My overview of JPJC's CCA closure debacle

I initially intended this to be a brief comment but I think I wrote a bit too much lol. As some of yall might know, many ccas are closing down and a few are likely to close in the coming year; Namely, the ones that have closed are ODAC, Gymfit and Debate Society. The ones likely to close soon are Basketball Girls and English Drama Society. Additionally, JP Press and Media Production Club merged, Tchoukball interest group has also closed. No new ccas have been created admist all these closures.

These are my thoughts stemming from talks with the individual seemingly responsible for ccas (and likely the closure of the aforementioned), as conveyed by the teacher in question. They are coupled with the insights from affected cca members, my personal insights and other findings. While I remain indifferent, I believe that the present and prospective students of jpjc should be well-informed about the school's current management. To prospective students, be aware that the one cca you want to join may close during your time here.

Considering the substantial yearly intake of students (~750), one would assume that jpjc, with its considerable govt funding, relative to other schools, would actively utilise these resources to better student welfare. However, I find myself pondering where all the money goes to, and also their dubious thinking behind shutting down ccas with such a continuously large student body.

It's frankly quite ironic how they chalk it up to a "lack of interest" in the ccas while closing down ccas with high applicant numbers (Eg 50 applicants for a cca with historical max number of <~15 ppl).

Another funny moment on their part is citing that it's "hard to find coaches". Isn't it inconceivable how the school's hiring strategy is so narrow-minded that the departure of a coach leads to cca closure? If that were the case, I wouldn't even consider this a cca, given the deplorable support the school provides beyond funding.

The distinction between a cca and an interest group lies in "the amount of support from the school", as mentioned by the person responsible for ccas; These failures to support the ccas clearly indicate a lack thereof, and I think it can be inferred that they are trying to lessen their workload by steering students towards interest groups (which there are close to none, I wonder why). Furthermore, this increases the workload for the members of the few select popular ccas, only to result in more effort for trials and more j1s getting rejected as their member limit stays the same. It's really no coincidence that after the principal warmed his seat after 1 year that this whole debacle in jpjc has started to happen.

Also, I've heard that the teachers managing these ccas, despite not fully agreeing with the school's decision, have little influence against it.

Another point of note is that the talks with the teacher responsible for ccas are many a time unproductive. Their opposing viewpoint and lack of open-mindedness devolve it into a 'debate' of 2 sides, where the adjudicator is on the other side rather than a discussion to empathise with our feedback, with potential for a rethinking of their plans to close the cca (before their official — word-of-mouth — indirect and publicly unannounced news of cca closure). In addition, they also have a talent for grasping onto concepts of ideal scenarios and refusing to discuss this issue from a pragmatic viewpoint, grounded in reality, with the ones who would be affected and very much know many aspects of the cca better than them.

The person in question repeatedly asserts that with the closure of ccas, more ccas would be easily created. However, I fail to see their idealistic perspective. Initiating a new cca, as they described, depends on exceptionally passionate students contacting the school and garnering a big enough student interest for it to be supported. It's not difficult to see how unrealistic this is, as substantiated by how the teacher could only give one lone example of such a cca. Examining the pitfalls in this approach for the creation of new ccas — first, students would have to contact the relevant people in the first few weeks of school. This task is both unrealistic and idealistic, especially as the school has never alluded to this possibility to the student body other than a select few. Second, niche ccas will struggle to form, as popularity and broad acceptance are essential for them to be recognised. The one example cca given, ICAS, sustains membership by accepting a vast majority of applicants. In constrast, one of the ccas getting closed, debate, limits the number of members and has stringent trials. The school must recognise that some ccas are purposefully small in size for various reasons such as competition team sizes being limited and better coaching. These are the ccas that, once closed, will likely never be revived given the difficulty in garnering support and the school's infrequent mentioning of creating new ccas. In the direction the school seems to be heading right now, I expect a further diminishing of support towards the medium and smaller-sized ccas.

It also must be said that they love to preach the idea of how "many people of our generation" just join for the portfolio rather than genuine interest, citing low attendance rates in certain ccas. However, this is not only unrelated to one of the closing ccas, as we have nearly full attendance every session. The occasional no-shows are typically due to actual, serious reasons. Their statement also brings up concerns about the accuracy and clarity of their decision-making. But let's entertain this notion they bring up: doesn't this raise questions on their criteria for closing ccas? It appears that their approach in deciding what ccas to close is scattered is it not? If anything, shouldn't they be making informed decisions by using trends of cca attendances throughout the years to gauge actual, sustained student interest — the very thing they preach to be a major determinant of a cca's closure?

A recent hearsay is that the principal, an avid football fan, doubled the budget of the football cca. This would certainly be quite hilarious if true.

I salute the members of closing ccas, as one was enticed by the teacher responsible for cca's prospect of the cca not closing down if they put effort into the open house so as to get a high number of applicants. Little did they know, even with a number twice that of last year's and exceeding the maximum number of sign-ups on the google link, the news of closure still came.

Overall, the lack of transparency and school support for ccas are quite telling — especially with the implications to students both present and future. However, we don't know what plans, if any, the school has to try to remedy all the problems and concerns that they have caused on their own accord, so this opinion of mine might be subject to change, although unlikely, as drastic changes would have to be made.

Do keep in mind that the school's lack of transparency may affect the validity of the claims above.