JC Diploma

The A-levels year is always the busiest for all students. Why? It is the determining factor of whether you would be able to study abroad, get into a good university, get a scholarship, or just settle for a local university. The A-levels is a purely academic-based examination to gauge a student's academic capabilities. Yet, this does not truly reflect a student's abilities, as only the exam is taken into account. Other factors contributing to a student's true academic worth would be his academic achievements, be it in a competition, or a written SAT paper. A student's portfolio should be taken into account if a University were to select his applicants. Henceforth, junior colleges like Hwa Chong Junior College offers a JC diploma, which is a holistic portfolio of a student, encapsulating his academic results, as well as community involvement, co-curricular activities, skills (piano, guitar et cetera) and other factors as well. I believe that the JC diploma is a better gauge of one’s capabilities, and is more effective in choosing elites, because the JC diploma offers a holistic view of a student’s abilities, instead of just academically.

A-levels is mostly academic based, and such a gauge can be exploited simply just by studying hard and listening in class. If one were to work hard and balance his work and play, then he can easily excel in his studies, and pass the A-levels with flying colours. With this, one can easily obtain 6 A’s, or maybe even a perfect 9 A’s. Indeed, A-levels has included papers like General Paper, as well as Project Work, which gauges one’s general knowledge on current affairs, as well as determines one’s abilities to work on a project and how well it can be carried out. However, this does not give a full view of a student’s capabilities, including his skills, active involvement and even his testimonials.

I personally do not believe that the JC diploma can replace the A-levels, as the JC diploma is just an add-on to the A-levels, merely but an extension to consolidate a student's overall performance. But with the JC diploma, it can enhance one’s portfolio so that he/she can enter a good university more easily, and even get a good scholarship for studies overseas. The JC diploma is awarded to those who have performed well in all fields, and is an all-rounded character. Thus, students will work even harder to improve on their skills, community involvement and such.

The JC diploma gives students, of certain schools which have implemented the diploma system, an advantage, as a wider coverage of their performance can be analysed by the University when he/she applies to get in. Education is not only about academics, but rather an all-rounded character-based learning. However, the only repercussion of this system would be that students would have to "buff" up their portfolios in order to enter a University of their choice, hence increasing workload for the students; though, who wouldn’t work hard for a better future?