Laokokok makes a surprising find after visiting his parents: education documents belonging to his father, who went to Catholic High School and finished his Senior Middle Education in 1952. Senior Middle education? What’s that?, you ask…

As you can see from the photograph, my father had his Senior Middle education in Catholic High School then. Many people asked my father what is Senior Middle? My father told me that during his time, the education system was 3-3 compared to my time 4-2. OK, so my time was 4 years of Secondary education and 2 years of Pre-U (later then it’s Junior College). My father’s time was 3 years of Secondary education and 3 years of Pre-U education. So his graduation from Senior Middle 3 means he had completed his Pre-U 2 education and could continue to further his studies in the university. He didn’t go to the U then because at that time, my grandfather and my uncles could not afford it.

Do you have any stories of how your parents went to school? Read more about the education certs in Laokokok’s Times of My Life.

Tags: Education in Singapore, 50s Singapore, Catholic High School