Never Stand in the Way of a Late Parent

My children's school started a programme since a year ago. It's called "Zero-Late" Programme. Don't ask me about the grammatical construction. In a nutshell, the school children must reach school before 7.30 a.m. or their names will be taken down by prefects. An inquisition will follow as to the cause of the 'crime' and a warning will be issued by the discipline teacher.

I leave home at about 7.15 a.m. every day and I usually arrive just in time. My children, unfortunately, have had to undergo an inquisition or two due to the occasional traffic jam on the way to school. Believe it or not, the teacher suggested that we leave home at 6.00 a.m. (and we live only 6 km away). The result of this programme (as I see it) is the emergence of harried parents in the morning. I almost got run down by a soccer mom one morning and the time showed 7.35 a.m. I might not know everything (although I'd like to think so :p) but I thought we have changed the way children are taught in school nowadays. How do we teach democracy and autonomy when the children are not allowed to defend themselves?

If all the schools are terribly strict on the pupils' attendance, shouldn't teachers who are late be 'punished' as well? Why is that after going through that strict regime, our students continuously come late for classes when they move on to tertiary education? Why do "Malaysian time" exist and why are Malaysians never concerned about being punctual if there was very strict implementation against lateness since young? Could it be that we are so tired of the hoo-ha and decided to come late for everything for the rest of our lives? If that is so, did the 'zero-late' programme (or its equivalent in the past) achieve its objective?

The Thing With Potential

I know of this person who used to go to school with my younger brother. He used to write such beautiful short stories and a few made it to the school's yearbook. And everybody (me included) thought that he has a shot at becoming one of Malaysia's noted fiction writers. His work was very mature for someone his age... then.

Fast forward to present time. I chanced upon his blog during the hari raya holidays last year; my brother still keeps in touch with him and referred me to his blog. I know I shouldn't be judgmental and should mind my own business etc. but I was surprised to find that in the place of the would-be literary great is an angry, foul-mouthed young man. He's succeeded in becoming normal. He still retains the same witty style of writing, with a swear word or two cropping up in every other sentence. So much for potential. My question, as always, is WHY?

A Conflicted Soul

It just hit me on my way to work how artists in the past have so much angst and despair that their very lives are sucked out of them. My question is, without the melancholy and longing, would Vincent van Gogh have drawn masterpieces? If he had gone into therapy, would he have produced "The Sunflower"? It's so orange and vivid. To me, it's almost.. angry. I suppose that's what passion is all about. And Edgar Allen Poe.. if he had not been so miserable in life, would he have written the dark stories that he has? And Curt Kobain, Micheal Hutchence.. artistes in their own rights; they harbour such great pain yet they are able to produce beatiful music to heal others' souls.

I a myself trying a hand at the simple technique of collage painting. Not mind-blowing self-portaits or anything that even remotely resembles a sunflower. A colleague who saw my 'scribblings' remarked that I may have a potential in textile design. Hey, how about that! But I have made a personal choice to be a happy artist. I watched Parkinsons sometime last year when he interviewed Goldie Hawn on her dream. And she had said "... to be happy". It is amusing, yet it contains such a simple truth. And that's not such a bad aim to shoot at, is it?

Barriers to Communication

Hubby just got discharged from hospital yesterday evening. He has become quiet again. Is it just my hubby or do husbands in general carry the weight of the world in silence? I'll take it upon myself to reach out and communicate. Maybe it's about time I get myself a copy of the Allan & Barbara Pease book "Why Men Lie and Women Cry". Sounds interesting. I have read Allan Pease's book on body language before and agree with his style of writing. Pity that I'm so far from Popular now. I'll enter this in my to-do list. And it will get done... eventually.

Under the Cashewnut Tree

An idea just hit me this morning.. a story! Maybe I'll contribute a short story to the students' magazine. Hopefully the editing will be gracious, since it'll be my first work & all..

A Mother's Dilemma

My children and me have just completed 1 tutoring session. My eldest son who's 8 is already doing reading & comprehension questions for Bahasa. It could be just my age but I find that there is now a huge expectation on such a young person to perform well academically.

I also find it hard to reconcile the teaching of other subjects compared to Bahasa. For English, they have just been taught the greetings and how to spell them. For Maths, they are starting to count in groups of tens and hundreds. For Science, they have just begun to classify living and non-living things. Why on earth that for Bahasa Melayu they're expected to answer reading & comprehension questions; create sentences and short essays; complete a 'pantun'; create questions based on a statement of fact.. isn't that too high a level for a beginner? Are we trying to make learning Bahasa so difficult that people will get frustrated and drop it altogether? Or are we positively trying to create a Bahasa scholar from the masses? Maybe it's the latter.

My other beef is whether there has been proper delivery in class. My son is expected to write complex sentences without being taught about subjects and predicates. He is baffled whenever he's expected to write sentences in Bahasa and I can see how. 1 other thing, is anyone teaching Bahasa vocabulary to these children? I observed that my son faced a challenge in understanding the content of the text. Maybe it's just me. I have taken my "Malay"-ness for granted. I have too many English books in the house. Maybe I should pay DBP a visit one of these days to stock up our Bahasa books collection. I feel slightly overwhelmed by the pace of it all. And yet I must remember that my children must be allowed to enjoy their childhood.

What I will do is firstly to attend the PTA meeting next month. There are certain things that I have to clarify with the teachers. Subject content and delivery is one. Timetabling and heavy schoolbags is the other issue. If there has been too many complaints by parents of heavy schoolbags, why isn't anyone doing anything about it?

Mature Lemons

A friend of mine shared this wonderful remedy to overcome sore throats. Squeeze 1/2 or 1 lemon, add some honey and mix with lukewarm water. Apparently Andy Serkis drank this concoction when he was playing Gollum in the LOTR series, and people on set call it 'Gollum Juice'. That's a piece of hearsay trivia for you.

Nowadays, whenever I feel the onset of a flu or if I get a frog in my throat I'll head to the kitchen for some home remedy. God knows I hate to be pumped with flu medication that leaves me woozy even days after.

Public Relations 101

Now that I am given this new role of academic liaison in the office, I'm having to get into a PR exercise. I'm having to deal with a detestable creature, unfortunately. A person who appears very 'wholesome' yet harbours great vengeance. One who looks for your mistakes and plays the blame game with great pleasure. The kind who does not know the meaning of 'constructive comments'. The kind who is appear to be on your side but stabs you in the back as you turn. Funny how they make them so young nowadays.

I have made up my mind that I'll maintain my calm and deal with this person.. and I shall survive to tell my tale!