Interesting post about teachers

redDUST SG

learn advanced is ok... it's the way the system is conducted...

A lot of great ideas in singapore actually, but a lot are badly implemented...

my kids are in a very good pri sch here. last year, in one of the parents-teachers mtg, many parents were openly questioning the teacher's teaching methods, dissecting words in exam papers so they know exactly what their kids need to answer to score in the exams, etc. etc. i was bored to tears.

in a way, the teachers too felt the pressure becos the parents were exerting undue pressure on the teachers.

i then asked the question to the form teacher of my boy if they can be given less homework instead. (my kids workload are horrendous. i don't even work as hard after office hours. imagine a kid after school, he/she needs to do a ton of homework some more.)there was a momentary silence in the classroom. you could hear a pin drop. of cos, i was then given a lecture on why homework are good, etc. , typical bs. after experiencing 2 mtgs, i decided that i will not attend anymore. in any case, i dun think i am welcome there by my fellow parents anymore after my folly.

my kids do not go for tuition except chinese. i strongly discourage that to the chagrin of my better half. i have a pact with my kids that as long as they tried their best and not make careless/silly mistakes in their exams, we are all good.

the main reason i am quitting this place is mainly becos i want a more rounded education for my kids. victoria education in ozland placed a lot of emphasis on character development and seemed a lot more well balanced in its approach to children education. i have observed for myself. there is a huge gulf of difference between a 9yr old aussie kid and a 9 year old singapore kid.

in truth, i do not need to leave. i can pretty much have anything i want here. i have held off leaving for a least a couple of years. but i don't see the light.

i took a risk of quitting my job. i will still be good for a few years. but with god's grace, i found something down under even in such terrible job climate. perhaps the signs are clear for me.

i agree the intent of education here is good. but in implementation, it went awry. (having said that, in this region, singapore education is still better than others, say indo or malaysia)

seotiblizzard SG

Ok..

OMG!

Its the same thing again.

Freaking generalisation.

Just becos one or two is bad, means all is bad.

Knn.

Just in the same case as the islam wad, some people dont like them, just cos of terrorist.

Thts pure BS.

Firstly, To the TS, have u ever been a teacher in ur life??

If u have then good for u, If u nvr, then STFU. Talk only.

Its not the teachers fault.

Have u ever been in a class full of bad kids anot?

U really dont knw how to handle.

U really want to help, but they refuse.

And sometimes is not the teachers fault, for all the stress and the work.

Its the system.

U think the teachers, like doing tht meh?

We are still human u knw?

We got a life. We have to sac many things to keep up a good image.

seotiblizzard SG

just this morning (or was it yesterday) that I was listening to 90.5FM.. and the DJ ask the question on who should teach kids about the birds and the bees. And this lady actually SMS in to say teachers should be responsible for it - afterall they are PAID to teach right?

-.-" We teachers are suppose to teach everything??

redDUST SG

Ok..

OMG!

Its the same thing again.

Freaking generalisation.

Just becos one or two is bad, means all is bad.

Knn.

Just in the same case as the islam wad, some people dont like them, just cos of terrorist.

Thts pure BS.

Firstly, To the TS, have u ever been a teacher in ur life??

If u have then good for u, If u nvr, then STFU. Talk only.

Its not the teachers fault.

Have u ever been in a class full of bad kids anot?

U really dont knw how to handle.

U really want to help, but they refuse.

And sometimes is not the teachers fault, for all the stress and the work.

Its the system.

U think the teachers, like doing tht meh?

We are still human u knw?

We got a life. We have to sac many things to keep up a good image.

i agree wif some of your points.

during my uni term break, i tried relief teaching for 2 months. bloody thankless job. after that stint, crossed out teaching as a career. or at least i know i am not cut out to be one.

seotiblizzard SG

i agree wif some of your points.

during my uni term break, i tried relief teaching for 2 months. bloody thankless job. after that stint, crossed out teaching as a career. or at least i know i am not cut out to be one.

Thanks. Hahah. Yeaa. Thts why i got so pissed.

It was aft tht, tht i begin to respect teachers.

They really work very hard.

Pay also no good.

I am a teacher myself.

Sort of part time teaching.

oldbreadstinks SG

Try stepping into the classroom and handle a class full of children for 1 whole day before you even comment. And after that, you still have to face the principal and parents. Don't ever assume please. Most are in this line for the passion, because the job pays peanuts for the amount of workload you bear.

depends on the teacher leh, when i was still in school, one of my english teachers just walk in and write random words on the blackboard and ask the class to form own group to discuss after that form his own christian group at back to preach plus take away from canteen to eat in class. later someone pao toh, he got angry why we so not sporting and decided to come up with some crap reason and made us all write lines.

people who failed their o levels that year failed again the following year when they retook o levels under him

previous english teacher was actually quite good, lessons going beyond textbook stuff but driven away by the students

iveco SG

in a way, the teachers too felt the pressure becos the parents were exerting undue pressure on the teachers.

in truth, i do not need to leave. i can pretty much have anything i want here. i have held off leaving for a least a couple of years. but i don't see the light.

i took a risk of quitting my job. i will still be good for a few years. but with god's grace, i found something down under even in such terrible job climate. perhaps the signs are clear for me.

i agree the intent of education here is good. but in implementation, it went awry. (having said that, in this region, singapore education is still better than others, say indo or malaysia)

VIC still OK from what you say. Over in WA it is fark up rather bad. I wanted to apply for Dip Ed scholarship but had to think THRICE not just twice.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to politics.

iveco SG

i agree wif some of your points.

during my uni term break, i tried relief teaching for 2 months. bloody thankless job. after that stint, crossed out teaching as a career. or at least i know i am not cut out to be one.

