an additional duty

Last Thursday, I thought I could sit back and jot something down in my blog during the weekend. Well, at least I am doing it now. But, last Thursday, my name was put up in a list for a meeting about 'Kelas Tusyen Untuk N6 Tupong' which is sponsored by YB Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman.

The purpose of that tuition class is to give opportunity to students who are from hardcore poor n low income families plus their hardcore poor academic performance to learn something that could improve their academic ability. When I studied the list of candidates for the class...its so sad to say that 98% of them scored E for all the subjects that will be tutored for them. I can't stop thinking how am I going to deal with this.

I kept  trying to figure out..what did they learn since kindie or pre-school? If learning the English language is a problem, why are they doing so bad in Bahasa Malaysia?

Didn't the learn anything in the past eight years of their early schooling life? And why is this happening to students in town schools?

Do these students have learning difficulties and disabilities? No one can say for sure because they are not attending a special school....they have never been medically checked I suppose. Shouldn't that be done once the parents or teachers detected or noticed that they were not performing at least as average in their studies? I mean, I have watched some documentaries and even movies based on true stories about children who were suspected with learning disabilities and difficulties were given tests and evaluation in order to help them in their studies. Once the results were positive, these children were sent to special classes that could accommodate their special needs. These children even teenagers looked as normal as any other kids but they were different and special in their own way.


So, what about the fourteen year olds that I have to tutor starting from next Tuesday? For one thing I know, I cannot teach them the way I normally teach in formal classrooms because these kids need special attention and special programs that could help them to at least read simple words or phrases and write short sentences.


Thats the additional duty...to be a tutor for these English illiterate kids and to find some simple ways and materials to help these kids read and write in English....

My first ever article to be posted here.....

Random Act of Educating and Imparting Discipline
                    by: Sabariah Abdul Rahman

       
        What is happening to our students these days? A few days ago a friend shared a link from a local tabloid about students complaining being slapped by their teacher because the played truant. And they are just thirteeen of age. Is it in their place to complain being treated that way? Why did they go elsewhere in their school uniforms with the school badge on  during school hours? Did their parents think about this? No, Their parents only saw one fault. Their daughters were slapped in the face. Their daughters were humiliated.

    Being a teacher for almost twenty years, I understand the teacher's ordeal. The teacher's action made sense. It is a teacher's job to see to the students' safety and welfare, not just to educate them.  The teacher must have had the shock of his life when it came to his knowledge that the students played truant, when by right they were supposed to be in his class.  What made it worse was they were in school uniforms which displayed their school logo. This course of action could tarnish the shool's name but the students and their parents did not take this into account when they played 'hookie' and made the complaint.

    Imagine if something bad had happened to the  students(as cases of rape, kidnapping and murder are rampant these days), the teacher, the Principal and the school authority are the ones who will be questioned, interrogated and accused of negligence. Parents will point out that the school is incapable of looking after the students. The school Principal will then question the class teacher and subject teachers and lecture them on their carelessness for the students' “absence without leave”.  I believe this had triggered the abrupt action by the teacher who slapped these students. In my opinion, that is the teacher's random act of educating and imparting discipline to the students involved.

    Parents on the other hand, should think and consider carefully about their children's actions. It is a surprise to me that the parents don't seem to be bothered with their children's behaviour but rather taken by what their children complained about. I believe the students involved had quickly thought of making it a big issue (being slapped by their teacher) to cover up their misconduct. In other words, to 'escape' from their parents' wrath due to their  wrong doings, they highlighted the teacher's action. It made sense, because parents nowadays pamper their children to the limits and say that they never laid a hand on their children, why should they let others do?

    The media, on the other hand, made things worse. Why did the media focus on side of the story? Why not take account both parties? Why did the media not asked the teacher to explain his actions? I believe the media knew the students' actions were wrong, yet it only showed a picture of a girl showing the marks on her face...and with the mother and friends supporting her. Why did it not asked the students why they played truant, in their school uniforms? And maybe asked the parents to comment on their daughter's odd behaviour?

    It is getting harder to be an educator nowadays. Teachers face so many pressures not from their teaching load but from their students. Children are more challenging in terms of behaviour and attitude rather than in the form of intelligence. Maybe their intelligence now is more towards scheming and planning to ruin their own lives, which indirectly involves others – their parents and their teachers. Though not all parents would support and back-up their children's misconducts, the few who do would
contribute to the factors of the increasing number of disciplinary problems in schools because their children could get away with it easily....and a there is only so much that a teacher can do.