Imagine this. You walk into a school where there are no rules! What would it be like?
Well for me, I think I will probably not scold so much. I will probably think that having long hair is okay for the boys as long as they wear the hair neatly and I don't have to part their fringe in order to speak to them.
I will prefer very much if they don't wear uniforms. Because I don't have to ask them to wear the uniform with pride. You see the technical thing about uniforms is that you have to wear the school on you. Bottom line, you are a walking school and represents what the school embodies, the values, the vision and the ambition. So if you wear anything but nothing, then you carry yourself or the school you represent. Not wearing the uniforms has a big advantage. Like tourism, shopping and buying clothes will boost the economy and we will get our bonuses we so so deserve! Aha. Here is the end to a global economic crisis.
School will becoming an exciting place with no rulez. You can hear basketballs dribbling along the narrow corridor and you will hear students clearing their lungs and swearing at each other to improve your vocabulary. We, the teachers will be greeted with "Whatssup!" and in that we will learn to reply "Hip and Happening! Cool! Yoz!"
Ah! What an interesting job teachers will then have. We will be looking at the costume parade. If you teach in a girls' school you will even see these girls running in their high heels with painted fingernails you will be tempted to ask how much and where they did them all (fingers and toes). Boys will be a little tough. They will probably be wearing some really tight fitting shirts to show off the little muscles they toned over the months and then to display nothing very much but their gel up hairdo. There will be grooming competition, catwalking and meowing and most of all no learning from us for a long while.
With no rulez, students can really take care of each other. They will need to start up gangs so as to protect themselves. So welcome to a world with no school rulez.
I would rather sit in the staffroom and give online lessons because going to the class will mean I will be easily distracted.
Can we be in such a school? Why do I blog about this?
Everytime when I disciplined a student, my students will ask if I could just let the matter drop. I said I could not because it is a school rule.
I will be going to a school where students will be even more challenging so my boys asked if I could take it. To that I reply, if the school has no rules, I don't have to discipline that much because when there are less rules, I don't have to take care of the nitty gritty of things like hair and shoes. I take charge of the societal rules of values, principles and social norms. Those I find are not something you can yell at into the brains but will need time to work into the heart. I prefer that anytime. I will choose to let my students have their heads all bruised and then like a true heroine show my concerns. Sometimes I cannot help immediately because there are life lessons that need the person to take the first step to admit they are wrong and they need help.
Unless and until we recognize we cannot do this alone, we cannot stand up from the mire we plong ourselves in and get out. So I believe the new school is challenging but I can wait to be of help. I may not be of help but at least I know there is help for such ones.
So tomorrow is school term number 4. Short and sweet I hope for all of you. I look forward to this term because it marks the end of my career with this present school. A career I have grown much because my students taught me so many skills in IT and in service learning. They taught me that school is all about learning together with them. My colleagues, some are going to be remembered. Some others will be quickly forgotten. Many will remain as partners in education as I journey on. Tomorrow I will send in the resignation my school is waiting for. And end of October I shall seal this part of my life.
Then I shall go up the hill and begin a new chapter at my old age. Everyone expects me to retire and be sitting where I am because schools have rulez about promoting people. You see the schools in Singapore will only promote those who are young and leave those of us who are challenged chronologically to only this certain level they have prescribed. A rule is a rule. How did they come up with a formula for success and leadership, beats me. While some of my old friends have made it to the top and others like me have chosen to stay out of the top, we have not allowed ourselves, the old guards, to remain apathetic about our education system and our values as teachers. We don't lament. No time to lament. We move on and take on challenges.
I thank God for my new principal. I last spoke to him on Friday. He doesn't believe there is need to change for change sake. I embrace that. He wants us to check if there is a need for change. I have been asking the same question "Must we change all? Is there a need for change? Does this change fit? Will this change be better?" But because of rules at school, we don't have answer. Finally, I get to go to a school that doesn't play with the same rulez. This school requires me to think about the rules.
I have my own rules and like many who may share the same views as I, we believe that even as we age, the wine gets better and we lead in a different way.
I may wrinkle easily on my face. I may shrivel up one day and limp like any in their octo years but nothing is going to stop me from doing what God has placed in my heart. Nothing!
Because there is only one who rules। May Jesus Christ be praised! And He rulez!
