Bah!

The ST Forum

The life of a teacher had been discussed widely for the past few weeks, with some people agreeing that the work of a teacher is tough. But there are also others who dismiss such complaints nonchalantly under the guise of "you haven't seen the real world".

On one hand, the former group would say "if it is so easy, why not you join the teaching profession? After all school ends at 2pm everyday and it is easy money isn't it?". And then the flipside of the argument is "if it is so tough, why not get out? Nobody is forcing you to stay!"

The truth, as is the case most of the time, is probably somewhere in the middle.

Yes we do accept that every job has its own set of problems. I look at my friends with 24 hour duties etc and I am glad that I don't have to do that, well at least not yet anyway. But what we absolutely detest is the way that our work is being dismissed with a cursory wave of the hand as "not real" and "you haven't seen the real world".

What is the real world? Are the students in schools fake? Are the exam results fake? Are the script marking fake? Are the parents fake? Teachers do not really face the threat of retrenchment, but try slacking around as a teacher and see what happens? If your conscience does not get you, your Principal or HOD would be breathing down your neck. Your students would be coming to you for extra help, if not they will complain to their parents that you are incompetent and then you are going to get it again!

At the very least, in the private sector, you really only have 1 boss to answer to. Make your customers happy and your boss is happy. Simple as that. But in the context of education, making your students happy does not equate to making your HOD or Principal happy. Making your students happy is not the same as making parents happy either. You have multiple bosses to answer to! Heck, even making NIE happy may not be the same as making the school happy sometimes. Try having to satisfy 3 or more different bosses with different agendas and demands and see if it is still "unreal".

So next time, before you dismiss teachers as one of the lower rungs of society, do try to think a bit more, and also about how you got to where you are in the first place. Chances are there would be a couple of good teachers along the way who helped you to achieve what you have today. So much for being "unreal".

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