Review

Defense is a very natural and normal feedback of human beings. But people choose different methods to present their defensive attitude. Some talk behind backs, using anonymous identities. Some chose to bombard directly in front of the offenders. Whether what method you choose, it is of one purpose, to clarify your views and stand on your belief. I am a believer of the freedom of voice. Mass media created in these days proved that the world have high demands of different views. People write reviews to criticize, they wrote articles, drew comic strips, went on TV shows, had press conferences, just to make use of the convenience of free media to speak their thoughts. This is the accumulation of intelligence. Politicians use the criticisms of opponents to improve their strategy, so tat they can run a better country. Economists accept different views to improve the world wide trade. Film directors use reviews to improve their techniques. Hotel directors use feedbacks to enhance their servicing qualities. The world is a give and take medium. One party has to rely on another, simply just to improve.

On, my post titled School of ROCK(Restless, Obnoxious, Childish Kids), I voiced out my dissatisfaction towards SMKRA via my blog. Apparently my link leaked out somehow and it became an issue. I understand the fact that you gave me negative comments due to your defensive behaviour. It is ok to defend the party you belong to. You got angry and dissatisfied because I had provoked the party you belong to. Fine. So what you must do? Easy. You defend and fought back, just like what you did, posting negative comments and giving me all sorts of names. Ok. Great, but some of you got it wrong. You defense by crticising Us. By right I am the only one who wrote the blog, why you judge me as a representative to my previous and current school? I am always an individual. If you attack, attack me alone. Leave the others out of this business because they were uninvolved. If you do so, this is very unfair for them. I did something that made me the attention. Let me solve it myself, leave the others out of it. If you have any prejudice towards my current and previous schools then you got it wrong. They are good and polite students with a bright future ahead, so keep them out of this issue. Let me show you how to defend. You state what have I overlooked. You state your qualities, the unique cultures, things that can be proud of. Like Malaysia. Do you think that Malaysia is the best country in the world? Surely not. Easily Singapore can beat Malaysia by its strong socio-economy growth and advance in science and technology. But we defend by saying that Malaysia has unique cultures that Singapore does not have in possession. And it goes on like that. We do not defend by saying: So what if Singapore is so advanced? They are blah blah blah (I do not want to comment on this issue due to political restrictions. I just want to make a point clear). Then this is wrong. By talking bad about Singapore would not make Malaysia seems the better, it only reflects the inability of Malaysians to have critical thinking skills. Same thing. By saying St. Marians and Maxwellians are lousy and immoral would not make you a saint. It only mirrors your naïve and childish thoughts and the immaturity to think like an adult.

We came to your school, and you do not even treated us like a part of it. Your teachers made the point very clear. They distributed worksheets to people who “are going to remain here”. So what about the others? Before we can get our transfer, who are we? We anted to be a part in your school but your teachers made us had the feeling that we were just refugees habituating in your school temporarily, then we were gone for good. We were co-operative in the sense that we accepted your school rules. We even bought school badges when requested. When the school requires us to present something for teachers’ day we even contributed ideas. We also helped to clean the physics lab. We attended classes and made an effort to listen. So how can you call us arrogant? We can manage to adapt to such situations, completely diverse from the environment we were brought up with. Everyone has a limit to things. I do not deny the fact that some of us may have offended you all but we sometimes cannot stand the way we were treated. So when you all felt offended what should you do? You confront us and say it clear on our face, not smearing my blog with secret identities after the incidents. By the way, I am very sure that not only I wrote negative things about your school. Many of us did. So I guess I just got ‘lucky’ because somehow you all managed to find my blog first. But this is still my blog. It is free for anyone to leave comments or to read. If you do not want to publish a comment on my blog, then don't. Nobody is forcing anyone. The use for you to leave comments only functions as a interactive part.

Your school conducted an orientation session for us. The purpose of orientation is to introduce us towards your school, as well as the totally new subjects in form 6. But I find it very weird when your school kept brainwashing us to make us stay. The very first thing you asked us was to show a shower of hands to indicate those who wish to transfer.
You knew the majority were transferring. Instead of respecting our choice, you treated us with bias from the very first day. You assembled all teachers to speak about the subject they teaches, but some of them kept the whole session running by saying all sorts of things to make us change our mind to transfer. You even managed to gather a few ex students to say about the experience they had during their time in your school. I acknowledge the fact that your school has the potential to produce excellent students. The group that talked to us was only about 10 or more. What about the rest? Did they feel the same thing about their school? Did they have same views about the teachers and the teaching methods? 10 of them do not represent the whole ex SMKRA students. Even the 10 of them have any dissatisfactions previously they would not have dared to talk publicly due to the reason they respected their alma mater. The million dollar question is, why bother to convince us to stay if you had the confidence that your school is good? You let go. You should not have paid too much attention on worrying who is going to leave and why. We got tired when almost every teacher who entered class asked who the ones who lodged for transfer are. We also got fed up when teachers refused to distribute worksheets for students who were not remaining. Why bias us while we were on the wait for transfer? We were still SMKRA students when we have not received the letter of approval for transfer. We still deserve to be given education and treated equally like any permanent SMKRA students. You did not welcome us at the first place and expected us to adapt to such situations. Under pressure, man. Ask yourself how do you cope with these problems if you were in the same shoes as I do? You express your dissatisfaction. And ta-da. You saw my blog.

