assembly Bell
Because when you’re still outside and hear the dreaded ding-dong-ding-dong, you know you ho seh liao, because the prefect at the gate is going to take your name and saman you.
8. Flying Your Own Paper Airplanes
I Fly Like Paper, Get High Like Planes by local artist Dawn Ng – Asian Civilisations Museum Source
I love paper airplanes. Anyone can make a plane – you just need a sheet of paper. You can compete with your friends too and even if yours doesn’t fly the furthest, you can claim that yours is the most beautiful plane of the lot. No one can dispute that.
In my primary school, there was a paper airplane competition organised by my school. I tried to be clever – a practice known as gei kiang – and stapled my wings to make it look like almost Transformer-esque. I then realised that adding metal didn’t do much to help paper wings fly. Still, I was very proud of my creation and didn’t cave in to the pressures of simply making it aerodynamic. There’s a pretty deep life lesson to this under the surface that I didn’t realise till many years later – we’re all beautiful in our own way, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.
Speaking of which, Hillgrove Secondary School offers an applied learning programme in flight and aerospace. They have classes each week on aviation-related concepts like drag and air pressure and even get to fly paper airplanes in class. That’s something really special.
9. Bragging Rights In Online Games
Neopets, Gunbound, Runescape, and MapleStory – most of us have played at least one of those games in our youth. I’ll admit I have only cursory experience with the latter two, but in Neopets, I was most proud of my size 55 Neopets shop and my 800,000 NP stock portfolio (which was puny by my classmates’ standards). 
Source
Whatever games we played, we came to realise that they were most fun when our friends were in the same game world and we could interact with their online personas. It was even better when you had something to brag about, since you could remind your friends about it every day.
10. Winning Class Awards
Strangely, I remember taking much more pride in cleaning my classroom than my bedroom. I was ecstatic when my class won the ‘2001 Cleanest Classroom Award” but I couldn’t be bothered about making my bed in the morning. I still can’t, but I remember the famous victory of 2001 fondly. To us, it meant the world.
When the festive period rolls around, there’s also the Chinese New Year decoration competitions: Decorating the classroom was the most fun if you had the really enthu classmates who gave it their all. If not, well, there’s always next year.
It’s The Small Victories That Count
Life was a lot simpler back then. We counted the small victories. And if we were able to live day-to-day, we’ll probably look back and say we had a pretty happy childhood.
Still, there are victories we enjoyed as children that we still enjoy even today. There’s still a mad rush during lunch hour, and we still want to catch the MRT even when the ‘Doors Closing’ announcement is already blaring. It’s true, then, that the little things in life count the most. It’s just that we often don’t slow down enough to notice them.
To celebrate and live in the present, youths will be gathering at the National Stadium on 26 July for Youth Celebrate!, an SG50 event that showcases youth achievements and talents. There will be record-setting feats, spectacular performances by local youths and the sealing of a time capsule in conjunction with the official opening of the Singapore Sports Hub.
What: Youth Celebrate!
Where: National Stadium @ Kallang
When: 26 July 2015
This post was brought to you by the Ministry Of Education.