Ng Family: February 2010

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

What is Education?

Today, I was both amused and upset when I received a call from the childcare centre.

I was informed that several days ago, Gerrard's classmate broke her tooth, and that he was the one responsible for it.

Muse 1:
I asked,"What was the stimulus in this incident?"
The teacher only saw the girl crying.

We do practise corporal punishment at home, but only as a drastic measure as we want our kids to know that resorting to violence is not the only means to get what they want.

Muse 2:
I then said that we did not receive complains with regard to Gerrard resorting to physical means while he was in the previous centre, and that he had such symptoms since the beginning of the year.

".... we do not want such nonsense to happen again" was part of the conversation when I asked about reinforcement measures taken by the childcare centre.

Muse 3:
I corrected the person that it is not nonsense, but a misbehaviour that we need to correct.
My pupils all know that my English is of C6 standard and my "England is very powderful".

An apology for the inappropriate usage of word was extended.

Then I recall an incident that happened yesterday. When I picked both kids from the centre, I met this mother who got to know Gerrard as I called out his name at the lobby. First, she responded by saying "Orrr, this is Gerrard ah? Don't stay close to him." I felt bewildered then. This is the girl's mother.

Muse 4:
The mother is a lecturer in a polytechnic.

The conversation ended as we agreed to work collaboratively in school and at home to guide Gerrard in handling frustrations.

I quote from an online dictionary: Education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgement, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

To Gerrard, Gerlyn and Gerry:
If you can read this entry many years later, which I hope will still be trapped in cyberspace, I want you to know that your mummy and daddy do this faithfully in our profession. In no moment of time did we compromise our pupils' learning. This is probably the best legacy that we ever will leave behind for the 3 of you.

Essential Question in this episode:
Where is the education part?