If there is one thing we can learn from Hyacinth, it’s the importance of making one’s message clear rather than sounding pompous. I find her antics here awfully hilarious:

Heroes unsung,
Are these educators.
Perhaps they figured
Prominently in
Your school days.

They might have spent hours
Encouraging you when you were down
And they might even have
Chastened you when your
Hubris had got the better of you.
Even when they appeared unkind
Rest assured they always had your interest
Securely locked in their hearts.

Dare we forget them this day,
A flame that has enlightened
You and me in some small way?

“Ah…teacher will cane you if you don’t behave” is an oft-used threat uttered by parents to make sure their children toe the line of decorum. Perhaps it’s time to put this to rest for canes are now reserved for disciplinary teachers and principals. Equating teachers with canes is a great injustice to the profession.

My mom who used to work temporarily as a teacher never once used the cane on her students, though she brought it to class. And she instilled in me the need to establish rapport with the students and not fear.

To all teachers who believe in the power of touching lives by words and deeds, we thank you. For those who once wielded the canes, hmmmmm….

I got this lovely booklet from the participants who attended my Workshop on Bible Knowledge last Saturday. In this booklet, there are wonderful poems on how teachers ought to view their students and themselves. I love all of them but I’d like to share one in particular with you.

Humble Us, Lord

He knows the subject well, Lord.
His grades are very high.
But yet he is a challenge
and I’m sure that you know why.

He’s self-assured and confident
there’s nothing he would hide,
but Lord he lacks humility—
this fellow’s filled with pride!

He chuckles when the others fail,
he just has no compassion,
And I have had to fight myself
in almost the same fashion.

Because when he’s so unkind,
I want to strike back, too,
but the way to teach him gentleness
would be to act like you.

The only way to show this child
that kindness is the key,
is to let him see humility,
mirrored today in me.

This poem reminds me of what my teacher told me when I did my temporary teaching in my former school. She said students can bring out the worst in you and it’s so easy to react unkindly. But the call to be a teacher  requires one to be patient when those occasions arise.

Mother’s Day has come and gone but I’m sure we won’t treat it as a one-off thing. Hopefully we will continue to cherish our mothers every single day.

Besides mothers, we shouldn’t forget our teachers as well. Since we are celebrating Teacher’s Day this coming Saturday,  it’s good to talk about them from now till then. Do share with me your experiences with your teachers.

I remember this funny lesson I had under this temporary teacher when I was in Form 2. He told the whole class that we would only understand some of the sacrifices made by our parents when we reached adultery. Being respectful, we didn’t correct him but it made us more determined to study harder so that we wouldn’t be taught the wrong thing.