Take Every Opportunity!!!

Last week, went to the hospital to visit one of my students who graduated more than 10 years ago. Unfortunately, though she was only 37, she was stricken down with stroke. Thankfully she is recovering well, though abit slow in her speech.

As I was talking with her, she relates how she had not taken the opportunity to further her studies and even after so many years she is just a draftswoman. There were numerous occasion when she was asked to join her classmates to further her studies but she declined due to some reasons. I could sense a pinch of regret from her tone. Now she is working in one of the MNC and her classmate is an architect there but she is just a draftswoman.

It dawn to me that for all my young readers, if you ever had a chance to further your studies, please do so. Do not missed out any opportunities that you could have if you are ever given a chance to further your studies, That is why I was so glad, if you had read my past post, when I heard of one student looking for ways to further his studies while he is still in National Service. This student was one who never believes in studying. The student was one who always will tell you that money can be earned easily without a qualification. Now I am so glad that he had seen the “light” and realize that to survive in Singapore, you will somehow need some qualification.

Yes, take every opportunity to move ahead. Do not missed the boat. Just like this young lady, it may be too late to progress any further especially so when she is now down with stroke.

The other issue is that please take good care of your health. I had noticed that nowadays, too many of our youngster is indulge in unwholesome habits, such as drinking. You will never believe that I had once seem a photo of my ex-students who was so drunk that he looks so horrible in that photo!!! Smoking and drinking will definitely harm your health. You may not know, but one day, you will soon face the consequences of what you had sowed!!! So take care everyone!!!

A Second Chance!!!

Terrible!!! Terrible!!! Terrible!!! Are we really seeing the end of a real education system? To the puzzled, let me tell you what happened last week. Will not mention names.

Last week, I met one of the student parents. Their child was in some problem and was not able to come to school for a period. Don’t ask me what problem, if I tell you what the problem, then the all those involved will be easily identified. And as I say, I will not seek to identify them so as not to jeopardize their career. Back to the story. So a solution was suggested. The father seeks a second chance for his kid to continue studying with us.
But I got a shock, when the management came back to the class advisor saying that unless we can guarantee that this kid can complete the full studies with us, then we should attrite ( a better word for sacked) this kid. When I heard this, I was fully taken aback!!! Huh? How can an educational institution reacts in such manner. Don’t they know what is compassion? Don’t they know what is giving a person a second chance, even if there only a slim hope? Do they believe in “once a thief, always a thief”?

How can? I was boiling inside when I heard this. I told the class advisor to write to the management, that we ought to give this kid a second chance. I just don’t understand how could Singapore School system comes to this stage? You may says that I am a little too generalize as this happens only for this case. No, I had seen how the management are so keen in what they called KPI ie Key performance Indicators, adopted from the west. To me, how can a school adopt this? Can anyone says that I can achieve 100% pass for my students? Bullshit!!! Every child is made differently. Some will learn fast and some will learn slowly. Some are academically inclined and do well and yet some will fail. This is especially true for a technical institution where the lowest 20% of each cohort comes to us. Are we really miracle maker that we can transformed this lowest cohort of students to be ALL so successful and will all pass? Sad to says, I find our management too engrossed in scoring points, that we fails to see the basic of an education center. Just like the kid I mentioned above, even if this kid will finally drop out and leave the school, at least if we had provided this kid with a second chance, our conscience is cleared and I can proudly lift my head and says that I had done our best. Hopefully, my young readers will catch this spirit of a true education, that should they be teachers in days to come, they will never, never write off any students and be always prepare to give them a second chance