SG recruit RT very low requirement. In WA the ysay u need Dip Ed plus WACOT membership. The latter is really BS.

dibilo SG

people who failed their o levels that year failed again the following year when they retook o levels under him

previous english teacher was actually quite good, lessons going beyond textbook stuff but driven away by the students

you need to understand this.

A teacher can't make a pupil pass. Only the pupil him/herself can do that. The teacher can teach till the cows come home but if the pupils don't follow instructions, don't do revision, don't do homework, don't pay attn, don't ask questions then how to pass?

Many pupils think that teachers who are good are those who doesnt scold them, brings them to library, brings them to the computer lab and let them surf net or play online games. True, those things are fun to do but ultimately, the child will have to bear the consequences.

kiseki SG

people who failed their o levels that year failed again the following year when they retook o levels under him

previous english teacher was actually quite good, lessons going beyond textbook stuff but driven away by the students

Workload in this case does not refer only to teaching. Workload includes planning and preparing for lessons, planning parent-teacher conferences, concerts, etc etc. Sigh. You will never understand. But I do agree there are always the black sheep, which result in these kinds of stereotypes.

seotiblizzard SG

Still got marking leh ( marking take up like 50% liao), making notes, doing up worksheets ??? Then some teachers got CCA?

laurence82 SG

omg

justicelegal is back

run!~!~!

seotiblizzard SG

omg

justicelegal is back

run!~!~!

Why u so afraid of him?

angel7030 SG

That's what I am trying to say, stop comparing teachers to angels. Some people expect teachers to be flawless.

During my time of late puberty studying Secondary school, a male PE teacher alway asked we gals to do rope skipping...then he just stood infront and watch with his eyes open big big. Then he would shout faster faster, higher higher!!!!..and this continued in every lessons, just rope skipping, after a year, some of us realised that something was wrong.

eagle SG

Include CCAs, preparing for exams, exam invigilations, extra courses sent by the schools, bringing students to/from other schools for competitions, bring students out for excursions and make sure they do not get rowdy, staff meetings

eagle SG

in a way, the teachers too felt the pressure becos the parents were exerting undue pressure on the teachers.

in truth, i do not need to leave. i can pretty much have anything i want here. i have held off leaving for a least a couple of years. but i don't see the light.

i took a risk of quitting my job. i will still be good for a few years. but with god's grace, i found something down under even in such terrible job climate. perhaps the signs are clear for me.

i agree the intent of education here is good. but in implementation, it went awry. (having said that, in this region, singapore education is still better than others, say indo or malaysia)

To me, doing only homework is akin to rote learning. MOE saying that they do not want rote learning but promote thinking, thus coming up with more thinking questions ==> good idea and intention, but bad implementation yet again. The style of rote learning has evolved to become actually fiercer than before.

That's why I always try to link parallels with real life events (for physics) or explain how certain things come about (for maths) when I teach tuition, since I have interest in these little extra info too. I'm considering whether to slowly write a book on all these parallels and links that make physics more interesting and palatable to students as I come out with more during tuitioning.

redDUST SG

SG recruit RT very low requirement. In WA the ysay u need Dip Ed plus WACOT membership. The latter is really BS.

none, in fact. i am not sure if it is still as lax today.

i was actually recommended by a hostel fren of mine whom went into teaching full time when she graduated. her sec sch lacked a couple of teachers and i was roped in just like that. my only so called teaching experience then was giving a p3 kid tuition in maths and chinese. so, i was in a way pleasantly shocked when i was given the job.

in any case, i was given the worst sec 2 class in the school. it was an experience dealing with a handful of 16 year olds in sec 2. in many ways, the experience was good.

fudgester SG

Let me just toss in my dua sen....

Fair enough, there are some bad teachers. I've seen the nonsense some of them teach my tuition kids. One of them taught my student that an atom of hydrogen has 0.00008 neutrons (actual fact: nucleons are supposed to be discrete. The 0.0008 in the atomic number comes from the relative concentrations of deuterium and tritium!).

Another one taught my student that if vernier calipers were to read '4.19', it means the reading is 4.19 meters (so the vernier calipers are 30 meters long ah? Siao!)

Whiskey tango foxtrot. If I meet these teachers in person, I'll freakin' chokeslam them into the concrete floor and down into the next level for teaching this sort of scientific heresy.

That said, just because their are some bad teachers doesn't mean that all teachers are bad. For every teacher who teaches nonsense, there are many others who genuinely put in the effort to educate their students to the best of their effort.

Besides, some parents nowadays are seriously crap. They expect the teachers to be responsible for the upbringing of their kids in terms of discipline, ethics, et al. Now that's stupid - discipine and moral values are first the responsibility of the parents, then the teachers.

Yeah, sure, that 30-something teacher who had sex with her underaged student deserves to have the book thrown at her. She threw professionalism out the window and took advantage of a minor under her charge.

But let's just throw the book at the genuinely errant teachers, and let's support the good ones, yah?

SBS7484P SG

tt bikini teacher ... :D:D

redDUST SG

i think you should definitely pursue it. there is definite value in this.

i am not against homework, but within reasons. in my kids' school, it's ridiculous. i guess if the school churns out a LKY bookprize winner every year or so in psle, they need to maintain `that standard'. i regreted transferring my kids there. they were from another sap sch prior and doing just as well. since the move, i noticed their appetite for learning and schooling dropped. too much homework is the key reason.

i hope things will right itself but i am not too sure. in korea, cramp learning has gotten so bad that singapore's learning curriculum seems like kidsplay. my korean colleague sent his wife and daughter over to singapore to study while he stays there. english is the main reason for the move but also for a less stressful learning environment.

the holistic definition of education has clearly taken a wrong turn somewhere.

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