This is where Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) is located.

The 12-station Downtown Line 2, which opens today, has close to 30 schools within a 10-minute walk of stations along the route that includes ACS (Barker).

The line starts in Bukit Panjang and passes through Bukit Timah towards Rochor before connecting to Downtown Line 1 at Bugis Station.

From the banner above that was pinned outside ACS (Barker)'s school building, we may arrive at the following conclusions:

1. Life was tough before the birth of Downtown Line 2 (DTL2).

Why? Until now, some students have had to endure heavy peak-hour traffic jams during their chauffeured commute along Bukit Timah Road daily.

Remember that this is the same ACS (Barker Road) of the carnival tickets controversy fame, where young boys who sold more than $600 worth of tickets were held up as exemplars of "doing their best", and where parents drove their Ferrari and Maserati to add to the carnival atmosphere.

2. Maybe the ACS (Barker Road) banner's intention is to subliminally influence the boys.

A slogan that focuses on the ease of travel instead -- "We can get to school faster! Yay!" or "We can get to school more conveniently! Yay!" -- is too mainstream.

The school's purpose is much higher nobler -- to inculcate a sense of environmental consciousness, as well as to foster a sense of egalitarian behaviour by travelling on public transport.

Its method? Feature a few neat young men -- athletes, prefects -- to create peer pressure that "artisan travel" is the new cool thing to do.

3. ACS (Barker Road) ah boys will become men, come Jan. 2 next year. 

Maybe the young gentlemen from ACS (Barker Road), aged between 13 and 17 years old, did not have to learn how to travel to school by train all these years.

This is because until now, there were no train stations nearby (Newton MRT is a bus ride away). Hence, this life skill was not previously relevant.

In conclusion, here is the logic of the banner: Birth of Downtown Line 2 = Students suddenly learn how to travel to school on their own.

Parents' logic: We will ask Land Transport Authority and Ministry of Transport to build a train station within walking distance to all our children's schools. Yay.

Related article:

4 lessons to draw from the ACS (Barker Road) carnival tickets controversy

Photos by Tan Xing Qi.

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