Teachers are the root of the problem

I was browsing through the Strait Times Forum page when this article caught my attention. The headline reads " Teachers are the root of the problem ".

The article is written by an ex-student who grew up as a Peranakan but her mum wanted her to learn Chinese instead of Malay. She was very enthusiastic at the beginning but the passion for Chinese was killed by her Chinese teacher who did not translate what she was saying into English to help her learn better. Nevertheless, she managed to score distinction but she believed it was due to luck. She thinks that she did not have a good grasp of the subject and blames it on the teachers as many teachers are not bilingual in Chinese and English. She mentioned this line before she signed off:

"The failure of generations of Chinese Singaporeans to master Chinese is not the failure of students, but of the teachers."

I would like to comment on her last sentence. In my opinion, no matter how terrible she claims her teacher to be, no teacher wants their students to fail. Teaching is not an easy job and at times, quite a thankless job because parents and students nowadays are hard to please. Teachers always get the blame when the students do not do well but the fact of the matter is if the students do not want to learn, there is really nothing much that the teachers can do to help. As the saying goes, "God help only those who help themselves.".

I also want to being up a common complaint among the students. "The lessons are boring," is a common cry. Students expect their teachers to do a lot of things to make the lesson more interesting. The problem is the students just know how to rave and rant about it, they do not suggest to the teachers on what they can do and expect magic to happen overnight.

At the end of the day, one thing is very clear, teachers and the students must work hand in glove to make things happen. And in all that we do, we must always learn to compromise and put ourselves in the other person's shoes.

Demand raises questions about effectiveness of remedials

This letter to the forum page caught my eyes. I am really tempted to share my views as this is a topic close to my heart.

In recent years, there have been a growing emphasis on work-life balance. However, efforts seem to be targeted at only the working adults.

What about children like us ? I have no doubt the adults need to juggle work and family. But students need just as much school-life balance.

Everyday, after school, we have to stay back for project work, activities, co-curricular programmes and on top of that, we also have remedials. And it is not only just one day, it is on various days. Take me for example, 3 days are taken up by co-curricular activities and another 1 day for project work. I just can't imagine what life would be like moving on to upper secondary.

Personally, I think that what we need to know is already taught in school. If the student thinks he can rely on remedial and does not need to pay attention in class, he will suffer when he goes to the university because I don't think there is anymore tuition. I believe things are manageable if we spend time to read up on time and do our homework seriously. The key is consistency.

Another problem about too much tuition is the passion for learning. The writer thinks that remedials will kill the passion to learn in children and I agree with him fully. Too much of anything, good or bad, is no good. The same goes for remedials. Too much will make the children sick of studies. Steve jobs once said: " I love what I do." and that is the reason for his success. He did well because he was passionate about his work.

At the end of the day, just like what the writer says, we all need time to rewind and relax. We need to go out with friends, families, play and simply have fun. Sometimes, we comprimise on our sleep and meal time. Is this we want ? Surely not.

I would like to end off by quoting my math teacher " Right now, you all should be enjoying yourselves. This is the only time of your life you can do so and at the same time, work hard." True, before we finish school and step out to work.

I am still trying to strike a balance in my life.