That Glazed Look..

Glazed eyes.... that glassy look. I see many glazed eyes these days! Nah! It's not they are high on dope. These eyes... I see them in the young, the teens.

Seeing but not seeing. Hearing but not listening. Behind the glaze is a mind that has walled itself in, a defense mechanism from the onslaught of words and demands. Kids need to be kids. But kids these days have these demands thrusted onto them. It's hols but some schools are running as usual. Extra classes. I hear that there's a school in Padang Sera running for 2 whole weeks! That's the whole duration of the school hols. Some schools run classes only for those in exam classes! Some run it for those from Std 4 - 6. If you asked me, I think that's madness! But one that all of us parents get sucked into.

And that's what I see in many of my students these days. Glazed because they need to be seen as concentrating and paying attention. But when pressed further, not much focus is actually in place. Doing exercises is more of to complete. There is very little interest to learn and soak in the love for learning. It's more of finishing a task than anything.

One day I was teaching a boy something. I detected that glaze look on him. So I asked him whether he understood what I had said. He nodded. But when I asked him to repeat what I had said, I got the blank stare. He didn't know what I had been talking about. The eyes tell so much yet many of us miss the signals they send. Even in its glazed state, the mind nods in response at the right places; only thing is not much registers in it.

I see plenty of kids like this. Unrelenting pursuit of results, the persistent pushes from parents and teachers... the unappeasable chase for success. At some point, for some, there is this need to shield and shy away from all these.... self preservation in the marginal mind. Hence, that glazed look... doped by the incessant bantering of endless work.

So what hides behind the glaze? Boredom, tiredness... but whatever it may be, they indicate one thing about their owners - they lack the focus and clear vision of what they should be doing. The dumbing down of their minds, the loss of the ability to day dream... glazed eyes, blank stares, the mind emptied. The demands from today's generation...