The Hwachong Petition

Not too long ago, an online petition by the Hwachong alumni (unofficial) got started. The purpose is to urge the board of directors of the newly merged entities of former The Chinese High School and Hwachong Junior College to retain the name of "Hwa Chong Junior College" or at the least to un-adopt the stupid name of "Hwa Chong Institution". By the time, I have gotten onto the online petition site, there are already 1180 plus names from all generations, from students who studied there in the 70s till the current batch of students. There is this article in today's Strait Times that reported that despite the petition, the board would stand by its decision (well, what you expect? to back down would be a loss of face even if the action committed to is not a smart one) but still, it is heartening to see so many ex-hwachongians continuing to show their support. Even back in my days in Hwachong, it has always been obvious to me that Hwachong has a very strong school spirit and I am glad that this is still so, especially to read of the personal protests posted on the website where many people lamented that by changing the name of the college like this, the board is erasing an important part of their lives.

Even if we set off from an objective standpoint, without the emotional attachment towards the old name of "Hwa Chong Junior College" and the school crest, it is still evident that the new names in Chinese and English are ridiculous. The Chinese name reads "Hua Qiao Zhong Xue" which basically degrades the students in the newly merged school studying "A" Level to become secondary school students. It makes our students there look like they got retained in secondary schools to study for another 2 more years, how can they raise their heads in front of outsiders? Second, the Chinese name is so very Chinese High like that the identity of the JC disappeared also. It doesn't look like a merger but a hostile acquisition and this already had many Hwachong alumni crying foul.
The English name is not any smarter, "Hwa Chong Institution". I agree with the other alumnis when they said that this makes Hwa Chong sounds like a RI wannabe. This is really a great compromise in branding and defeat the efforts and triumphs of our longstanding competition with RJC to be the best. And personally, I feel that the word "institution" sounds very stately and therefore very cold and unfeeling. And of course, the stupidest thing is that if you put the Chinese and English name side by side, it doesn't translate into the same thing! I don't know what the board thinks, but this is not the best way to present a JC and secondary school known for its billingualism. I wonder if the board is quite illiterate. I think it is unlikely that the board would heed the protests of the alumni and change the name. So here, I would like to thank the board for making us go down in history, as the single biggest joke in the education history of Singapore.
Any ex-Hwachongian who stumbles onto here accidentally can go visit the online petition at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/hwachong/petition.html