saw in the papers that 2 very reputable insitutions intend to give out their own diplomas. as it is, our education system has so many filters at different levels that many have raised the issue of elitism. not surprisingly, this is an unfortunate effect of meritocracy. so instead of acting as a social-leveller, it has further polarised the many strata of society. why else have movies like I Not Stupid been made? EM1/EM2/EM3, Gifted/Special/Express/Normal(Acad)/Normal(Tech), diploma VS A levels,Streamed VS non-streamed, Mainstream/IP/IB. In NS, why is it that most if not all NSF commanders are JC and poly grads and seldom, if never, others of lesser qualifications, some of whom have been known to be better performers than some so-called academically superior? At tertiary levels, there's a differentiation of local and overseas universities. Even locally, there are many pre-conceived notions of the few local institutions here. such labels and the stigmas attached are hard to get rid of but they are an inevitable result of the many rankings that we like to see and form a virtually indestructible foundation for the nefarious rat race. While the intention of pitching the difficulty and intensity of the course to the aptitude of the student should yield, theoretically, optimal results, a serious side-reaction has not been adequately dealt with.

By deciding to issue their own diplomas that "better reflect the students' achievements over their 6-year course" in addition to the national exams, ie the GCE A levels, they are inadvertently adding to the differentiation of students. and is that really necessary? further increase the disparity between the haves and have-nots? moreover, not everyone in the respective institutions will be issued with the diploma so wont it adversely affect school cohesion in the long-run? obviously, those who get issued that additional scroll would stand to gain from the extra weight in their academic credentials and it would bolster the institutions' reputation of academic success and excellence. furthermore, im sure technical issues of accreditation and getting universities to recognise the diploma would be not much of an issue seeing that these institutions already enjoy nationwide acclaim. but from the standpoint of national interests in the long-term, why bother causing greater polarisation when they are already arguably the most sought-after institutions in the state? jus to give their very best a competitive edge over others and (i exaggerate) cause the social barometer to go off like mount vesuvius?

the only things that are constant are change and increasing competition. the A level sybllabus has been recently revised in a bid for it to remain more relevant to the ever-channging world and competition is getting increasingly stiffer in an increasingly gloablised world. having been through and left the system, i'd like to think that such a move of issuing separate diplomas would be (would that put them on par with poly grads?) a tad too selfish and narcissistic, wouldnt it?