According to Channelnewsasia:

THE school principal was telling parents one day that positive motivation is the key to success for their children.

The next day, a teacher from the school was apparently calling her pupils ‘stupid’ and ‘bodoh’ (Malay for stupid).

That contradiction riled one parent enough to contact The New Paper.

Mrs Tan claimed that her 12-year-old daughter, Tara (not their real names), was in a class whose students were being called those names almost every English lesson.

She had initially dismissed her daughter’s complaints, but became increasingly concerned for the morale of the students after several incidents.

At a meet-the-parents session on 1 Feb, Mrs Tan had heard the principal tell a popular anecdote.

In the anecdote, a teacher was told that he would teach the ‘best’ class in a school. That class eventually emerged top, and only then was it revealed to him that the class was merely average initially.

The point of the anecdote was that it was solely the teacher’s confidence in the student’s abilities that enabled them to succeed.

Looking back, Mrs Tan felt this was an irony, because Tara’s English language teacher did not seem to have such similar confidence in her pupils.

Last month, the teacher had told the class that they would not be able to do a pre-test she had given out – before they had even begun to attempt it.

Tara recalled: ‘She said, ‘You will not be able to do this because 6D could not.

‘And 6D is smarter than you.’

The teacher teaches both 6D and 6F. Both classes have EM2 students, but 6D is one of just two classes in the school which also has EM1 students.

The New Paper talked to three other pupils from 6F – Kim, Amy and Mary (not their real names).

Amy agreed that her classmates were angry at the teacher for ‘judging us so fast, without even giving us a chance’.

Kim said: ‘I didn’t feel like trying the worksheet anymore.

‘If she had not said it, maybe I would try harder and I could have done it.’

The girls interviewed said they did not think their class was particularly stupid nor naughty.

The girls claimed even 6D pupils were not spared from being called similar names.

Tara said: ‘I don’t know if the teacher intends it to be a wake-up call or because she just hates us.’

But there are those who support the teacher. Mary, who has never been personally scolded by the teacher, thinks that the method works.

The teacher often shouts to the class, ‘If you don’t work harder, you are all going to fail flat’.

Mary said: ‘Though some people say she hurts them deeply and hate her, I feel worried and work harder.’

For Amy, she feels embarrassed when girls from other classes, who can hear the teacher shouting, repeat those demeaning words to her.

It gets even more embarrassing when the teacher reprimands girls individually.

On 15 Feb, the teacher told Kim off in front of the whole class, before hitting her on the arm, Tara claimed.

Kim recalled that she tried to hold on to her tears, but started to cry after a while.

The teacher did not say anything.

The alleged incident happened just before school ended. Amy and a few other friends stayed behind to comfort Kim while she cried in class for 20 minutes.

Amy said: ‘Kim does not cry easily. She is strong… but she gets scared in front of (the teacher).’

Kim is house captain and does not fare badly in other subjects besides English.

Read the full article at Channelnewsasia:

- This reminds me of the only teacher that I hate in my secondary school a decade ago!! That chemistry teacher did some serious discouraging actions that made me lose interest in chemistry totally and eventually fail that subject but I got into pure Science class (pure physics).

The chemistry teacher did the following that seriously discouraged me then.

1. Throw the exercise book from the teachers table to anyone’s face (even those seating way behind the class) for never underline the date or draw lines properly…totally not related to chemistry.
2. Changed the chemistry text book totally and replace with a advanced version that teaches things that are too complicated to learn.
3. Uses Red ink in his transparency and those with eyesight problem cannot even see a single word he wrote and after going through quickly refuse to let us photocopy for reference.
4. Always in bad mood making nobody dare to ask any questions in class and after class.
5. Ask us to self read the text book for the next test instead of going through it with us.

His rationale is that he is trying to make us more like University Students who can study independently and do our own research without his spoon feeding but we are just secondary3.

As you can see…these things will be remembered for the rest of my life even I am now 30 years old adult. It’s essential to have reviewers on these “newbie” teachers or sickening downgraded lecturers.

I suggest to have quarterly reviews on these teachers with student feed back sessions. Allow personal video cameras (CCTV) located at the top of every class to let students to use personal remote to record whatever things want to record. They can use this as a revision video after they go home or simply as a feedback to the principle for wrong things that the teachers had done.

Of course the teachers can have their own CCTV for their own self evaluation purposes or as a teaching material for new teachers.

This can significantly reduce stress by the parents and students alike with the possibility of parents to log into website to review the situation in the classrooms. The security guard too can make use of this features for 24 hours monitoring for over stayers or intruders and keep on eye on those who stay back for revision late into the night for exams.

What do you suggest?

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