Reality Counselling ForTeachers
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Not too long ago, a school in the West got into a huge flap coz some students were caught with porn VCDs, the media was called, a student's stomach was fusing together, the cops were called etc etc ... Than a small blurb in the news about a girl who jumped to her death when her teachers confiscated her handphone and told her to get ready to meet her parents. Now just a couple days ago, another student, now a boy, in a school in the East, jumps coz another teacher say will call parents in coz he is dating a girl in the school. WTF is going on here???
MOE should start briefing ALL the school principals in Singapore that they are running EDUCATIONAL institutions and they are not running monasteries, nunneries, prisons, drug rehab centres, Homes etc There seems to be this puritanical streak coursing through the schools in Singapore; teachers and principals must wake up and face up to the realities of the kids they are supposed to be educating. A very basic course in understanding and detecting trouble signs in students could probably do the trick here. A more general NE course telling all the unmarried teachers that falling in love, learning about SEX and chatting with friends are part and parcel of this phase of life called GROWING UP. I propose that all teachers should start reading the Teenage Textbook to get in touch with what it means to be teens again. Clearly, the schools are acting worse than religious schools!! Waving a huge book of disciplinary transgressions, threatening to call parents and cops without understanding the context of the kid you are berating is pure damn arrogance in stupidity. I earlier proposed a mandatory check for brains in principals, yeah, MOE should really consider that.
If a student cannot date, cannot watch porn, cannot use hp ... wtf is he/she supposed to do? Is he supposed to do shoolwork all the time and engage in healthy activities like singing hallelujah, helping the poor, social work etc? Get real lah schoool principals!!!! Start learning to navigate in today's world, start learning about the children ENTRUSTED in your care.
Zhong Eh
05.03.04 -
You forgot the most important activity to fill a young child's mind: To pledge eternal, blind allegience to our all-seeing, all-knowing greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread Ruling Party.
Seriously, not all teachers are like that. Its the perfectly molded examples of teachers that our system is so adept at churning out that are like that. Those that sit on their moral high horses and wag their fingers. One of them is one too many
My own mother is an ex-teacher from this generation, but shes more realistic than these clowns and understands that its on thing to enforce the rules, its another to blindly follow them. -
Hmm.. my mum was called into school for something major as well.
I felt crap but .. not enough to jump off the building.
I believe it is the approach that the teacher took towards these students. -
Viper -- yea agree with you on that. The system churns out a breed of teachers which are blind and lack the essential quality of empathy. Do not wanna cast all teachers as f..cked up, but in these specific cases, yea they screwed up. I have no sympathies for them at all.
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There is another reason.
The pressure-cooker environment that is our country has caused our modern-day youths to be far less strong-willed, less tenacious and more sheep-like than the old days.
In those times, we had secret societies, blatant school-skipping and typically riot-like behaviour?
Silly me, of course that isn't a fair comparison. In those days, we also respect teachers who on their part poured their heart and soul into teaching and imparting their wealth of knowledge and immense talent into enriching us upstarts into model citizens.
Those were the days when teaching was a calling...not a day job. Unfortunately, with the job market shrinking consistently these days, just about every tom dick and harry will join teaching for it's iron-clad ricebowl and good starting pay.
Now parents think throwing their kids in school will relieve them of the pressures of child-care, demanding that teachers play the role of day-care tutors and guardians, adding to the woes of the heavily stretched teaching community. And with that 'requirement' from parents comes the ideal that teachers are in a position to play god, interfering with the private life of a student entrusted to their care.
Will it take someone to end his/her life before ppl sit up and take notice of the growing problems intrinsic in our children's upbringing? Should the teachers be the only ones held accountable in this case? I venture to think if the child had responsible parents who kept their child's best interest at heart, he wouldn't have taken the plunge.
Now it's a tragedy rather than a mistake. -
i believe this works both ways
there are students who prove to be too much... -
Errrrr yeah. This is Singapore mate.Originally posted by The Void Deck:If a student cannot date, cannot watch porn, cannot use hp ... wtf is he/she supposed to do? Is he supposed to do shoolwork all the time and engage in healthy activities like singing hallelujah, helping the poor, social work etc? Get real lah schoool principals!!!! Start learning to navigate in today's world, start learning about the children ENTRUSTED in your care.
Zhong Eh
05.03.04 -
Wow!! I can't imagine people jump over such simple matters. -
aiya. it takes 2 hands to clap.. the students need to learn responsibility, while the teachers need to learn to balance sensitivity and rules.
garang students go steal hp, then scared, then jump. who ask them to go steal in the first place. got guts to steal, no guts to admit and face the music.
as for the porn issue, i mean duh. no need to comment abt that, anyone who have half a brain knows that kids are curious, but watching porn can lead to many other bad habits and side effects mentally etc. teachers should practice sensitivity here.
but the saddest one is the kids dating, then stress, and jump. if its becuz of just simple dating, holding hands, i agree the teacher ought to be dragged out and stoned, and be crucified.
but if they were groping each other, then again, i feel the teacher isn't all to blamed. i mean, of all places to hv foreplay, they hv to do it in sch. and foreplay if too hot, brains fry, then suddenly hving intercourse liao then its game over.
my point is. both parties are to be blamed. parents too. some parents are just stupid fukks who cannot connect with their kids, cuz they give their kids the impression that they are old naggers who only cares abt grades, and "i am gonna punish u" attitude -
sigh.. makes sense yo?Originally posted by BillyBong:There is another reason.
The pressure-cooker environment that is our country has caused our modern-day youths to be far less strong-willed, less tenacious and more sheep-like than the old days.
In those times, we had secret societies, blatant school-skipping and typically riot-like behaviour?
Silly me, of course that isn't a fair comparison. In those days, we also respect teachers who on their part poured their heart and soul into teaching and imparting their wealth of knowledge and immense talent into enriching us upstarts into model citizens.
Those were the days when teaching was a calling...not a day job. Unfortunately, with the job market shrinking consistently these days, just about every tom dick and harry will join teaching for it's iron-clad ricebowl and good starting pay.
Now parents think throwing their kids in school will relieve them of the pressures of child-care, demanding that teachers play the role of day-care tutors and guardians, adding to the woes of the heavily stretched teaching community. And with that 'requirement' from parents comes the ideal that teachers are in a position to play god, interfering with the private life of a student entrusted to their care.
Will it take someone to end his/her life before ppl sit up and take notice of the growing problems intrinsic in our children's upbringing? Should the teachers be the only ones held accountable in this case? I venture to think if the child had responsible parents who kept their child's best interest at heart, he wouldn't have taken the plunge.
Now it's a tragedy rather than a mistake.
i always believed fcuked up parents get fcuked up kids.