At What Price?

Primary schools today were closed for Children's Day celebration. Some ex-PCS (except one who's still a current PCS tr) teachers gathered for a dinner. I brought Abby along coz Godma Elise was gonna be there. I didn't want her not to miss any chance seeing her godmas. After dinner and coffee, one message was clear - teachers' passion for teaching is still being snuffed out by The System. I really shudder at what is to come. One question kept ringing in my head, "What exactly is The System?" More significantly, will i be caught in the mad race also?

I've been advised to get my priorities right and stick to them. At this point, before i embark on teaching, I know that my children are very important to me. I know that the Ministry, the School and the pupils will easily get a more competent teacher than I, but Abigail and Shalom will never be able to have another mother. Nor another father. That's both Ben & my reminder to prioritise well. Ben's doing a great job in terms of managing his priorities. I must learn well from him.

I just think whatever decisions we make, there will be a price to pay. After a brief surfing regarding related complaints about the system, the schools, the students and the workload, another fact became stark. Society is already paying the price for dual-parent working families. Children are left unguided, or barely guided by domestic helpers and, if fortunate enough, wise grandparents. Parents who should be responsible for the children are out there giving their all to corporations who will suck them dry and then hunt for another prey to devour. Children are then pinballed around as no one wants to claim responsibility over them, especially the trying teenage years. Parents who have failed to establish rapport with their children find it absolutely difficult to communicate and discipline them, so when trouble hits, parents blame everything and everyone else but themselves. Everyone is crying for help - helpless parents, exasperated students and worn out teachers. Who can help? And once again, at what price? Are we willing to let others take the first place while we get our own house in order? Or must we die-die be the hub and the first for everything, just for the sake of survival? But it is plain to see that we aren't surviving very well. Dysfunctional families are on the rise, thanks to the race for survival.

We are self-destructing.