do me a favour

do me a favour.
1) play this song

2) close your eyes.
3) listen it till the very end.
don't judge it. let it transport you to where you should be taken to.

i hope it tells you what i want to tell you, my dis and my mon-kids.

especially you, my dis. the 2 of you who went through quite a bit lately.

this song was played in my all time favourite movie. the hero played this song to another person for a certain purpose, which is similar to my purpose of playing this song to you.

who needs achievements to be proud of their kids?

i'm getting quite sick to hear people say the following. the template goes like this "i'm so proud of my student *insert name*. *he/she*(delete where appropriate) *is now some big shots / won some awards / earn filthy rich amount of money*

my question to these people: you mean people need to achieve something for you to be proud of them? aren't they already a pride to you for what they are?

let me make my declaration here.

i, the old cow, am very proud of every single one of my mon-kids (monkey - kids). it doesn't matter if they are so-called top-students, discipline problems, fail every other subjects or what. they are my mon-kids, and 5 of them are my dis. it gives me pride for me to say that i had taught them, and it gives me pride to show pictures of them to anyone. they never fail to make me smile whenever their faces appear on my wallpaper as i load up my computer, and never fail to make me feel proud to be associated with them.

yes, there are times i am more proud of them because they have achieved something or what.

but that doesn't deny the fact that i'm already damn freaking proud of them already.

this declaration is from my heart.

the old cow had grown older

the old cow had his birthday somewhere this week. being old, he no longer see the point of having parties, celebration etc. but he was pleasantly surprised by his friends at one outing.

the cow's friends are fine. his family is rather fine. his mon-kids and dis are fine. what's more can he ask?

my exact sentiments

apparently this was published while i was away. found it through fearfully opinionated.

i have to agree with the author - the joy in learning is lost,, and it is crazy that our students are relying on tuition. i once had a discussion with this person who specialise in cooking a certain staple, and he/she suggested that it is a result of our people believing that everything is possible, if they try hard.

i can't really say for other subjects, but for geography, i don't think that is the problem. i respect the fact that our curriculum strives to give our students a world view. but why overload them with concepts that they can't relate to at their maturity, issues they have never heard of, only to test very specific sub-sub-sub topics ( i emphasise the 3 subs).

things like "development", "geography of food". frankly, i think i'll hate geography if i had to study when i was in secondary school. it's something that is not easy to relate to at a secondary school level.

cut our students some slack. there is no point raising the standard excessively high so that it looks good, when in reality, it is murdering our students' interest in humanities. even if we manage to arouse the interest of some, it is a bitch to study for. let's face it - we don't need so much content, when in exams, we ask very specific questions. you can't expect our kids to know every single thing so in depth and so well right?

i don't seek for future generation to specialise in humanities. but let's face it - it is important to have an interest and sufficient idea of humanities for all fields. that's what separates an engineer from a computer.

the old cow is back

before the old cow went missing for a month, he is worried that one day, he'll quit teaching because he's disillusioned about the system. what made it worse was to know that some of the wonderful teachers he knew, some being his source of inspiration and people whom he looked up to, are leaving the service one by one, precisely because of their love for teaching.

while he was away, the old cow was ashamed of himself. he saw how some communities faced challenges that is a lot worse, and yet, their desire to educate the young keep them going, even if it means sticking their neck on the chopping board for arrest, harassment, or even death.

yes, some people may call such people having the "jesus" syndrome. in another words, people with these syndromes think that they are the saviour and are willing to sacrifice themselves.

but they are willing to go through all these sh*t for their values and passion in education. what's a horrible boss, scheming colleagues, unnecessary admin work compared to the challenges they face? and hence, the old cow is enlightened and found his source of inspiration to push himself. now he is sure that he will stay in the service, because he wants to. yes, one can do more teaching outside the system, but if everyone leaves the system, who will fix it?

don't worry, the old cow wouldn't like sacrifice his health or what. but it is just something to affirm his beliefs and values in education.
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on another note, the old cow saw how a student(not his) blogged about his parents love for him.

it is true. the old cow wants to push his mon-kids and dis, not because he wants them to score well. he just want them to try their best so that they wouldn't regret that they didn't try hard enough, like what happened to his national service mates.

after all, as long as they get to do what they want to do and are happy with it, even if it pays nothing or if it is nothing glamorous, as long as they are happy, the old cow is happier to know that they are doing something that they enjoy and are passionate about.

talk

the lecturer's old cow had a one-to-one talk with the old cow the other day. she voiced out her concerns about what she observed and the old cow assured her the situation for the old cow is not as bad as what she thought it is.

*cue emo music*

somehow that triggered memories of the mon-kids in the old cow. it reminded him of how he used to have one-to-one talk with his mon-kids in a rather similar fashion.