This author is currently on hiatus for the ignoble cause of mugging. The public is advised to remain calm, as this routine protocol has been shown to have no effect on one's violent tendencies in 96% of cases.
| Thursday, September 21, 2006 |
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I went for the HSSRP (Humanities and Social Science Research Programme) briefing today by Mr Melvin Chng. Out of the 19 people who expressed interest through the EMB, only 7 turned up, including me. Again, i must say this is evidence of poor scheduling, since the third language oral test was held today (as i mentioned in my previous post) so a lot of people couldn't make it. But then again, Mr Chng has only a window period of 4 days to conduct this briefing whereas MOE has the whole year to conduct their "research study", so i suppose they can't be compared. Oh, and HSSRP is also managed by the Gifted Education Branch (GEB), which is also part of the MOE. And they will be opening it up to all IP students next year, instead of restricting it to only GEP students like in previous years. HSSRP is a programme which gives you the opportunity to be attached to a professor mentor from NUS or NTU to conduct research in a given humanities research area, which ranges from Economy to Human Geography to Philosophy. According to some research done, 1 hour spent with your professor mentor is equivalent to 20 hourrs of independent research. Don't know how they derived that though. But the benefits are definitely numerous. After you complete your project and if it is acceptable enough, it will be published in a book. Imagine having an article you wrote when you were only 15 years old appearing in a book. Naturally, it would also do wonders for your portfolio. Also, you can submit your project as your HRP (Humanities Research paper, in lieu of humanities exams) and also for Projects' Day. So its not really extra work done cos u can use it for other submissions also, and your HRP marks will be that of your Humanities grade. But you get professional help for it whereas others don't. Haha. The best projects also get to be showcased in The Symposium, a megaevent which is something like your Youth Science Conference, except on an even larger scale. Of course, there is a heavy workload for such benefits. You will have to meet up with your mentor for at least 3 hours over the span of your research, and will also have to do a lot of independent research and learning (cos you can't expect your mentor to do everything for you, duh.) And i guess its this workload which puts people off. You have to write 2 proposals beforehand, one for registration and the other to be accepted by your mentor-to-be. And there's no guarantee that you will be accepted, since there will be so many applicants. So, i really don't know whether to go ahead with HSSRP, or switch to smth else like SMP (Science Mentorship Programme), cos 1) no one else from my class wants to go for HSSRP; and 2) i can't find a partner for this - i hate doing individual work. If you're interested or have any advice, talk to me over MSN. Thanks! |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:38 pm.
