it is upon reading aggie's post about the slur on IJ girls that prod me to update.

first of all, I am reprehensibly ashamed of my indifference to the aticle when I first read it at the breakfast table - for the sake of completing 10 years of basic education in a convent, I am morally coerced to stand up for the past and the future of our heritage.

I should say that most of us are more than grateful to be raised in a holistic environment and none who have been through conventhood can say it is comparingly similar to any govt schools. alas, we are constantly under the public's austere scour just because we are expected to fulfill a panoramic image of ourselves.

the moment we are enrolled in these IJs, we are none but celebrities - set apart in society, called to be 'Superwomen' of every era. we are deemed to be sophisticated, linguistic, demure and etcetera, above all, we set the benchmark of a perfect lady.

so who's to say that we dont live up to it?

in the arts business, we have kit chan leading a popular large scale musical the forbidden city and the spokesperson for the world wildlife foundation on discouraging culling of endangered animals. the next most respectable woman in the media would be diana ser with her renowned talk show what women want, reflective of the real needs and glitch of the feminine gender in modern society. in other vacations, there is ms jessica teo, a young yet prospective general manager in the financing industry and miss jessica ___, a lecturer in vjc, one of Singapore's top 5 junior colleges.

although one might say that these are the eminent ones and their success cannot stand true for all other IJ girls, then one must question if there is such a thing as a perfect guild in a society. by judging us on the length of our pinafore is finding fault because the same situation persists in every school (be it single or co-ed). to call us 'easy when it comes to the opposite sex' (aka cheap) is a fallacy because there is no reason why should boys should be crawling all over us if we're not up to standard.

to put it simply, the public's vista is bias such as the neighbourhood schools have no such legacy and reputation to uphold.