Having a Mum as a Teacher

It has been raining daily for the past week. I’m glad that the rain has return to land after having a lawatan sambil belajar to the clouds. Now that they know that land is a better place to be in, I shall forgive them. I missed the sound of the rain, where it hits the awning of houses, splatters on the wet road, and flows forcefully down the gutters of the roof. It’s the only sound that can make me sleep like a log. Tonight will be a comfy night for me to cuddle under the blanket ZZzzzZzZZZzzzz…….

Have u ever thought how would it be like to have your parent(s) as a teacher? My mum is a teacher. She used to say “If I weren’t a teacher, you wouldn’t be the good son of mine now”. Why, I ask. “cos teachers work ½ day only, and I can go home and take care of my children for the next half day, rather than leaving u to the babysitter for 12 hours/day” Hmm, she has a point here. Nowadays office parents leave home at 7 and reach home at 7, leaving 7-10pm for them to enjoy what is called a Family. The child will feel insecure and feels LOA – Lack Of Attention. And for this, I’m truly grateful that my mum is a teacher, and I was never neglected haha!

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a Captain (pilot). Captain “Good, good! It’s better to be a LAE – License Aircraft Engineer than a Pilot. No doubt that Pilots get good pay, I have no complaints about it, but is life all about money? There was once when I came home after a 2 weeks international flight. The moment I stepped foot into the house, my son hid behind her mother and whispered “who’s that man?” The happiness of getting home to see my son and wife turned into a heartache right after those words. The next day, I requested the MAS flight management to base me back in Kuching to fly domestic flights, so that I can go home everyday.” Can u imagine how sad that is?

Tonight’s dinner was no difference. Having a teacher at home means tones of school stories to listen to while chewing your food. And normally I would answer WAH or REALLY or YER or Y LIKE THAT WAN or NO COMMENT. So what was tonight’s story about? It seems that she saw upon an English test paper while walking around class. The paper was prepared by the dis trict educa tion dept, and she was shock to see how bad the grammer was.

ie: He have big ears, he have long trunk, what is he called? (my answer: REALLY?)

Do u see the mistake? Obvious? Shouldn’t it be ‘It has big ears, is has a long trunk, what animal is it called?’ Eventually, mum got sick of reading the paper (she might throw out if she continues reading) and passed it on to another teacher who in the end threw out too. (nah.. just exaggerating)

The funny thing is that nowadays no parents complain anymore. But I think all feedbacks/complains/suggestions are turned into masuk kiri keluar kanan ears nowadays, so parents feel tired wasting their saliva and petrol.

Then, mum told me and dad about the time when English was introduced to teach the subjects Math and Science in primary school. And it came out in the papers, I’m not sure whether u heard of it. It was a Math paper.

ie: 10 push 3 equals _____?

Do u know what’s wrong in THIS math question? Duh….. (my answer: NO COMMENT) And when the teacher who set the Q was questioned, the teacher answered that it is not the language that is important, but the answer that is important. (duhhhhh????) Next funny joke, my mum heard with her own pair of ears. It was a standard 5 English teacher asking another teacher….

Eh, what car do u wear?

Hhahhahahhahhhahha! Man… I was laughing like a donkey and then changing into a hyena after that. I can’t believe this! Haha… I pity those standard 5 kids. I guess tuition comes to help. But come to think of it, no point going for language tuitions ya? It all comes to conversation, the more u speak, the better u r in the language. As the proverb says : Practice makes perfect.

During her days when she was PK2( Penolong Kanan 2) aka H.E.M (Hal Ehwal Murid), it was really stressful especially being a PK2 in a primary school. U know la, kids fall down and bleed, who is the 1st person to see? PK2. Then, when kids fight with each other, who is the 1st person the pengawas bring these boys to? PK2. What about when class teacher is so fedup with the student, who does the teacher bring the student to? PK2. When it’s raining and the kid missed his bus, who sends him home? PK2. And here’s the best part, when kids pee or bomb in their trousers, who is the 1st person to see? PK2. As for the pee and bomb problem, my mum pulled out my old primary school uniform from the cupboard and brought to school for those pee & bomb uncontrollable kids. There goes my uniform.

My mum has been a teacher since 1971, so by now she has taught for 34 years, full of experience. She has taught in High school, Convent school, Primary school… except tamil school and private school. She’s superb in geography, if not mistaken, she taught geography for around 20 years. Cough cough, that’s y the son’s geography and sense of direction is excellent. (shy)

Currently she’s on contract teaching. It means that u have reached 55 years of age, and the government allows u to extend 2 more years to teach. The DOE finally feels that the country is lack of good teachers. Personally, I think that these original knowledge givers are lesser by day. So what I can say is that, be grateful to your teachers. Who are we without them? If not for the caning and scolding, are we who we are today? And I’m really angry with those parents who scold and even come to the extend of suing the teachers for caning or pulling their child’s ear. PEOPLE WITH NO SENSE OF GRATITUDE.

Thank you mum, for being my teacher and also my mum.