Gosh! In a way I am relieved I had resigned from teaching some 12 years ago. It is frightening to read about what students are capable of nowadays. Students today have such warped ideas of what constitutes fun! For birthbday bash, it would be stripping the birthday boy or "taupok" (forming a human sandwich where the students would pile on top one another) or "pole-ing" where the birthday boy would be lifted up by the limbs so that they can proceed to ram his groin into a pole or pillar. One student even jumped on the boy's back. How dangerously cruel! I thought they only did that by way of torturing during the Japanese Occupation!
I remember papa used to remind us that a joke is no longer a joke, and fun is no longer fun, when it ends up with someone being mentally or physically hurt.
How I wish students in Singapore would spend more time reading and thinking. It is important to analyse and understand situations so that they do not endanger themselves. How I wished I was around the canal when the four students decided to go down to retrieve their fallen bag. I would warn the students to quickly climb up instead of taking shelter as it would be too dangerous. It is so important to have general knowledge and understanding, and that little bit of common sense to know that the water from all little drains would flow into a big canal.
I read how a ten year old American girl was in Thailand with her family for vacation. When she saw the waves pulling back a great distance away from the beach, immediately she recalled her geography lesson and shouted out, "Run! It's a tsunami!" Because of this little girl, several others ran for shelter and hence were saved.
I hope students will still find time to read and learn more outside their textbooks.
Above all, whatever they do should have been done after much analysis and pondering, and not just blindly following what others are doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment