More Thoughts (Skip if hurried)

Today I observed a kind of “counselling” session that involved the whole Normal Technical class. This external counselor came to talk to them, and it was quite enlightening watching her teaching methods and how she earned their respect. She was sincere, yet strict; and it was obvious she cared very much about them. I think they could sense it; and though they fooled around just to test her mettle, they obviously respected her. She was very quick with her comebacks; and kept them on their toes all the time as she talked. She told them about goals, and how they had to set some goals in their lives, and I hope it helped them.

Later we gave out our survey forms and got some really strange answers. To “race”, someone answered “Night Elf”, and he lived with his parents, grandparents and the demon hunters. His greatest achievement was “to be a demon hunter”, and his favourite pastime was “being a demon hunter”. The subjects he was interested in outside the curriculum were “to eat, demon hunting, and to sex”. (??) And his ambition was to be… you guessed it… a demon hunter.

I have so much tallying of data to do now…

We brought the Normal Technical class to do their CIP at an old folks’ home today for two hours. Talked all the way to the old folks’ home, sometimes seriously, sometimes not. The guys were funny and animated, and the girls were adoring and chatty. They told me a bit about themselves and mostly asked me about myself too. I think it was the first time I’d really talked to a whole group of people so different from myself.

We got to the old folks’ home and were given the task of cleaning it. Not that I had any problems with that; but I thought it’d have been more meaningful to talk to the old folks. But we got on with the cleaning anyway, and I managed to chat a lot more to the group under me while we were cleaning the grills. They’ve got goals and ambitions, just not very clear-cut ones; when I asked them what they wanted to do after their N-levels, they said that they wanted to do private O-levels, or some of them were aiming for ITE as well. I told them that I’d been to ITE Balestier and that it had seemed pretty good, but those who wanted to go to ITE were aiming for the one in Simei.

Asked them about their interests, and even the girls were more interested in Design and Technology and Art and hands-on types of subjects rather than academic ones, which means that they could be pretty happy in the ITE and later in poly or in their jobs. Yet what made me sad was that a lot of them only had hazy ideas as to how to reach their goals. One of the girls wanted to be a teacher; but she didn’t know how to go about doing it, and what to study; and other girls asked me what they could work as if they studied Maths. To someone like me, who grew up in a family who encouraged academics for academics’ sake, it seemed strange and different to me to have to justify academics, to make it practical and relevant to daily life, even though that was probably the aim of it all to start with. I felt really sad and helpless, and I didn’t know why; I need to go and check up on all this, so that I can tell them how to set about achieving their goals, so that at least they have something to work towards.

We started talking to a few of the old folks, and the girls were pretty shy but after a while they became more confident to wheel the patients about from place to place and to hold the hands of the elderly. They could be so mischievous during class, pulling faces at the counselor and making rude jokes; but they were so tender with the old folks. One woman was obviously in great pain and I spent ages holding her hand and talking to her with two of the Malay students. She kept repeating “Tolong, Tolong” (help, help in Malay) and “hou tong ah hou tong hou tong” (it hurts, oh it hurts) in Cantonese and we felt helpless. Later I chanced on one of the Malay girls with her head buried in her hands. She couldn’t take it and had started crying. Her friend was beside her, morose.

“How can they do such a thing?” She said through tears. “I will definitely stay with my mum next time, how can people just leave them here like that?” She was subdued and quiet throughout the rest of the time.

I remember how I’d gone to an old folks’ home in Junior College and had cried as well, and I seemed to see a shadow of myself in her.

Hope that I can help them in some way now and in the future.