Yakety Yak...

... guess this will be the best place for me to yak... though it's more like a one way traffic, very much like the meetings that I attend these days. I thought meetings are supposed to be a two-way thing. But these days, we just sit and listen. The Ketuanan mentality is very much alive here.... wonder why schools are rotting? One reason is bosses don't listen to the teachers... it's their way and only theirs.

And rarely are these meetings useful. They waste our precious time. They tire us unnecessarily. The slew of words that bombard us demotivate us. Everything flows one way; their way regardless, much like the appointment of the Selangor State Secretary. Khusrin's appointment was made sidestepping the MB's choice. That's how schools work these days too; they don't take ideas or accept reasons from us. But they'll tell us that's how things are supposed to work... just like how the ruler of that state came out and said the above appointment was in accordance to the constitution.

We had this session of signing up students for this 1Pelajar, 1Sukan thingy. Imagine being told that we just need to do it for the sake of doing it. The Ministry can come out with directives after directives, but the reality is, sports will not feature importantly in any school's agenda except for the very few Sports School in the country. Success in sports will not bring the bosses fame and glory which are needed as stepping stones to get noticed and move on.

Having a boss who is a control freak and uncompromising make the work place a living nightmare. Add selfish ambition to it and it becomes a boiling cauldron. Bosses today seem to think that teachers are donkeys meant to be ridden till they drop. My Std 4 gal starts extra classes soon, every day she'll probably get home at 4. Mind you, extra classes mean sitting in the uncomfortable classes in our humid afternoons doing countless exercises. Where does play feature in a 10 year-old kid's life? Kids lose their childhood as soon as they enter school.

In secondary schools, it's no better. Students today are expected to keep office hours too. Add that to homework at night, their days are packed to the brim too... no time for idling....

People think that being a teacher is easy. It once seemed more attractive... seemingly 5-day week though many teachers go back to schools on Saturdays. Well, many teachers still go back on Saturdays but these days, other gahmen servants work 5-day week too... and we still go back to school on Saturdays. I could go on but it's stale stuff already.

Another reason for the rot... cakap tak serupa bikin. I came out from one meeting being told that we must be professional in our work; dedicated to our calling and the tasks entrusted to us, be good executors of the policies...

Well, a day later.... 1Student, 1Sports - I am told that we just need to make sure it is carried out, ala-kampung will do already. So instead of buying a proper ping pong table, a canteen table for ping pong would suffice. Or that badminton can be played in the open air in the hot afternoon 2.30 sun. Never mind that we have really strong winds for 4 months at the beginning of the year. As a parent, if my kid plays under the sun and gets heat stroke cos the game is sanctioned at that time by the school, can I then sue the school for negligence??? Such is attitude we have....

And just earlier, we were given a 'handout' on Etika Kerja Guru. It gave examples of how the wrong perceptions teachers make them ineffective. Well, what kind of perception would a teacher get if she is told that she must be professional, and comply to the requirements only to discover that most of those stuff are actually just a show. We get wrong perceptions in part because of our fallen nature (no denying) but also the bosses who provide very poor leadership. Cakap tak serupa bikin......

So, yakety yak, yak....... yakety,yakety.....