What did you do today? Those of us who labour everyday, has it been easy for you to REST. Hold Still! Can you do that? Or are you quickly busy with plans on what to do the day before? Well, May Day! A day for us workers. Blood was shed to make sure we have this day. So I hope we all will do before this day ends and the mad rush of the reality of life hits us again.
I find myself extremely busy since I got back from Beijing. I hardly have time to think about what I really want to do with the rest of my limited and short life. So in a way I am glad the holidays are round the corner. To be able to find time to travel, meet some people, do some strange things and think about what the year can be while there is still time to think about it.
I also took on an extra challenge to teach my nephew history and I saw how bored he was with the subject. So I whipped out my laptop and went surfing for some stuff I was unsure of . Then I got him to surf with me on some very basic stuff on history answering techniques. I also showed my sister what to do to help him.
Just today I was also teaching my neighbour's son geography. It was a piece of cake for me. And it was not difficult to get Kenneth interested in what I have to teach or get him to change his style of answering questions.
So why am I doing all these? Just to prove one point and preparing for my exit from schools soon. I want to be sure that I can still do what I don't have the knowledge to do as long as I still have the pedagogical skills and the skills to research.
I was in my dad's cab yesterday morning and I lamented how the young people today are not at all curious about what they are learning. This has been bothering me. It bothers me much that our young people don't ask anymore good questions that will cause them to discover more and will cause them to pursue their dreams. It bothers me tremendously that what they are asking are all so short term, so predictable and boring. It was supposed to be 后浪推前浪。They are to find the surf and ride it. For now, it is still the backwash that is sweeping and lapping at the shorelines.
So what has happened? I really don't understand if it is because we are boring teachers or we have very boring students to teach. I hope it is that our students are boring. But then perhaps they are too tired to be curious. Just simply too much on their plate. If they have no curiosity, they will not surge ahead and will not thirst for knowledge.
So here we call again May Day! May Day!
