My Life As A Teacher- Part 4- the pursuit

As I mentioned in the previous post, initially it was just a matter of getting that degree. More important is the pay rise that will come with it, the boosted income that will continue many years after. With that in mind, I set off to balance work and study, to move forward towards a better future. The minimum time frame for finishing the degree is 5 years...4 part-time and 1 full-time final year. The maximum is 9 years! I told myself I'll finish in 5 years because each extra year actually worked out to quite a substantial difference in terms of $$$$ eventually.
At that time I was staying in Penang but working in Perak. It took about an hour's drive from Butterworth. Each day I needed to leave home by 11am to catch the ferry and then meet the car-poolers on the mainland. (No Penang Bridge, no highways yet) By the time I reached home after work it would be 8pm. After dinner and a bath, by 9pm I'll bury myself in the lecture notes. That would probably be for 2 hours at most because I was not a late night person. The next day I would wake up for a light breakfast and continue studying till about 10am. Then I had to have early lunch and get ready to leave for work. All in it is 4 hours a day on weekdays except on certain days when we had to leave the house at 5 am to be in time for co-curricula activities in the morning and stay until evening. On certain nights I'd have a quick dinner in school and go straight to USM for tutorials from 8pm to 10pm. On Saturdays we would attend practicals at the USM labs. In November each year we would attend 3 weeks of intensive lectures. So if you guys think your university life is tough, think again. If you think preparing for STPM is hell, think again. I always tell my students, nothing is easy, everything is tough. However I also remind them nothing is too difficult if you set your mind for it. After one year of part-time studies, the results were released. As I said earlier, I desperately wanted to finish in 5 years. And to do that we had to take slightly more than the usual recommended units. I couldn't afford to fail any paper. If I had to repeat any paper gone will be my hopes of finishing in 5 years. I opened my results envelope telling myself, no F's no F's! What shocked me was a string of almost all A's. My colleague in school, a Malay lady, shared my joy because she admired the way I struggled between work and study. After I finish my school chores, I would bring out my notes to study during free periods. She gave me a lot of encouragement.....go for first class! It seemed like an impossible task. I didn't do that well in HSC, and having to work and study...passing would already be an achievement. But deep in my heart I know it is possible. From the second year onwards it was not only about finishing in 5 years. It was about finishing in 5 years with a first class honours. It was not about $$$$$ anymore (you get the same pay whatever class degree) but it was about pushing yourself to the limit. In the next post I will talk a bit about the strive for excellence.

My Life As A Teacher- Part 3- the training

When I compare the teachers who are college-trained and those who graduate from universities, I think college-trained teachers are more all-rounded. The university undergraduates learn a lot of theory and their training is less practical. When I was in the college, I learned up a lot skills. After my stint as a temporary teacher I knew that teachers had to be multi-skilled. I was never good at sports in school but when I had to be assistant teacher in charge of the athletic team, I tried to learn up so that I won't be a teacher in charge who is incompetent. So during my college days we tried to learn everything, just in case. I tried playing hockey (had my own hockey stick) but was never good at it. But I did learn up how to teach basic hockey during PJ lessons. I involved myself in the organisation of many sports events usually as offical, even outside college sports.
I was also a committee member of St John Ambulance. Even though I passed the First Aid exam and did some marching, my speciality was organising events...trips to Singapore, welcoming party, farewell party, CNY and Raya functions..singing, dancing and having fun rather than bandaging! Talking about dancing, I must remember to look for an old photo of me performing a Xinjiang Chinese Cultural Dance during colleges.
Besides these, I also took up Tae Kwon Do. My instructor was actually quite impressed with my ability to learn. I got double promotion for a few times and he tried to teach me higher grades hoping I'll take up black belt before I leave college. But in the end even though I learnt up all the pattern for black belt, I couldn't train in time for the exam and stopped one grade below black belt when my college term ended.
After 2 years in Johor Bahru college, I was posted to Perak in 1977 as a non graduate teacher. I found out that those teachers my age who went to the university directly from form 6 also came out the same year, of course with higher pay. In the years to come, the pay difference will become more and more. So I told myself, one dayI will catch up with them. So I set my mind to give myself a second chance. I will apply for part-time study to take up a degree. In 1978, I was accepted as a part-time student at USM and eventually I succeeded in getting my degree. In my next post, I will write about my struggles balancing between work and study.

