Taken from ST Forum, Oct 30, 2007

Learning in the classroom: Pity the strugglers and stragglers
DR GOH Kar Cheng's advisory to parents, 'Teach kids to face difficulties' (The Sunday Times, Oct 28), is laudable.

The young ought to be immunised against the potential pitfalls of mental and emotional cave-ins.

Dr Goh's is the plaintive voice of reason and rationality almost inaudible in the rising cacophony of a generation of liberal, literate, articulate, demanding and vocal parents.

Not a few principals and teachers stand in awe of such parents.

Defiant kids who challenge the teacher's authority in the classroom are not uncommon.

Parents take umbrage if a teacher so much as suggest their kids are 'lazy', 'naughty', 'playful', 'inattentive', 'defiant', etc.

Woe betide any teacher who tries to impose firm discipline on errant children whose parents over-protect them.

Holding back kids to do extra work (during recess and after school) because they have been slack, careless, lazy, indifferent, etc, is deemed punitive, counter-productive and restrictive.

For close to 40 years, I taught kids who were academically weak: the tail-end classes.

Those whom I taught from the 60s to the 80s were a hardy lot. They hardly cried nor whined if injured. If punished for any misdemeanour, they bore the correction with equanimity.

Above all, their parents were fully supportive of the teachers whenever their kids were punished for any wrongs.

Dr Goh talks about examination questions, which differentiate bright sparks from the average ones.

I had never come across kids who were traumatised by impossibly tough examination questions before the 90s.

Since then, I have personally come across some really tough ones, which not only whack the daylights out of the weak and average but also demoralise the very bright ones.

Some adults are talking rhetorically about discriminating the hares from the tortoises with nary a concern for the ones not endowed with advantages like good family background, solid parental backing and support, etc.

Presently, even kids in P3 solve challenging mathematics problems, which involve four working steps.

My friend, a retired teacher, struggles to teach his grandchild mathematics problems of this genre. Additionally, some of the questions unfairly test the child's English language comprehension ability.

My compassion and empathy are with the strugglers and stragglers.

Ho Kong Loon

Trail at Budget Terminal

I realised that Singapore Changi Terminal 3 is different from the Budget Terminal. So I am writing this to correct my mistake. Sorry...! :P

This morning, I helped to conduct an educational trail at Changi Budget Terminal. Basically, it was a maths trail. I was happy to meet a number of familiar faces there. They were my ex-pupils. Most were happy to see me, but one kept avoiding me and even hid behind his classmate when he boarded the bus. Well, I would say he had gained some weight. :p

Cooking as a Career

Well, thinking of cooking as a career? Sounds "delicious". I saw this piece of news about cooking in the newspaper today. I remember one of my schoolmates who went into the "cooking" industry after he took up a course with SHATEC. He is a nice and gentle person, but I have lost contact with him for a long time. I met him on a bus while I was going to work in Lim Chu Kang. He was on his way to school. We met a few times on the bus after that as we stayed in the same area. I guess he could be still working as a chef in one of the hotels in Singapore. Maybe he could have started his own business. Who knows? :D

Do you know SHATEC? It is an institute which conducts hotel-related courses, such as culinary and hotel management courses.

Kusu Island Trip 13 October 2007

West Coast Park!

These are the photographs taken in West Coast Park last week. Trying hard to upload the pictures. By the way, I went to Kusu Island last Saturday. It is a wonderful place to relax and have a picnic. Of course, people go there mainly to pray.

Reach for the M!

I titled this photograph as "Reach for the M!" Well, the "M" here does not refer to the brand name "M". The M here stands for "MAXIMUM". I hope everyone will reach for their MAXIMUM potential.

More photos!

Photos of a trip to Vivo City