It is a typical day, with work never ending. Mum once said: “If you wait for your work to finish, it will never finish. You must know when to take a break.” and somehow, I agree so much with here ever since I landed myself into my day job.
Not that I really hate my day job, but sometimes, I do dislike what occurs around it. Some simple things which could be done much easier, are done in a very complicated manner, and it stresses everybody up, and leads to lack of productivity, and finally leads to demoralization. I’m not sure if anyone actually realizes this true fact, but I see it happening to me. I’d really like it if my job only focuses on teaching, and does away with all these unnecessary paper work such as making statistics, calculating data and so on.
When I was a student, 9 years ago, our teachers bombarded us with tonnes of exams, trial exams, mock exams, exercise and so on prior to the real SPM.. and the final result? Well, so many scored lots of A’s and did pretty impressively. I think, back then, teachers were more focused on getting results from the students, and was less burdened with paper work.
I have a lot to say on what’s going on in my day job nowadays, but I know that if I say it.. I’ll land myself in deep trouble with those higher than myself.. so, better shut my mouth. What I can say is that I feel it is just not right that some people whom want to climb the hierarchy of the system, but trouble others in the process. In addition to that, I feel that documentation plays such a huge role in todays Malaysian education system that some teachers have lost track of the real reason behind the real reason of the teaching profession, which is to educate, and not to fill up forms to impress the ‘bigger fish’. Owh well…Â Don’t bother about what I just said. I’m just a crazy, lazy teacher anyway…
Nonetheless, I was wondering:
Which do you prefer as a parent/teacher/student?
A teacher which has a nice and complete documentation of what he/she is doing in class, but lacks the actual results?
or
A teacher which has a ‘cukup makan‘ type of documentation, but knows how to get the results?
Do bare in mind that by documentation, I do mean all types of documentation, including the lesson plan, statistical reviews, reports, etc. Give me your thoughts, and please… Do not say both because if you want both, you are not asking for a human teacher, but rather a robot…
Definitely the one with the result. Some people can excel in planning, but sucks at execution, and vice versa. But at the end of the day, what matters is the end product.
Anyway, I know exactly what you mean on your early paras. sucks, isnt it?
[Cyril]
Nice point.. the end product is most important.
yeah, my sis-in-law used to complaint abt school paperwork too. but she’s now a lecturer in govt college. and she couldn’t be more happy. less paperwork, flexible working hour, students are more matured and mostly, less rigid. coz like school students, school teachers must also follow the school’s strict rules. which pretty much sucks. kena treat macam budak kecil.
to your question: of course the end result is more important. when SPM result keluar, newspaper will only mention schools with great SPM result. not which school has the perfect paperwork.
[Cyril]
That’s the beuty of being a lecturer. The only problem is that you do not enjoy lenghty holidays.. heheh.. and yeah, I agree that people never mention about the paperwork.. but then again, these ‘particular people’ always want it… D#$% la these people!!
i’ll g0 f0r the 0ne wit the results…
😀
[Cyril]
😉
Ya, all the paper work these days, the Inspectorate wants to see documentation – I always asked them, “What’s the use having all nice files, nice documents…and they teach crap in the class?” And to think that we are supposed to be moving towards a paperless society… Boy, am I glad to be out of all this madness!
[Cyril]
Hahaha.. that’s just it!!.. Funny la.. they emphasis so much on paperwork, yet want a paperless society.
i’d go for one that yields result whether or not it requires documentation. but then again, that’s not how it works in our system. things have to be documented and paperworks must be done. doesnt matter how we do it as long they are all done. and that send us to 70% paperworks 30% actual teaching. *boohoo*
[Cyril]
So right.. speaking from experience kan chegu?
Hi Cyril,
I feel your pain. I used to teach part time in tuition centres during my college days and i expressed to the admin that i would not be doing any form of lesson plan, rather, they should prepare it for me.
I believe much more could be accomplished and much less can be wasted if we ran schools like media stations. The Heads of Departments should work out the teaching plan and allow each individual teacher to implement and carry out those plan according to their respective creativity sets as long as they get the message across and stick to the plan. This is much like how producers prepare the script and program content for the tv hosts and radio DJs allowing those talents to shine more easily.
In return, the Heads of Departments should not be burdened with heavy teaching schedules but may be given just one or two classes a week of teaching so that they remain aware of the teaching environment and needs.
The problems are, the ‘high above’ makes decision impulsively, implements the new policy aggresively and ignores the unsolved issues easily. And we are the ‘Yang Menurut Perintah’.
Silas:
I actually agree with you. What you say has a lot of sense, and after reading it.. I agree with you 101%. The teachers job should be only to teach, and not more than that. Interestingly, I never thought of putting it in the same boat as media stations.
Ms LC:
Yes.. that’s true. They announce thing with lots of haste, and problems unresolved, remain unresolved.