My Life As A Teacher- Part 2- the beginning

During my school days my academic results can be considered good even though they were nothing to shout about. In my Form Six class I even managed to get 4th in class. However I didn't do very well in the HSC. The results were far from perfect and definitely not good enough for the top courses in the university. But the problem was that I wasn't even aware of that. Unlike these days when you can search online to find the courses which match your results, we were actually quite ignorant. In modern language we were quite blurrr... In short, I didn't get any place. There were only 3 universities those days and enrolment was low. To make it worse, the quota system made it extremely difficult for us to get in. Maybe I could have got some other less popular course but the naive me had to do the stupid thing of aiming a high target with a short range gun! Maybe it was destined that I end up being a teacher.
My first job was as a lab assistant in an oil refinery. Within 2 weeks I learnt up all the things I needed to do and sometimes I had to be in charge of the night shift. The pay was low. It was only during this time that I realised the harsh realities of life. Looking into the future with no light in sight was scary. I didn't want to end up as a lowly paid lab assistant all my life. Sometimes I cried silently at night worrying about my future. This is why I keep reminding my students to think about their future and their future. Sadly, some of them think I'm too materialistic. But actually I'm just being realistic.
Anyway, I had to act fast. The most logical thing to do was to get into the teacher training colleges. That way, you would be assured of a stable job and the best thing is everything is paid for. You even get an allowance as a trainee. But the tough part was getting in.
So I quit my job and took up temporary teaching. The reason? First the pay was double the lab assistant's. Second, to see whether I can teach. Third, the experience will help to convince the interviewer to accept me for teacher training college. After spending almost 2 years as a temporary teacher, I finally made it to the teacher training college. Looking back, I'm glad I made the bold and right choice of quitting a permanent job for a temporary job. After 2 years I saved some money to help me survive the 2 years in college..the allowance was miserably low but the transport, food and lodging were all taken of. Besides, the 2 years made me realise I can teach. I was asked to teach Science in the last Arts class. It was a battle half lost before it started. Most of the Arts students are weak and cannot get in the Science class and they are not interested in Science. Despite the odds, I managed to win them over. And I was really overwhelmed when one boy(Kiru, I still remember his name) told me before he left school, "Sir, You are the best teacher I have ever had". I remember telling him he said that just to please me but he convinced me he really meant it. So, does it mean I'm a born teacher? No, but I have what it takes to be a teacher....I had the genuine intention to make them learn, make them pass exam, and guide them to be better individuals. I think it was my sincerity and my undying efforts to teach them even though they were not interested that won over them. In my next post I'll recall the days in my teacher training college.

My Life As A Teacher- Part 1 -before

To motivate and inspire my students to focus their efforts towards their education and career, I told them about my own experience and my career. Some of them were quite touched (so they said) and inspired. This is the first time I talked about it with the students. I don't know why. Maybe its because I feel closer with this batch of students or maybe its because this year we managed to finish the syllabus with a lot of time for revision. Using the practical periods for teaching was a bit more tiring as I had to teach 6 periods a day on Tuesdays. But the effort was worth it as we covered a lot of ground since we had 9 periods a week for theory. I hope they do well this year.its all up to them now.
When some ex-students heard about what I told the class, they were also curious and suggested I write in the blog. Actually its no big success story , neither is it an inspiring or touching story. What makes it meaningful is because its a person's true account.
When I was studying, I was not planning to be a teacher. In fact I wasn't even planning at all. Like most students, I didn't know what I wanted to be. I had no direction. That's why I keep telling them to have a direction..because I know most of them have none..just like me at their age. At that age our sight is only the immediate...we don't see far ahead. When I go for relief classes and try to talk to students about further education and career, most of them are not interested. The form 4 students are only concerned about the form 4 exam, they are not even interested in the SPM what more about what lies ahead after SPM! I don't blame them. At their age , I remember we were also like that. We didn't know it was important to get good grades. We didn't know and didn't bother to know what lies ahead when we finish school.
It is only after we finish school life that we find ourselves facing the harsh reality of the real world. In the next post I'll talk about how I ventured into the teaching career.......

