Quixotic

It's silly but the one US university that I wish to attend most doesn't require a GRE. HAHAHA.

Indulging in day-dreams is almost a guilty pleasure, since it involves zoning out everything around you, and just wandering through the thoughts dancing like a half-burned flame in your head. In this semi-reality, I strolled past different classrooms, looking at students attending lessons, playing about in class. Walking further I can hear a buzz coming from another room, and I enter to see students diligently working on their novels and poems, still speaking in the same buzz. That room is a part of this hugeee library with lots of books beckoning you with their shiny spines. And I suppose a shot of adrenaline and/or endorphin jolted me out of this daydream with a poof, as I thought, hey, this can be where I'm working at, ten years down the line.

Does such a school exist at the moment in Brunei?

It felt so real. Maybe I nurtured the memory a little bit, adding a few details here and there but it comes as clearly to me as it did a few weeks back.

If such a school does not exist, maybe, I can set one up in future?

Project: Dream School. There should be a primary section and a secondary section. In primary school, students will be drilled in all the basics. Yes, drilled. It's almost military, I know, but I have always believed in a strong foundation. 先苦后甜, basically meaning experiencing bitterness before the experiencing sweetness, and this saying is usually related to effort. Like, with practice, the burden becomes easier to bear. After practicing enough past questions, the past questions should become more readily solvable. However, secondary school should offer more leeway. I don't like the current separation between arts and science students. An opinion page article asserting that the arts subjects was easier than science subjects got me hopping mad. I'm not entirely sure of the full picture, but with my high school, a science school, the three science subjects were forced to be taken by all form 4 and 5 students, so naturally, the results distribution curve is normal. However, the arts subjects in which the students had leeway to choose between subjects such as POA, Geography, History and English Literature had a higher results distribution curve. Does these mean that these subjects are easier? To me, not really. I suspect this is because the students get to choose subjects towards which they are inclined, and of course passion usually correlates with more effort being invested, and hence, higher results. As an arts student myself I can't say I'm very fond of Geography - look at my atrocious sense of directions and I can barely tell where Czech Republic is, even though I have actually set my foot on Prague. People are well-rounded, and shouldn't be pigeonholed into one stream (I know, I'm making a value judgment there). Somehow, I think the engineer can also be a retiring poet, and likewise the literary student mad on Rubik's Cube. These types of people do exist and the evidence is all around me in Cambridge. So I guess my dream school is very societies-centric. But most of all, I want a society which encourages students to publish their own books. Marking essay questions written by students some time ago (granted, they come from fairly good schools) made me aware of the publishing potential in their stories. And also, I would like to stress that whatever passions each student has is worthwhile. There is no shame being a cook, when you can see flourishing restaurants mushrooming to feed our appetites all around town. Neither is there any shame in cleaning the toilets. Both are decent, honest livings. We need all sorts of people to run a society, not just doctors and engineers... But I guess the most fanciful part of this dream school is the library. I want it to be like the University Library of Brunei. Resources are so scarce here.

I don't know how I'll realise my dream but here it is! I shall save the technicalities for the future haha. It may be foolish of me to dream, but I shall just guard it carefully in the recesses of my mind for now. It makes me feel like there is something to work towards :)

And oh - I'll ensure that whoever attends apply to Oxbridge. Bwahaha.