The Sceptic and The Believer...

Being a teacher basically means one is willing to face
different individual in one's life
and try to create some changes and hopefully...
bring about a change of behaviour...
towards the better...

Many believe that school is the place to start teaching
children about everything....
from knowledge to values...and whats-not...
Some parents believe that it is the teachers' job
to teach their children to be a good person in life...

I do not believe in this concept...
To me...as teachers...most of the time we receive broken good..
and our job is to mend some of the 'mendable' goods...
it is not our jobs to mould the clay...
because the clay that we receive
have been moulded...
be it correctly mould or disfigured...
that is another matter....

Of late...
we have encountered students who are ungrateful...
students who think that they are better
than their teachers....
students who do not have clear conscience...or maybe...
no conscience at all...

Chin believe that he is able to change the attitude of
the Chinese students in his school...
so last friday...during the morning gathering he
shared how children actually 'model' their parents...
without consciously knowing so....
So he gave some examples of how this is so...

So...on Sunday night, he received an sms from a
student who is a coward...
ranting about him...
This student implied that Chin is a "GOOD" teacher...
and the language used was really foul...
in Mandarin...
describing how he always sends Siow, his colleague
back home before picking me up...
and implying that he is having an affair with her...

Chin suspects that it's a SHE...
and she's from a good class...
She still tried to provoke Chin on Monday and then yesterday...
saying that she won't apologies believing that
her attitude is right...
and she said deep in her heart she still considers Chin her teacher...
But Chin said that no students of his
would do such a thing....
and that she is not his student and NEVER will be...
a broken mirror cannot be mended...

Well...today we got on talking about this issue in the car...
and Chin believe that it is the teachers' job to
educate or teach students...
But i believe that it is not a teachers' job to do so...
he said there is something wrong with our education
system that causes students to be like this...

I believe that teachers only reinforce what students
have learnt from home...
the values that they learnt are not new values...
knowledge-wise...yes...undeniably they learn from the teachers
but value-wise....
it falls on the shoulder of the PARENTS...

I believe that if parents have done their job of
nurturing their children and laying a strong
moral foundation since they are young....
children will have a strong CONSCIENCE that
will guide them through this grey world...

So...as i said earlier...teachers can only try to mend some of the
broken objects....
but if the objects refuse to accept any help given...
there is not much hope that teachers can
bring about a change of behaviour...