Updates: More gripes... :-p
Well... Its been a long time since I last blogged. I was actually hoping to put up the photos of my last accident, the sprain that kept me out of action for 2 weeks, and the last chiong session I had, as well as continue griping about what's been going on in my life, especially work life recently.
Seeing as how I do not have my photos with me now, I guess the only thing to do was to gripe... Heehehe, something I'm getting better and better at everyday :)
Anyway, there was a large amount of complaints on the news and forums about education in Singapore (as usual), so I would like o share my two-cents worth about it.
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1) Discipline: Between Kids and Teachers
The situation in Singapore, as such that most Singaporeans seem to have lost respect for the teaching profession. Sadly, I speak not only from personal experience but also from what I garner from feedback in Internet forums, the newspapers, and so on.
Most teachers begin as graduates. they joined the profession out of a passion for teaching, as well as a passion for learning which they had hoped to pass on to the newer generation. However, with the latest initiatives, the key focus is not so much on teaching per se, but on the satisfication of parents and students, i.e. customer statisfaction.
Complaints from parents and students are taken more seriously than values to be learnt. Pandering to whims and desires take precedent over lesson objectives. Teachers are encouraged to take a stand on educational issues, but slammed when there is the slightest hint of public scrutiny. The personal beliefs, biaseness, and sometimes personal grudges of parents and students are taken more seriously than the professional concerns of educators.
Is this truly the educational climate we should be striving for?
Are teachers and ministry officials customer service officers or educators?
Is it truly more important to pander to the whims and wants of non-education-professionals than to educate a child?
Are we forgetting here that we are paying some of the best minds, best graduates from the best universities in the world? Where have the respect for these people went? Where did the consideration or respect for the opinions or advice of the trained, professional educator go?
2) Crossing the line
I feel that there are always black sheeps among any industry. Education not withstanding. There are good educators, and then, there are those who are out just to make a living.
However, before we point the finger, let us examine what are the factors which drive our educators to take that final drastic step towards folly. Did the parents do their part in monitoring the progress of the child? Were school counsellors involved in counselling the child. Were these actions sufficient?
I feel that in many cases, parents, teachers, counsellors, indeed, even the cane have no effect on certain children. They have so insulated from the real world, so protected, or convinced of the 'justness' of their own actions that they believe they will not truly, truly I say again, come to grief. They have this idea that somehow, someone else will always back down, that they can back down any authority figure, because this happened often enough. A simple threat of complaint to the ministry will often force a teacher to back down over threats of disciplinary actions. No reason why this should not work again. They fail to realise that though a school is supposed to prepare them for real life, working life, it is but a poor mimicry. No amount of caning can substitute for the amount of grief they can come to in a court of law. No amount of scolding , chiding, or detention from your teachers can substitute a night in the lock-up. A letter from your parents will not save you from the hangman's noose, heck, it will not even save you from the court's sentence.
Despite this, teachers and schools are often forced to back down, or give a chnace due to this threat of 'letter to MOE' that students and parents alike love to wave around. Is this true education? Can a child truly learn from his mistakes then?
***********************************************************************************
I think I've rambled long enough now, hahahaha... This is what happens when you spend 12 hours at work continuously with nary a break.
I believe that one should never be intimidated of today's educational climate if one is truly sincere about being a true educator. If you are truly serious about being a good teacher, a true teacher, the like and dislike of your students should be immaterial, because as they say in chinese, 'good medicine can be bitter'.
I would not break. I would not back down. I will enforce discipline using my rules, my stand, my way.
Carrot and the stick, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, arm for an arm, life for a life.
Seeing as how I do not have my photos with me now, I guess the only thing to do was to gripe... Heehehe, something I'm getting better and better at everyday :)
Anyway, there was a large amount of complaints on the news and forums about education in Singapore (as usual), so I would like o share my two-cents worth about it.
***********************************************************************************
1) Discipline: Between Kids and Teachers
The situation in Singapore, as such that most Singaporeans seem to have lost respect for the teaching profession. Sadly, I speak not only from personal experience but also from what I garner from feedback in Internet forums, the newspapers, and so on.
Most teachers begin as graduates. they joined the profession out of a passion for teaching, as well as a passion for learning which they had hoped to pass on to the newer generation. However, with the latest initiatives, the key focus is not so much on teaching per se, but on the satisfication of parents and students, i.e. customer statisfaction.
Complaints from parents and students are taken more seriously than values to be learnt. Pandering to whims and desires take precedent over lesson objectives. Teachers are encouraged to take a stand on educational issues, but slammed when there is the slightest hint of public scrutiny. The personal beliefs, biaseness, and sometimes personal grudges of parents and students are taken more seriously than the professional concerns of educators.
Is this truly the educational climate we should be striving for?
Are teachers and ministry officials customer service officers or educators?
Is it truly more important to pander to the whims and wants of non-education-professionals than to educate a child?
Are we forgetting here that we are paying some of the best minds, best graduates from the best universities in the world? Where have the respect for these people went? Where did the consideration or respect for the opinions or advice of the trained, professional educator go?
2) Crossing the line
I feel that there are always black sheeps among any industry. Education not withstanding. There are good educators, and then, there are those who are out just to make a living.
However, before we point the finger, let us examine what are the factors which drive our educators to take that final drastic step towards folly. Did the parents do their part in monitoring the progress of the child? Were school counsellors involved in counselling the child. Were these actions sufficient?
I feel that in many cases, parents, teachers, counsellors, indeed, even the cane have no effect on certain children. They have so insulated from the real world, so protected, or convinced of the 'justness' of their own actions that they believe they will not truly, truly I say again, come to grief. They have this idea that somehow, someone else will always back down, that they can back down any authority figure, because this happened often enough. A simple threat of complaint to the ministry will often force a teacher to back down over threats of disciplinary actions. No reason why this should not work again. They fail to realise that though a school is supposed to prepare them for real life, working life, it is but a poor mimicry. No amount of caning can substitute for the amount of grief they can come to in a court of law. No amount of scolding , chiding, or detention from your teachers can substitute a night in the lock-up. A letter from your parents will not save you from the hangman's noose, heck, it will not even save you from the court's sentence.
Despite this, teachers and schools are often forced to back down, or give a chnace due to this threat of 'letter to MOE' that students and parents alike love to wave around. Is this true education? Can a child truly learn from his mistakes then?
***********************************************************************************
I think I've rambled long enough now, hahahaha... This is what happens when you spend 12 hours at work continuously with nary a break.
I believe that one should never be intimidated of today's educational climate if one is truly sincere about being a true educator. If you are truly serious about being a good teacher, a true teacher, the like and dislike of your students should be immaterial, because as they say in chinese, 'good medicine can be bitter'.
I would not break. I would not back down. I will enforce discipline using my rules, my stand, my way.
Carrot and the stick, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, arm for an arm, life for a life.
posted by Faith, Hope, and Karitas... at 5:23 pm
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