Eunoia JC? Please rethink the name

Eunoia JC? Please rethink the name

Is it me or are names of new schools in Singapore getting more pompous and ridiculous?

First it was Innova Junior College, now there is Eunoia. A name that will surely annoy ya.

And within 24 hours of its announcement, it already has.

Facebook and other social media platforms are exploding with negative comments, snarky remarks and cruel memes about the new name, and an online petition has been swiftly put up.

Anyone can see why.

To me, "eunoia" sounds like an awkward cross between "urine" and "ammonia".

I cannot fathom how it will be worked into a school song, seeing that it rhymes with "paranoia" and "euthanasia", which will probably be buzz words for the poor kids of the new junior college, which will take in Integrated Programme students from Catholic High School, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School and Singapore Chinese Girls' School.

That is, if they can even pronounce the damned word to start with.

Being an alumnus of Catholic High, I was so outraged I felt compelled to write this while on holiday in Japan.

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The boys of my alma mater are going to graduate from their storied school of 80 years' history only to enrol in a JC where they will surely be called "eunuchs" for sport by their rugby-playing counterparts in ACS or St Andrews.

I feel their pain already.

How on earth did we get here? Since when do Singaporeans dig deep into Grecian dictionaries to name anything?

It is one thing to want the kids to aspire to "learning with grace" or whatever, but how does the name connect in any way to Singapore, let alone the histories of these three great schools?

Someone needs to stage an intervention - and quickly - before this school and the rest of the education system become the laughing stock of the nation and beyond.


This article was first published on December 30, 2015.
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