Math without calculators
Students in the old days performed complex
math functions with the help of tables and drank free milk to bulk
up thin frames
Mr Lim relied on
the Log Book to perform complex math calculations.
Mr Juraimi and his classmates enjoyed playing
traditional games.
Mike Lee
It may be unthinkable now to tackle secondary school math
without a scientific calculator, but students used to do so more
than 30 years ago.
Mr Jerome Lim, a student at St Joseph's Institution
(SJI), relied on the mathematical tables in his Logarithm or Log
Book to preform complex math calculations.
"It helped me to appreciate the math functions, which you
really can't when you use scientific calculators," says Mr Lim, 47,
a naval architect.
Besides logarithm tables, the book contained tables for
angle functions like sines and cosines, and square roots and
hyberbolic functions. Some students even gained an unfair advantage
by scribbling formulae, which should have been memorised on the
book, which was brought into exam halls.
After exams ended, his class would head to cafes in the
vicinity like the Red House to celebrate with $4 four-course set
lunches. Do-Re-Mi, run bt Yamaha at the then-newly completed Plaza
Singapura, were among the few air-conditioned places with food at
reasonable prices. A&W gave him his first taste of fast food,
and the promotional $1.20 Tuesday Coney Dogs (hotdogs) were a
favourite.
He and his friends used the straws from A&W as pea
shooters - the peas fit nicely into the diameter of the straws - to
play pranks on unsuspecting pedestrians.
Many other hangout places were within walking distance of
the old SJI compound (now the Singapore Art Museum). As lower
secondary students, Mr Lim and a few of his friends would arrive
before the afternoon school session and spend time at the MPH's
flagship bookstore at Stamford Road, the National Museum and the
old National Library.
He remembers visiting Bras Basah's many bookshops,
besides vendors selling bootleg music cassette tapes. The boys also
appreciated the fact that girls' schools like Saint Anthony's
Convent and Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus were in the
vicinity.
Fun in the outdoors
Mr Juraimi Rahmat, who went to primary school in early 1970s,
still remembers the traditional children's games he used to play.
These ranged from "hantam-bolah" where a ball is used to hit an
opposing player, to "gasing" or top spinning, to "yeh,yeh"
involving a skipping rope made from linked rubber bands.
"We would be perspiring a lot after recess," says the
47-year-old businessman, who studied at Permaisura Primary School
in Commonwealth area. "Back then we played many physical
games."
The resulting stains on white canvas shoes would be
covered up with chalk, and every weekend a special white shoe paint
would be applied to the shoes after washing them.
Food and drinks during recess included five-cent bandung
and 10-cent mee rebus. Students deemed malnourished were signed up
for free triangular-shaped packets of milk. He also recalls White
Rabbit brand candy and peanut cake among the snacks sold at the
canteen.
After breaks, he and fellow students would brush their
teeth by the "longkang" (drain) under a oral hygiene programme; a
dentist was stationed at the school. whom many kids dreaded being
summoned to.
His school and the neighbouring New Town Primary School
shared a field, where he trained twice a week with his school
soccer team. Both school compounds now form the Ministry of
Education Heritage Centre.
He remembers travelling to district inter-school soccer
tournaments, which were held at Dover Road. But then, their
protective equipment was only ankle guards and no shin guards. The
kids did not wear soccer boots, but normal shoes instead. Mr
Juraimi says he believes there were concerns that the sharp spikes
on the soccer boots would result in injuries.
Students used to tease each other with stories of ghosts
lurking at the hill just behind the school. Once, he and his
friends played hide and seek and one of them vanished. When he
eventually returned, "he told us that he decided to walk home to
take his meal", says Mr Juraimi with a laugh.
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connect, The Sunday Times, July 8 2012, Pg 7