My formal education in Singapore started in 1973 at a primary school in Tanjong Pagar, called Peck Seah Primary School. This school was merged into Yangzheng Primary School in 1985.
Interestingly, one of the clearest memory I have of my time there was lining up in front of a narrow drain and brushing our teeth there. There was even a dentist in the school, complete with dental facilities !
From the photo above, it looks like apart from ground floor, there were 6 floors. I cannot remember if it was first floor for primary 1, second floor for primary 2, and so on until primary 6. But I remember that on one of the floors was a library. This library changed my life.
During recess time, I often went to the library to look at the books. One day in primary 3, I found a picture book on Issac Newton.
For some reason, I was fascinated by the ability to explain many things in nature accurately, using only a few simple laws. I started looking for books on physics in libraries and book shops to find out more.
It quickly became clear that I needed to know maths to understand the physics.
Over the next few years, learning maths and physics became a hobby – a game – for me. I looked up all the books on physics and maths I could find in the original national library at Stamford Road, and old book stores at Bras Basah Road.
By Secondary 4, my hobby had taken me to university year 1 physics. I read this university year 1 book on mechanics around that time.
I still remember how happy I was to finally understand how to use Newton’s laws and mathematics to show that the orbit of a planet is has the shape of an ellipse.
In 1979, I started Sec 1 in Raffles Institution. There were the usual subjects in Secondary 1 and 2. Football was popular during recess time.
I was not a sporty person. While my classmates chased the ball on the green field, I sat in the shade of a building, often staring at some maths or physics books
Usually, I could not understand much at first. But since the Newton’s comic strip in primary 3, I have turned physics into a mind game.
I would mentally take a part the cryptic physics text on each page of a book, look up the meanings of separate physics terms. I would make guesses about how various parts of the text relate to one another.
And I would keep trying until I found a simple explanation. Often, this turned out to be the correct. It was easy to tell if my solution was correct - just look up the answer at the end of the book.
In Sec 3 and 4, I took the 3 sciences – physics, chemistry and biology. And the 2 maths – E maths and A maths. By then, I have already worked through the A level physics and maths in my free time.
My RI class photo.
This was the physics text edition I used, bought from flea market in Chinatown for 50 cents. I might have been in primary 4 or 5 then. The book was among a small mountain of books thrown randomly on the side of the road. It still had units of inches and pounds.
Apparently, the A level physics at that time needed calculus. This physics textbook used calculus, so I had to learn that too. Also shown here is the edition I used to learn calculus.
In order to learn more physics, I had to learn more maths. Unexpectedly, that helped me to win the interschool maths competition in 1982, which included JC students. I was in sec 4 then. This was probably the equivalent of today's maths olympiad.
Informally, my teaching “career” started when I was a student in Raffles Junior College. I was in the batch that spent 1 year at Patterson Road and 1 year at Mount Sinai. That was when RI first split into RI and RJC.
In my second year in JC, we moved to Mount Sinai Road.
Mount Sinai Road site of Raffles Junior College
The Rafflesian, 1982-1983
I spent much of my time helping classmates with physics and maths tutorials. In this case, a tutorial is a sheet of paper with exercises and questions, for students to do as their homework.
I enjoyed helping my classmates with physics and maths. So when my teacher told us about the PSC scholarship, I decided to apply for a teaching scholarship.
Early in JC2, I went through the PSC interview and indicated Cambridge as my choice of university. So I had to sit for a Cambridge university entrance exam. I still remember that it was held at some secondary school, maybe Queenstown.
There were 3 papers – physics, chemistry, maths. When the result came back some time later, I was accepted. I got the PSC scholarship, disrupted from NS – yes, it was possible to “disrupt” in those days - and started my journey to England.
But before that, whiIe doing my NS, I got a call from RJC. They invited me to attend a prize giving ceremony. I was awarded Student of the Year Award 1984.
The Rafflesian, 1984-1985 It was a 3 year BA Honours degree when I started at Cambridge. New people, new accent. Everything was strange and interesting.
Gonville and Caius, my Cambridge college.
With my Singlish, I could not understand much of the accents there at first. And I don’t think they understood me. I had an Irish friend, and his accent sounded like a completely different language.
Food was tasteless and boring. Vegetables were often just boiled. It took about 10 years, but I actually like the “natural” taste now. But at that time, I really missed chicken rice and soya bean drink.
Gonville and Caius college dinner
For the first time since secondary school, I actually had to study the physics course material. By the third year, it was hard work trying to understand everything in the lectures. It was a relief when I got a 1st class honours in the final year exam.
Then I made a decision that changed the course of my life. I decided that I wanted to do a PhD in physics.
I got a full time studentship from my college that paid for fees and living expenses. No bond! Then I contacted PSC to ask for their approval.
They approved. I disrupted from National Service for another 3.5 years. I was to spend this 3.5 years in Cavendish Laboratory, the Cambridge physics department.
As a PhD student, we can teach undergraduates and get paid a small fee. The tutorials included both physics and maths questions. I enjoyed the teaching.
Time flew. 3.5 years passed. I graduated again, this time with a PhD in physics from Cambridge. And I finally returned to Singapore to serve my 8 year bond for my PSC scholarship.
However, because I got a PhD degree, I was posted to an R&D organisation instead of a school. In my spare time, I still try and help students with their physics and maths.
Funnily, if you look at the “missing alumni” webpage of my Cambridge college, you will find my name there for the year of matriculation 1985.
“Missing alumni” probably means alumni that seldom respond to their emails. I did respond once to send them a donation of £100. Maybe I have to send more often :-(