Life can be very lonely in the trenches of education. I once spent one year as a Flexi Adjunct in a neighbourhood school which can be mildly described as “unruly”. Apathy and rudeness were norms. Leadership and discipline were sketchy.
To give three examples of how unhinged things were at times, I co-taught a Sec 4 class with an untrained teacher who was going to NIE. A boy said to my colleague: “Fuck you lah…__________________ (colleague’s name) How many times do you masturbate every day?”
I was shocked. Never have I witnessed such blatant rudeness. My colleague remained silent. Later I asked him, “Are you going to let him talk to you like that?” He shrugged, “Let him have his childhood.” Just another day at work.
In another instance, a Sec 4 boy waited for me to come to class. He looked at me with a very defiant expression and stepped on an empty packet of milo. The milo made a loud, explosive sound and remnants of the drink were splattered all over the floor. I reported him to the Discipline Master who just took him away. End of story.
In yet another instance, a Sec 4 boy accosted me on the corridor. I had caught him for cheating during an exam and he was not pleased. He came up to me and shouted: “Kan Ni Na Beh Chao Chee Bye!” several times. I was actually scared as he was a tall and strong boy. I reported him and he was suspended.
There were many more unhinged occasions in this school, such as the seniors heckling the vice-principal during assembly (but that is a story for another time). I don’t know what is the climate of the school now, but I am sure such schools and such students still exist out there.
Channel News Asia should go and do documentaries on these trenches of MOE and bring some relief to the poor educators who have to fight lonely battles there.