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newsPAPER
News fresh and hot, directly from 409'09
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Monday, September 1, 2008
Hi guys, William here. Since today's officially teacher's day, i'll post something interesting about teachers in Singapore. Well, although it's not exactly made by me and shamelessly copied from another source(again), i thought it would be fun to share this with everyone. 13 things a teacher in Singapore hates about being a teacher 1. I hate it when parents call me on my handphone at 10pm on a Saturday evening. To ask me why their daughter hasn’t returned home yet. Err sorry I forgot to give her the electronic tracking device that she’s supposed to put around her collar. *stabs own eye with rusty fork* 2. I hate explaining to non-teachers exactly what non-teaching work we do. They seem to simplify it into two categories only: ‘Marking’ and ‘Setting tests’. If only it were true. 3. I hate collecting things from students. Money, consent forms, Edusave forms. I hate em all. There will always be those few jokers who ‘forgot to bring it’, and when you ask them again at the end of the week, they realise that they have actually ‘lost it’. *extracts own tooth with rusty pliers* 4. I hate it that new initiatives are being stuffed down our throats, many at a time. Teach Less, Learn More? More Time, Teach More, is more like it. I wonder which bright scholar sparks at M*OE thought of these new-fangled ideas which are really, paraphrased old or current practices. I bet these scholars have some monthly quota of projects and ideas to engulf unsuspecting teachers. *stabs scholars with wooden spoon* 5. I hate it that we (teachers and students) have to wake up at the crack of a chicken’s backside to get to school. I hate it that M*OE uses the transport operators’ need to ferry factory workers as an excuse. I hate it that they are so damn inflexible over such a simple yet important thing. 6. I hate VPN. I hate it that we are expected to do work at home, and I hate that it is officially sanctioned. Overtime pay, anyone? 7. I hate the fact that I can bring my work home. 8. I hate having to mark anywhere, anytime. When I was at Xiang’s wake, I brought a stack of papers to mark. When I went to the clinic some months back to see the doc, I had some test papers with me. 9. I hate being told that ‘teaching is our core business’, and in the same breath, given a platter of non-teaching projects, assignments, surveys, reports and gobbledydook. 10. I hate unnecessary meetings. I hate the fact that the apparent reason why meetings are sometimes held is that they need to capture evidence for some irrelevant award. Oh, we need proof that this useless piece of information was communicated? Just look at the minutes of meeting number 2563! 11. I hate PDS, SEM, CDA, NEA, and every other useless acronym that was invented to make teachers’ lives miserable. 12. I hate strategic thrusts, long term goals, short term goals, KPIs. I wish I was a teacher in the early 90s, when none of these existed. Strategic thrusts belong in an MNC boardroom, not an educational institution. For those of you who think schools should be run like companies… listen! Did you hear that? It’s the sound of me not giving a damn. 13. I hate, no, absolutely detest, abhor, loathe, wayang. Happy Teachers’ Day to me! =) (source: http://immie.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/things-i-hate-about-teaching/) Oh, if anyone in authority sees this, please don't take offence in this teacher. This teacher is merely expressing his frustration on his blog, and it's the truth, isn't it? Happy Teacher's Day! Posted by reporters of 409'09 at 12:19 AM
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