As Cedric previously mentioned, a good school is one that holistically develops their students.

However, think about this this way, Hwa chong, RI, Nanyang, what do these schools all have in
common? These schools all have the most academically gifted, most holistically developed
students. This is the culmination of a multitude of reasons, hence contrary to the term
popularised by Heng Swee Keat “Every school is a good school”, there is a vast difference
between the ability of schools to holistically develop their students, hence I believe that there
are good schools and bad schools.

One of the biggest reasons as to why some schools are able to better develop their students
holistically is the fact that these schools are able to give their students more opportunities to
gain experiences that normal schools are unable to provide. Elite schools are able to provide
programmes and opportunities to students that normal neighbourhood schools are just unable
to provide. This is largely due to the fact that elite schools receive much more funding than
neighbourhood schools, whether it be from the government or donations from students’ parents.
This way, students from elite schools will be able to engage in broader learning experiences and
become more holistically developed. For example, elite schools have many more CCAs than
neighbourhood schools. It was found that for every increase of 1 point in the COP, secondary
schools offer 0.6 less CCAs on average. This results in normal secondary schools offering a
CCAs while elite schools offer an average of 30 CCAs. Hence, students in elite schools will be
able to find out their own interests and not restrict them into choosing a CCA they do not like.
This way, students will be able to develop themselves better due to their interest in their CCA.

Another reason is that elite school offers a lot more opportunities for students to mix with the
type of people who would be useful to you for their growth as an individual. In elite schools
where the majority of students are not only studious but also excel in other areas such as sports
or leadership, students will be able to learn from one another as most students are great role
models. As elite schools are very attractive for top students to get in due to the vast
opportunities they are able to provide, enrolment of holistically developed students is very high.
This way, when students are in close proximity to those who excel in many areas, they too can
also pick up a thing or two about developing themselves holistically from the people around
them. However, in neighbourhood schools, not only are there more delinquents, but there are
also less students who are able to act as great role models. Of course there would be
delinquents in both schools but there is a significantly greater amount of delinquents in
neighbourhood schools due to them being unable to make the COP for elite schools. Hence, the
chances of students picking up bad habits also increases, greatly impeding their holistic
development and their growth as a student.