My Fellow Rafflesians,
I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Iris Koh, founder of Healing the Divide. Recently, I discovered there was an exam question involving me and my advocacy work in one of your assessments. It is with a heavy heart that I express my profound disappointment in how my alma mater, Raffles Girls' School, has approached this matter.
I graduated with the class of 1992, the only batch that never got to study at the Anderson Road campus. Our years at a temporary school in River Valley, attending classes in rooms without doors and without modern facilities, were some of the most formative of my life.
Despite the humble surroundings, those years were filled with joy. We enthusiastically attended classes and CCAs, with teachers giving us the freedom to think independently, lead, and form deep friendships. Sometimes, less truly is more. We grew up without the internet or ChatGPT and studied the old-fashioned way, through hard work and perseverance—a process we called
“mugging.” This not only helped us learn key concepts but also instilled in us the value of persistence.
Entering RGS was a humbling experience for me. While I was the top student in my primary school, I quickly realised that everyone here was just as smart, if not smarter. This environment taught me humility and the importance of striving to be my best.
Given this backdrop, you may understand why it deeply pains me to see Raffles Girls' School
potentially presenting science as a political issue under the guise of "education." True education should be grounded in facts and the scientific method. If RGS wishes to uphold its reputation as the top girls' school in Singapore, it must focus on facts and scientific integrity, not hearsay evidence. It must ensure that its students are looking at the original source materials—such as my videos—and not merely commentaries or second-hand interpretations of these source materials.
Recently, I discovered that an examination question about me and the medical freedom movement I started, Healing the Divide, was included in a Raffles Girls' School assessment. While it piqued my interest to see my work being referenced,
I noticed that the sources provided to the students were inaccurate and incomplete.
In light of this, I wish to offer additional sources—Sources C, D, and E, F, G — to enable students to answer the question accurately. I also hope to encourage Raffles Girls' School to educate its students with comprehensive and balanced information rather than one-sided government narratives. As an alumna of RGS, it deeply concerns me to see the standards of my alma mater have declined in this regard.
It's possible that the teachers were unable to access diverse source materials and had to rely solely on information from the Ministry of Health and mainstream media outlets. However, they could have reached out to me before setting the question.
I now give them a chance to rectify this error before I consider further legal actions to protect my rights.
More at
https://www.domainofexperts.com/2024/07/the-real-harm-from-one-sided-narratives.html
