During the early years of my teaching career, I was in the publicity team and at the end of the year, we had to do roadshows and go to promote our school in the primary schools. It was hard. We were but an obscure neighbourhood school and during those road shows, we had to compete with the booths of much more reputable schools.
One of our strategies, or should I say the main strategy, was the “Big Fish In A Small Pond” pitch. Basically, it was aimed at students with a PSLE score that was just good enough to go Express but still not that high.
If you go to our school, the argument went, you would definitely get to be the first class (E1 or E2) and you would get more opportunities. You would be a big fish in a small point. But if you went to a more reputable school, you would just be a small fish in a big pond. Which one would you rather be?
Once at a roadshow, I made the pitch to a P6 boy. He listened silently as I spoke and when I was done, I asked, “So do you agree with what I have said?”
The boy replied, “No.”
And that was that!