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4:40 PM

Monday, March 3, 2008

Here's a novel idea and a testament to my great imagination and optimism and whatever else.

What can't the time-tables of teachers be adjusted in a manner whereby we can all have one day off day each week? If it can work for adjunct teachers, it can work for regular teachers no? Or are you telling me that an adjunct teacher work less hours than a regular teacher? Or, oh we are getting to the core of the issue - that regular teachers have more duties than adjunct teachers. that is without a doubt. because a lot of us are required to do more than the adjunct teachers. I'm not complaining against the adjunct teachers. Like I said, they are important esp in my working environment. What I'm having problems with is definitely the fact that our physical presence is considered as part of our performance in a school context. So a teacher cannot be effective if she's not physically there? I believe some teachers who have to meet the marking dateline would put up a delicate argument stating that if they do not have to see to the other duties of what goes on in a school in a day, they might be able to finish marking what they are able to. Granted, when one teacher is absent, another has to take up the slack. But ultimately my question is this: Why aren't the top management looking at why the MC rate is so high? Why do we have to shoulder the burden of having to be there despite our mental and physical state? Do you think we would be truthful about the state of our mental health because if we said our mental health is suffering, it's another cross against us. "Oh she's not in the best of mental health, she doesn't show resilience and that goes against the school's creed of having resilience and therefore she's a BAD teacher." My gosh. Dealing with people's perception of us can drive us mad on its own.

An average school day for any teacher is about 8-10 hours. Check the sign-in and sign-out book and you will see that. That seems to be reasonable since everyone seems to work the same hours. So an average week, I would have worked 40-50 hours. Out of this 40-50 hours, I teach a total of 15 hours. Which is about less than 50%. Where does the other 50% go? If a secretary's job is to assist the boss, does she only do that 50% of the time? My job is to teach. If I have to spend more than 50% of my time doing everything else, something is wrong. You might argue that whatever extra things I do, it's still for the students. I will look at you straight in the eye and ask "is it?"

I would rather spend 3 hrs coaching my students than to spend it in a meeting where it's mostly information/instructions dissemination.

I would rather spend 2 hours playing basketball/badminton/whatever with my students than have to attend a workshop that is deemed important by the management but have no direct impact on the students.

I would rather spend 2 hours having conversation with my students than to teach them all the time.

I would rather enjoy a Saturday off without having the guilty feeling that I should be marking or doing some work now.

What, or more specifically, HOW can a student learn effectively after being in school for 9 hours? How is having the entire class down for remedial going to help with leveling up the abilities of our students?

How will hosting and participating in community events benefit our students? Are they in the major phrase of planning and executing the event?

Are we losing focus on what education should be about?

Then you ask, why aren't you telling all these to your management or even better, MOE? If the answer is not obvious to you, you either have not been in Singapore long enough or you do not have contact with any civil servants or you are not Asian. Openly expressing your frustrations can be considered rude, undermining your superior's authority or you are a rebel. Which are all considered insecure for the social fabric of our nation. It's like if you dare question your superior, you are questioning the ways of the nation leaders, which in turn can be said to be tearing the bare thread of the social fabric. We are still in the midst of discussing whether demostrations can be carried out publicly. Are we primitive or something? I always snort at the notion that our country is a democratic country. It's like saying the pledge every morning. "To build a democratic society based on Justice and Equality" Which part of the building are we at? Since we are still reciting the same thing for the past 25 years at least, with all due respect to Mr. S. Rajaratnam, the vision is still blurry at best.

I'm in my high resentment period right now. Really I am. Every single term, towards the end, I will always have an identity and purpose crisis. Why am I a teacher? If I want to do data-entry, I shall go be a secretary. Why am I now the one responsible for the moral upbringing of my students when it should be their parents who are the ones responsible? Why am I said to be a bad teacher if I'm not there physically? If we only depend on results to tell whether I'm a good teacher or not, then our education system has not progressed. We are still stuck in the merits of meritocracy without examining the ill-effects of it. We are under the illusion that if there is a strata of the population which can be singled out to lead the country and be the pillar of strength in the economic sense, then we are safe. WE ARE NOT. If we continue to laud the merits of meritocracy, it will be like saying the fish is definitely fresh if it's steamed.

In my imaginary world, I'm allowed to do what I want and when I like. Maybe I should be locked up for having an imaginary world since creativity can only be taught and not a part of human nature. And having too big an imagination might also one day be deemed as tearing apart the bare thread of the nation's social fabric because I dared envision a possibility. And we all know that all rebellion emerged from a possibility.

Right.