Retirement Age

Somebody suggested in a recent article in the Star that the retirement age in Malaysia be raised from the current 58 to 60. I was asked by a couple of people whether I would extend my services if the government were to raise the retirement age to 60. Each time without hesitation my answer would be the same. Yes. Usually the response to my answer is not what I was thinking. Many people think that we should continue working after 58..otherwise we wouldn't know what to do with our free time. There are many reasons why I want to continue working but not knowing what to do with the free time is definitely not a main reason. The main reason is of course the income. I suppose it is attractive enough for me to stay on. The second is because I feel I have still a lot to offer. Although no one is indispensable, I still feel that I'm still an asset to the school. After all, there are not many of us who can teach Pre-U science courses fluently in English. The younger teachers would probably take quite a few years to reach our level of experience. Speaking of experience, our opinions and suggestions are still needed in the school management.
However, I think the Malaysian government will not propose an extension to the current retirement age. By comparison, our retirement age is among the lowest. It is 62 in Singapore and Thailand, 65 in Japan and 67 in Australia. With the average lifespan increasing most countries are extending the retirement age. In Malaysia, however, the government has also got to consider the unemployment rate. With so many public and private universities, more and more graduates join the work force each year. If the retirement age is extended, the unemployment rate may rise further unless the economy expands. At present there are no indications of a possible extension, so I guess I should start my countdown again and plan what to do when August 2011 comes.
The most obvious thing to do is to do what we do best...teach. I'll continue my tuition classes and maybe start a few more classes. At least until I'm 60, if health permits. After that, my wife would have also retired and I may just wrap up my classes and do what most retirees do. Travelling, visiting the children, TV and of course internet. I hope I won't get bored with facebook by then. maybe I'll blog more. And who knows, maybe I'll write some short stories!

Facebook or Blog?

Four months....I didn't realise that it was that long ago since my last post. Whoever reads this blog would have given up checking for updates. Since getting hooked on facebook, I have neglected my blog. But actually I cannot blame facebook. Before facebook, the updates were also not regular. Excuses, excuses. Maybe facebook does play a part for my absence. When we feel like writing something, we just write a short post on facebook. When we have photos to share, we put it up on facebook. In a way, facebook does replace our blog activities. What more with its addictive games, we spend more and more time on facebook..where to find time to blog? The guys who created and maintained facebook have really got us all hooked.
After seeing some of the photos I put up on facebook, someone suggested I write my story on my blog. The difference between a blog post and status updates in facebook is that we can write more details in the blog post. In facebook, all your friends read your status updates almost immediately, whereas the blogs may never get read. So the best way is to update then post the link on facebook. In the next few posts I shall write about my views on the teaching profession.

Male Teachers.....a rare species

It is reported that out of 100 teachers in Malaysia, only 28 are males. In my school, I think the ratio is even less. Look at the photos I took during a trip to an organic farm with my colleagues. You can hardly find a male teacher in the photos! Why do men shun this profession?
I was quite amused at one TV commentaryon Astro AEC. While discussing the issue of declining ratio of male to female teachers, the newscaster mentioned that nowadays parents warn their children to study hard , otherwise they will end up being teachers! They used to say the children will end up being garbage truck workers! If that is the public's view of the teaching profession, no wonder the young men are frightened away!
After spending 32 years in the profession, I am puzzled as to why people make such a comparison. Looking back, I have no regrets joining this profession. Our pay may not be as high as those in the private sector, but in recent years much have being done to improve the promotional prospects of teachers. Teachers do not complain about their low pay anymore. We do not spend lavishly but our income does make our living comfortable.
How about the job? Other than the documents, reports and files we have to keep, I still find it a joy to teach. Especially when I have carried out a good lesson and I know the students have understood. Seeing them do well in the exam is a joy we can't compare with money. And when they get good places in the university and end up with good jobs, we are so happy for them. That's the joy of teaching. Garbage collectors? Maybe they were referring to the discipline problems and the workload of the teachers. And males? why do they keep away? I wonder.