Your culture is very different from the school we came from. I do not deny the fact that we over reacted on some things but the fact is still the fact. Your school compound is untidy and some of the facilities were in damaged conditions. The habit of loitering was seen. You do not cultivate the habit of reading in students. You allow them to do whatever they like before class, and students were seen either talking or doing nothing early in the morning. When I stated that it is a poor culture, you protested by saying that if you see people reading early in the morning you will think that they were sick. Then judged by your comment, I can see that you are very immature in thoughts. A book does not make anyone a patient. The habit of reading should be cultivated in school so that students will enjoy reading and make it a part of their lives. How to? You make it compulsory for students to read, not only for exams, but for the wholesome of general knowledge. Instead of allowing them to waste their time just like that, allow them to enter class earlier and get them assembled with a book and make sure that they read. A few minutes of reading per day can do a lot of difference in life. 5 minutes per day, and a month you will get 1 hour and 40 minutes of reading. And vice-versa. 5 minutes for students doing nothing, and in a month they waste 1 hour 40 minutes of their life, doing apparently nothing useful for their own betterment. As for facilities, you should care take them properly. Educate students to love the school properties and diminish the damage amount. How? By enforcing school rules thoroughly. In 2 weeks time in SMKRA I can find that your school rules were not enforced strictly. Why? See students loitering around? Is that permitted? Re-designed uniforms? I wonder. Hand phones in school? Isn’t something called spot-check? Students smoking? Is that even allowed outside school premises? By holding a cane and shouting at students does not make you a discipline teacher. It only makes students hate you more and result in more disciplinary problems. I am standing in the point of view of a student, and I know better.

I am also not saying that we are good in English. I do not understand why you had the impression that we are that good. And if you really look up to us that much I would like to clarify that the reason we are better is we made an effort to upgrade and improve. You as students can make a difference by accepting a little challenge and make a paradigm shift. I came from a Chinese medium primary school. Do you think that I can adapt to the situation in secondary school where English Language is much paid attention to in just a click? No, surely. I learn and make an effort to improve. How? The habit of reading and the emphasizing the culture of English speaking in school. My school made it a rule that mother tongue is not allowed in school. At first everyone did not like it. I am sure that you will say that my school is sick at this point of time. But everything the school made is for us. Do you think the discipline teachers and the principal were not blamed and hated by students? Students tend to complain but the school was firm with their ground. The discipline teachers and principal was people of faith and patience. They believed that the culture they emphasized will be appreciated finally and it came true. And for students, they can choose to stick to their comfortable way in speaking their mother tongue or taking up the challenge. Those who had accepted the challenge improved and are currently on the run towards more improvement. What am I trying to point out is, by instilling positive but different cultures in a school may cause mayhem in students, but in the end everything will be worth it. And students can choose their destiny either by thinking critically about their own future or choose to stick to their own way. In the end you will find yourself facing a totally new world, and there will be no turning back towards the medium that allows you to make a paradigm shift in yourself.

If you say that teachers are your destiny then you are very wrong. You determine your own destiny. Teachers only function as guides. Your SMKRA teachers made this point very clear when trying to brainwash us to remain. I admit that your point is true. No matter where you go, the teachers were all the same, just guides. But have you ever thought about if you were given a choice between a good and a lousy guide, which would you choose? Surely the good one, eventhough it is only a guide. A good teacher is a teacher who has complete knowledge of the subject he or she teaches, and is able to convey knowledge and conduct lessons where students are able to understand and will evoke their interest towards the particular subject. Besides, they are also able to help and treat every student with equality and understand each and everyone of them. Then, he or she will earn respect from students. Everyone knows that nothing is perfect under the sun. They will be no perfect teacher, as they will never be a perfect student. I am also not saying every teacher is good in St. Mary and Maxwell. But they were respected. Teachers in SMKRA did not even respected us when they knew that we were going to transfer. So ask me how can I respect them? Telling you the truth we already tried to be patient and respected them. Listening to their lessons knowing that after class we will attend tuition after all is a sign showing respect. If teachers wanted respect, they should earn it, not demand it. You may call me ungrateful but I am already a pre-U student. I am no longer a teenager but rather a young adult. Entering form 6 is where I learn to think critically and have an objective view towards everything. If you absorb everything that the teacher teaches then you are still behaving like a child. You listen and filter, then ask questions. Then absorb what is correct. Teachers are not saints. They are just normal lay people with the mission to educate the next generation. Understand them, they make mistakes. As students we receive the necessary and ditch the others. If you absorb whatever the teacher teaches and found out that you got some facts wrong in the end of the day, you will blame the teacher. Never worship them. Teachers may not like students like me but in the end, these students are the ones who will have matured thoughts and fully armed to face the world. In the end, students like this would be the ones thanking back the teachers. For what? Not for knowledge. Not for great results. But rather the training for us to think maturely.

A fact is still a fact. What I wrote in my blog are undeniable facts. Do you think that your toilets are clean? Even your own students felt disgusted by the conditions? Do you think that your teachers treated us fairly? Do you think that the discipline is a bit out of bounds? So how? You change. You improve for the better. From what I have seen you love your school and are co-operative in some sense. You all can gather together and shoot me with all kind of names. Why not use the strength to improve the current situations. Come on, take up the challenge. Students and teachers can co-operate and make your school a better environment for educational purposes. Make a paradigm shift. The process may need time but it will never be late. Prove that you can and prove me wrong. Then when you have succeeded you proudly puff out your chests bearing the SMKRA badge. And maybe, you will thank me for clearing your eyes and for providing the situation where unites all of you. Impossible is nothing, because nothing is impossible. Remember, the largest room in the world is the room for improvement. A quote for you to ponder. "Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." William Faulkner.