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“Go ITE instead.”

Imagine that is what your principal said to you during the first week of school in a new year, after you have worked so terribly hard in the examinations so that you get into Secondary 5 and will be able to take the O levels to further your future education by going to a Junior College or a Poly.

The principal told a reporter, “Some…who don’t qualify for poly will end up in the ITE anyway, so they might as well go direct to the ITE.”

When further questioned, she said, “It’s a fact.”

Does she even care about the kind of effort less academically inclined students have to put in in order to go this far and be able to take the O Levels? No. She literally told them, don’t waste your time. You won’t make it. Go ITE now.

How disheartening.

Worst, this principal undermined the fantastic marketing efforts that the ministry and ITE put in over the years in order to alter the view of the general public - that ITE is an holistic institution and not a collector of less academically inclined students.

Yet, in today’s newspaper, Minister of State for Education, Lui Tuck Yew is quick to stand behind her. He said, “The tone of a principal’s message to Secondary 5 students may not have gone down well, but it was one that had to be delivered, for the students’ sake.”

I give an example. If I am outside on the street, and someone is right in front of me, blocking my direction of travel. If I were an untactful idiot I would have said, “Fuck off la, cheebye!” If I am more civilized, I would say, “Excuse me, please.” Same message, different tones. Totally different impact and outcome. Is the fact that message had to be delivered a good justification to disregard the tone that the principal had used?

After I say “Fuck off la, cheebye!” to the person and on the verge of getting beaten to death, can I then explain away the tone of my message by saying what National Institute of Education, Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui said, “it was important to separate the ‘tone’ from the ’substance’ of the message.” ?

And in my last moment on earth, perhaps I can further tell my attacker, as if to save my own grace before I die, “I can calibrate the tone. I can soften it, improve on the presentation, but you really were blocking my way.’”

Furthermore, while I am in hell, I still refuse to admit I am wrong,
“‘My message affected you, provoked you and it impacts you negatively, and it’s an excuse. Or you can stand up tall, just take it gracefully and accept that I am a bastard for shouting ‘Fucking off la, cheebye’ at you, and move out of the way so that I can pass.”

Further more, what category of human beings does the principal’s tone put her under? Is she even qualified to be an educator? Lest a commuter on the street.

What are the reasons behind her action?
(The following are my own humble opinions that should be regarded with a pinch of salt. I am only speculating here. None of the below may be true.)

I suspect she look down on her students. It is common knowledge that academically inclined students tended to look down on students who are not. Being a high flier in the education industry, looking at a bunch of less academically inclined students struggling to improve their future careers and paths MAY seem to her like ants struggling to survive after the onslaught of a big spray of pesticide. Laughable and fruitless. Waste of time. Forget it and just go ITE (or in the case of the ants, heaven) directly. Stop wasting your time.

Another possible reason for her action was perhaps to boast up her school’s ranking. By getting rid of the weaker students, the school’s ranking will definitely go up. As straight forward as that.

Perhaps the least plausible reason was that the principal’s words were “wake-up” call that must be delivered. As illustrated in the earlier example, however, a wrong tone is a wrong tone. Despite the fact that the gist of the message to be conveyed is the same, using the wrong tone has the wrong impact. It can be considered a different kind of message altogether. The principal certainly has not embraced herself in the mind boggling world of English literature before.

I think this incident is a wake-up call to all educators out there. For them to stop being so full of themselves, for them to be more tactful towards their students, for them to really deserve their high pay and educator perks, for them to behave more like a principal, respect their students, and not view school ranking as defining stones on their career.

How successful you are as an educator does not depend on the ranking you achieved for your school, it despends on how you have touched your students an inspired them. In this case, the principal may not even deserve to be called an “educator”.

Quotes
A teacher affects eternity:
he can never tell where his influence stops.
Henry Adams
(Me: So what kind of influence did this principal cast on her poor students?)

A master can tell you what he expects of you.
A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.
Patricia Neal

And finally,

A child miseducated is a child lost.
John F. Kennedy

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References:
Principal’s ‘wake-up call’ to Sec 5 students had to be ‘conveyed’
Principal’s words of advice to Sec 5 students ill-chosen
Sec 5 class advised: Go to ITE instead
Principal’s ITE advice ‘had to be delivered’
Inspirational Teachers Quotes and Sayings

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Note to fellow regular readers: I realised that after going into hibernation for so long I couldn’t write as well as before. Sorry about that. I’ll try to blog regularly once again so as to sharpen the saw and prevent it from rusting even more.

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