Last night, the hubs was recounting to me a conversation he had at his now hang-out joint. Which incidentally is the usual place we go on Saturday mornings for our prata fix. That is when the girl and I are up to it. 

Because the hubs has a colleague from the HR department who stays fairly near us, they sometimes have coffee at the shop when they get off work earlier. Apparently, the hubs met someone there while with his colleague not long ago and during his recent trip there, he was introduced to a principal of a secondary school, which is just a stone's throw away, literally from the shop.

So the hubs was talking to the chap about schools and with only 2 years to finish her pre-primary education, we have sporadic talks about which school to send K to. The hubs have always insisted on sending her to his alma mater. I, on the other hand, have no personal preference but would rather that we send her to a nearby school. My primary school is located at Orchard and although it was a seamless entry to secondary school because of affiliation, I did not enjoy my secondary school days at all. 

I suffered from low self-esteem especially after being a victim to bullying. In fact, I do not have much memories of secondary school. Definitely more from primary but no fond schooling memories really. While there are those who still keep in touch with their school mates from eons past, I only have the 1 bff to speak of who has really known me even when I was a child. Although very scant memories.

So anyhow, I've always make open my preference to send K to the neighbourhood school behind Jerry's block and which Josh, Gideon have graduated from and where Esther is still studying in. Josh and Gideon did so well in their PSLE that they've gone on to schools with 6 years integrated programs. The 2 brothers argued that it may be different with their sister and urged me to wait for her PSLE results next year before I commit myself.

Anyway, back to the conversation that the hubs had with the school principal. The chap told the hubs that almost all primary schools are as good as the other now. It's the secondary schools that really matter. My thoughts exactly. It used to be the other way round right? Strong foundation in primary school so that it's a smooth transition to secondary. But with so much focus on primary school education these days, I think it's fair playing ground.

And another of my reason which I always emphasise to the hubs. Distance. When I moved up to secondary school at Farrer Road, my family have moved to the west. The travelling home every evening after school was such a major turn-off that I get headaches so frequently. Granted, at that time, there was no MRT. And I had to change 2 buses, which means, yes, it took me 3 buses to get home. And by the time I reach home, I was almost almost completely knackered. How to revise any work, you tell me?

I do not want K to go through what I did. Travelling while in school, is not fun. You carry a heavy backpack, squeeze with the morning and evening crowds. I hated it. 

I want K to be able to come home after school, have our dinner together and able to sit down, revise her work and throw in some tv time, if possible, without rush. I can imagine sending her to either the hubs' or my alma mater and then rushing the evening through every single day. Why add on to life's daily stress? Afterall, I just want K to have an education and not end up being just a product of an already competitive school life.