29.4.04 - An extract of the latest newsletter of the school that I work in:-
Our part-time music teacher was struggling. She has been replaced by __________ who has had experience with all ages. As luck has it we discovered that she also has two further diplomas in graphic design and art and has taught art to GCSE students in Singapore. She is now employed full time as the school music teacher and Secondary art teacher. She will hold the latter position until August when a new art teacher arrives but will still continue full time as the ISJ primary music lessons will double when combined classes are split and she will take on a further responsibility for the secondary library.
A warm welcome to ___________.
I deleted her name so at least no one can sue me for copyright invasion and all that intellectual crime shit. Someone please tell me that I've done a good job at the secondary library and that I was moved across cos' the hod was being totally unprofessional and biased? Like, I feel unappreciated? So what if so and so has qualifications better than me? I believe that I've been pretty dedicated so far, despite being "just a student." And in any case, I've not went to Uni yet. obviously I won't have all that qualifications you want what. idiot.
But who am I to complain? Isn't that the case out there in society? Some old man gets retrenched or booted out cos' he's old, degree-less... "nothing" compared to a fresh graduate. never mind the fact he has served half his lifetime for the company, oops, i mean MNC. And as you might have noted, I'm kind of working in a MNC too.
But honestly, the next academic year (Aug 04-June 05) appears to look very interesting. and i say, appears. cos they recruited 5 new staff.. all expat ones. compare:-
1) we cordially welcome Mr Tan Ah Teck into our teaching fraternity for the next academic year. Mr Tan has a honours degree from N_____ U____ of S_______. He counts buying 4D and cursing the gahmen as his hobbies and has a keen interest for looking for cheap toilet paper and cooking oil in Johor Bahru.
(sheesh. can't talk bad about nus leh. o/wise bad luck will befall me one u know)
OR
2) we're looking forward to the addition of Mr Homer Simpson in Aug 2004 to our current pool of dynamic staff. Mr Simpson acquired a honours degree from the University of Springfield (whoah!) and will be teaching Religious Education (erm) to the secondary students. His core interests include drinking beer and saying "d'oh!" after that and leading anti-government protests in New York. Welcome abroad Mr Simpson!
while it's pretty obvious that both introductions are satirical in nature, like it's so evident that the latter sounds more impressive? cos in the eyes of uninformed people,
1) the name tan ah teck can never compare to homer simpson.
2) and while tan ah teck comes out from nus, homer graduated from the University of Springfield (oooh). Bet they didn't know Springfield doesn't even exist on the map of USA - the Simpsons is totally fictitious - let alone the University of Springfield. =P
ok lah. i'll give some points to homer cos he's against george bush and demonstrates to make his point. while tan ah teck detests the gahmen and will (predictably) virtually do nothing about it.
but bascially i'm trying to say.. we have to change our attitude loh. what these people can do, I think many locals can do as well, if not better loh. Like everything that comes out from the school I work is full of propaganda and flowery language... and in turn, we have impressionable people thinking "oh as long we have expat staff. it's okay to pay top dollar. cos ang moh always better mah."
but the sore point is. how many of them really care for our students? as in, i've never seen anyone of them staying back after their designated school hours to give students free extra coaching and all? and this is already the final exam term already. and some of them keep complain complain about so-called "teacher's rights" - for pete's sake, u're already earning higher than any average JB folk okay. compare to the countless s'pore teachers who'll gladly stay back so that you can understand why "is vietnam a proxy war or not?"
P/s: The above viewpoint is solely the viewpoint of the writer and does not reflect the official views of ISJ haha.. now that's a very impt disclaimer, lest i get sued haha.