It seemed to me that whoever is in charge of Education have this “great” idea that, we should be expert in a lot of things. Just when we are struggling with learning 2 languages, all the Science and mathematical equations, they decided to say “Hey, why don’t we make them learn carpentry and construct furniture or something.” Enter Design and Technology. I was a relief teacher and I saw girly girls struggle with a Hack saw trying to cut a piece of wood. I think they were trying to build a birdhouse.. I do not comprehend what was the objective they were trying to achieve? A better appreciation of furniture from IKEA? Perhaps Design Tech was Physical Education in disguise since everybody is sweating and the workshop is like like a sauna with wood chips minus the towels. Don’t worry girls, once you are done with dumb secondary school crap, you don’t have to touch any tools EVER!

Early Primary School is spent on spelling. I would froze every time there’s a spelling test. I hated it because its like memorizing scripts for a performance or something. But thank God, for Sesame Street. I learned that each letter made a specific sound and you can break ‘em up into small digestible parts. My Primary School teacher on the other hand, just shove a list and expect us to memorize. That’s what Singapore generally is.. a pack of memorizing droning robots.

So I can safely say that Jim Henson was actually my English teacher back then. Once hit Primary 3, Multiplication tables are the rave. 7x7, 8x6.. we are made to memorize like human calculators. I hated that thing too.

Example: I have a friend and she HATES Literature and Art. She did Design Tech and what she did was just to put an effort just enough for a passing mark. She is into Biology and Chemistry and now she resides in the US pursuing her studies in Forensics and she can recall how messed up it was when her Art teacher spent so much time on shading drawing skills. Now, I was a relief Art teacher and I was serious with teaching Art because I have a passion for this and I want to spread the love. I even made some students stay back to get it their artwork right even though I was not paid to do so.. Talk about extreme eh! But I came to realize that not everybody like Art and I need to give these kids a break.

I concentrate on those with potential and I can see them improve. For those who are forced, and you can see it in their face, you gave them mediocre tasks that they can pass easily. Of course you have to incite and jab in some enthusiasm but that can only go so far. Some students have other plans in mind and I cannot change that. I know of a teacher who keep bugging me and hurl insults to get my Maths done right. I got so annoyed that I made my Aunt wrote nice letter to her to “back off”. She did not bug me since.

If you fail to answer the question correctly, you cannot graduate to Polytechnic even though your chosen course have nothing to do
with ants whatsoever.

It’s because they cannot. Like everybody else, they dwell on knowledge that they are good and have interest in but ironically the Educational System is trying to jam EVERYTHING in a 17 year old brain. A friend teacher told me once that she was very good at Math and she even took Add Math and all.. but now she has forgotten everything. She teaches English today. What does it mean if you don’t use or you forget things taught in Secondary School? It simply means Secondary School is a total waste of time. Can you see how messed up it is now?

I was an Art teacher and I don’t know basic Algebra!
Evil Bunny!

PS: Secondary students listen up! Make your teacher read this article and discuss it in class. That would be fun, no?:D