_________06A11_________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

`Founded: 2nd Jan 2006.
`Ares.
`Hwachong.
`Gort 21 people.
`I realli duno what to add liao.
`Oh ya!.
`<3 jac yeo.
`<3 auggie wong.
`<3 kelvin tan.
`<3 Ms Ong.
`<3 all our other teachers.

Chen Xiao Ying
Wernon Chong
Chua Kai Xuan
Daniel Gaw
Galven Lee
Nicoll Gnoh
Alfred Goh
Hong Xin Lei
Job Berlian Putera Liang
Law Law Chan
Lim Chuan Han
Loh Li Lin
Clement Ong
Ryan K.Heng
Tamsyn Tong
Tan HuiLi
Ryan Tan
Tay
Donald Tzang
Wang Yingchen Priscilla
Tim Yap

designer: Wernon
picture: Wernon and Law Law and yes HuiLi (she insisted only shows that she's thick skin.. she provided cam only, pic also not she take one.. lol!)
host: Blogspot la duh!
brushes: What tis?
fonts: Now Ah?

In relation to my earlier post of the racial pie chart, which someone thought was dumb and unamusing, I shall now explain why I found it so interesting. Before I go on though, I shall caution those who do not like more serious and thoughtful stuff to refrain from continuing. If funny photos and videos are all your prefer, then this post is not for you. Also, I am not going to purposely use broken English or chatspeak just because you (referring to that person) think I am posting too formally - which I'm not. Using correct spelling and punctuation does not equate to "formal posting"; it is just standard English, and I do it out of habit, not because I am trying to prove anything. Which ever way you see it, I find it quite ridiculous that I should be apologising for using normal English.

Back to the topic. CMIO refers to Chinese, Malay, Indian and Others. The government is fond of pigeonholing everybody into these four broad categories, as evidenced by this chart:

But it strikes me as pointless to keep harping on these superficial differences, because your race suggests nothing about your personality or ability. To quote the website which inspired me to write this:

'More specifically, the pie chart represents a political ideology:

that we primarily know ourselves by the colour of our skin;

that it is predictive of our behaviour; and

that we would or should accept the obligations that come with the classification.

If you're "Malay", a cascade of assumptions and demands follow. If you're "Chinese", a cascade of different assumptions and demands roll over you.'

Indeed, to distiguish people by race is to suggest that the colour of your skin is somehow meaningful and helpful in knowing you as a person. But in this age, we know that your race has nothing to do with who you are. A Chinese-educated traditional Chinese can be completely different from an English-educated, Westernised Chinese. An Indian can be on the same wavelength as a Chinese. Racial distinctions are hence rendered meaningless, and only serve to perpetuate unfair stereotypes and preconceptions.

But a further notion which I disagree with is that your race somehow dictates your culture. I'm sure many of you have heard the propaganda that the MOE uses to justify compulsory learning of Mother Tongue language - Oh, you must not forget your roots, you must stay in touch with your Chinese culture, etc. But who says culture must be shaped by race? Why must you imbibe a specific culture just because you happened to be born a certain colour? In fact, culture is primarily defined as "The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought". Obviously, it has nothing to do with your race at all, though your race may influence your culture. People shape their own cultures, and cultures evolve.

This is why I thought that the detailed pie-chart was more meaningful and interesting than the usual CMIO one. The umbrellas of "Chinese", "Malay", "Indian" and "Others" are meaningless and overly vague. Of course, even the detailed pie-chart does not accurately or completely determine who you are - but at least it represents your ethnicity more accurately. For more details about the difference between race and ethnicity, you can read this article (which is also where I got my charts and quote from): http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2006/yax-589.htm

(If you found this boring, it's your own fault for continuing after my warning. After all, the class blog is where diverse people come to blog their views, and not everyone is always interested in funny photos only. I think it is good to have some serious stuff posted occasionally.)

LOVE 06A11;
1:59 AM