I got a friend formerly from 1SIR and he said its fill with
school dropouts, gangsters etc.
Arbuthen? But there's also the old stereotype, lah. Nowadays the
majority have at least N levels, ever since VITB became purely
post-secondary & their technical students switched to the
Normal Stream. The dropout rate is very low now, about 3-5%
only.
There's always a few pai kia in every mono intake, but more teenage
street-corner types, lah. They'd feared BMT (& confinement!) as
much as the other recruits. I had a few in the Arty batch I taught
in '88, & it was surprising who turned out to be the real
criminal later on. One was fully-tattooed & turned up at CMPB
with an incredibly-gelled yellow mane -- really nervous when he
ended up in my section -- except he turned out to be a pushover.
Another was a incorrigible loudmouth, whining all the time -- but
the most rebellious he got was sneaking cigarette breaks after
lights out, or walking with his No.4 unbuttoned after bookout. It
was the latter's buddy-deputy, your classic 2IC type & quite
leery during BMT, whom I found out in the newspapers a few years
later to have been jailed for running a pirated-VCD ring!
There were all types in my batch: N Levels, O Levels, ITE, proper
apprentices, ex-dropout menial laborers & illegal peddlers
(copy watch, sir?) as well as some rich men's sons. Really a motley
crew.
