BBGS Culture.

(copy from http://back2bbgs.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html)

A summary of findings gleaned from a questionnaire sent out to ex-BBGS girls in conjunction with the BBGS Centenary Celebration. This extract is taken from the Centenary magazine (May 1993).

As we look back over the 100 years, we often wonder if life in BBGS has changed since our grandmothers’ days.

What has changed? More importantly, what has remained?

All these were part of the BBGS lifestyle and culture. Some things might have changed now. But the heart and spirit that move each BBGS girl to give, to share and to make the school a great place surely has not changed.

Everlasting values…

Certain values such as discipline, responsibility, conscientiousness, respect, courtesy, loyalty and the fear of God are often associated with BBGS girls. As anyone, and these words will roll off her tongue quite spontaneously.

It is the BBGS culture to learn these values well. When you are taught, you listen, absorb and try your hardest to remember. When you address your teacher, you are naturally polite and respectful. Where there are rules on how to dress, you follow.

You learn right from the start of your BBGS life that there is God. And that this God is loving, although almighty. You learn the basis of life: that without God, all is in vain.

Choral Speaking

What activities are characteristic of BBGS days? Without a single doubt, choral speaking and fun fairs stand out regardless of which generation the BBGS girl comes from.

Choral speaking, which was started in 1958 by Miss Cooke, is a BBGS trademark. Year in, year out, as one old girl put it, we “practiced and practiced till our voices dried out”. BBGS would not be BBGS if choral speaking was not part and parcel of the school’s major activities. Listen to the pride in the voices of girls who have won choral speaking competitions during their schooldays. Despite the tedium of practices, the strain on the voice and the demands on the memory, every BBGS girl will attest to the memorability of choral speaking. Who doesn’t remember the importance of listening to the whisper of “one, two, three, stand” command for the third row to stand on the bench?

A summary of findings gleaned from a questionnaire sent out to ex-BBGS girls in conjunction with the BBGS Centenary Celebration. This extract is taken from the Centenary magazine (May 1993).

As we look back over the 100 years, we often wonder if life in BBGS has changed since our grandmothers’ days. What has changed? More importantly, what has remained? All these were part of the BBGS lifestyle and culture. Some things might have changed now. But the heart and spirit that move each BBGS girl to give, to share and to make the school a great place surely has not changed.

Fun Fairs
Fun-fairs were really fun events. Whether they were mammoth fun-fairs of the smaller food fairs, all BBGS girls enjoy the distraction from lessons. An old girl related how her class would look for the slightest excuse to beg the teachers to allow them to discuss urgent food fair arrangements instead of the usual lessons. We all learnt to make red and green square coconut candies during our BBGS days. All of us experienced the temptation of over-pricing our food so that our class could make the most money.

Fun and food fairs, if you think about it, taught us the basics of doing business. They helped infuse us with the entrepreneurial spirit. We learnt the rudiments of Profit & Loss (although the latter was taboo!). We picked up Supply & Demand and Marginal Returns faster than we managed to from our Economics class. We learnt what team work and team spirit were all about. We cultivated our creativity and ingenuity.

All said and done, fun-fairs and food fairs were great events, probably more so for BBGS girls than from those in other schools because we always needed funds to do something more for the school.


Toilet Cleanliness

Another aspect of BBGS life is the Toilet Cleanliness Campaign administered by the prefects.

Most of us hate it but force ourselves and our classmates to clean the toilets with a vengeance in pursuit of the Cleanliness Shield.

Buying toilet fresheners, repainting the class-designated toilet, locking it up so as to prevent others from fouling it up – these are but some of the things we do to have the cleanest and best-smelling toilet in the whole school. (You see, BBGS girls do all things – including the less pleasant ones – well)


Class Cleanliness

None of us will ever forget the necessity to keep our classroom neat and tidy. Remember the days when we used raffia to ensure our desk were straight and in line. The days we had to rush to the market across the road before school for fresh flowers for our class? The days we had to cut out interesting newspaper articles for our class notice boards (our interest was often centred on our handsome badminton heroes, one of whom used to be the boyfriend of a classmate)?

An eye for detail is something that is almost engraved in our minds, thanks to BBGS. How many of us, for example, can resist not straightening a crooked picture on a wall? How any of us look around and think twice before we throw even the tiniest scrap of paper on the street? How many of us consciously walk away from potted plants lest our skirts brush against and injure those precious things?