Sat, Jan 19, 2008
The Straits Times
I REFER to the article, 'Principal's ITE advice 'had to be
delivered'' (ST, Jan 17).
I cannot believe Minister of State for Education Lui Tuck Yew
expects students, parents and the concerned public to 'separate the
'tone' from the 'substance' of the message'. He states the obvious
that students 'need to be told that if you don't work hard, you
won't make it'. He has missed the issue completely.
No one is suggesting hiding the fact that 40 per cent of Sec 5
students will not do well enough in their O levels to qualify for
the polytechnic. We all agree that this message 'had to be
delivered'.
The issue at hand is all about the tone. The tone of the principal
in question reflects her true intention when communicating this
message to her students. Did she intend to encourage her students
to work hard? Judging from the effect she had on the majority of
the students, it is extremely difficult to believe that she 'meant
well'. Her students were discouraged and went away with battered
self-confidence. Parents had to do 'damage control'.
By downplaying on the 'tone', Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui adds salt to
the wound. While he shared that educators can 'calibrate', 'soften'
and 'improve' on the message delivery, he fell short of
acknowledging that this principal's tone was plainly and simply
wrong because the effect it had on her students was far from
nurturing.
Perhaps the principal indeed 'meant well' but somehow her tone was
misinterpreted. Being able to communicate effectively so that both
the message and intention are clearly understood is paramount for
educators.
Lastly, Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui shared that he had 'interacted with
enough educators' to know that they 'are far more ambitious for
their students than they are for their career advancement'. This is
a sweeping statement. No one will commit career suicide by
appearing otherwise when interacting with their boss.
I would suggest to the minister to conduct an independent anonymous
survey among teachers to check ground sentiments as to whether the
school ranking system is working against the Ministry of
Education's mission of nurturing our youth.
It has happened in the past when schools had students drop
difficult subjects, in an apparent attempt to improve their
rankings.
Lawrenz Sim Chee Choon