A Morning At SSC

Alfee was away from school for almost a week due to his viral fever. Today, he joined his school for a Singapore Science Centre field trip. I tagged along as usual, worried sick that the little man would wander off and get himself lost. 

Yet he was such a gem in the bus. He sat well and kept his safety belt on without any fuss. Occasionally, he complained that his friends were talking too loudly and the bus was noisy. And I agreed.

Alfee was all excited about this field trip. But he seemed to be quite happy to just stare at the dinosaur at the entrance. He was fascinated by the moving head and mouth. He almost didn't want to go inside.

The children were led to the Eco Gardens. Alfee was hard to manage because he always wanted to go somewhere else and the guide always wanted them to stand there and wait. I really think they should improve the quality of the guides. They aren't very proactive or passionate about their job and they care very little about engaging the audience. Many of the children were not at all keen to listen to their talk.

The Guide : ... this is a pond skater... do you know why it is called a pond skater?
Children : No... (chorus)
The Guide : ... it is called a pond skater because it skates on the pond water!

My jaws dropped. I couldn't understand why the SSC didn't spend more time training these guides. Then we moved on to the activities. To my horror, it's the same bunch of people running the show last year. Again, they disappointed me with their poorly organised activities. The children were restless and the activities were boring.

Well, at least I found them boring and meaningless. The children loved the temporary tattoos but I thought I could have bought a dozen of those on my own. And they stuck a sheet a plastic on a cardboard and called it a 'light viewer'. Then they used a test tube, some oil and dye to create a lava tube.  And all thanks to their poor explanation, most tubes didn't work. 

Before we left, we watched a skit. I really wonder how much effort was put into such performances. All I can say is it's a waste of time. When I told CK about the whole experience, he asked me why did we go back then. I couldn't reply. I think we still went back to a lousy programme because that's the only one we have. 

I guess I really shouldn't be so critical about the whole field trip, but really, I felt very frustrated by the way it was conducted. And truly, SSC is all we have got. How very disappointing.