Teachers....

11th May, 2008 (2nd Sunday in May): Mother's Day- "Happy Mother's Day, mummy."
15th June, 2008 (3rd Sunday in June): Father's Day- "Happy Father's Day, papa"
16th May, 2008: Teacher's Day -Truthfully speaking, I never bothered to remember this date. After all, somebody is bound to remind me when the time comes. In kindergarten and primary school, we had to make teacher's day card during art class a few days before (yes, I made a total of 9 teacher's day cards but all of it ended up in the dustbin without fail every year because nobody, including myself, appreciated my talent in modern art. Well, all my art teachers gave me nothing above a C for my cards. Wait a minute, maybe the C meant creative!!). In secondary school, the head prefect would remind us about it and this meant event planning and event management. When I entered college, a message board would be put up at the lobby for students to pen messages to the lecturers. Then this year, the good ol' president of the Student Council emailed all the club presidents to instruct us to buy a gift for our respective club advisors. And when I read the email, the first word that came out from my mouth was "SH_T, I'm going to be a more bankrupt person this month." I just treated my Miracle of Being, Obliging to the extreme, Tenderness of loving, Heart of gold, Educator of my discipline and manners, Recklessness of giving, mummy to a meal on Sunday and I need to save up to treat my Faithful, Altruistic, Trusting, Humble, Ever-so-loving, Righteous, Supportive and beloved daddy something on daddy's day.

And now, I have to spend money to buy something for the club advisor for Teacher's Day. Teachers? What are they? Who are they? What did they do? Oh yeah, because of teachers, I developed a love-hate relationship with studies!!! Hey, at least there are still some elements of love in it. (The element of love to pass that subject and be one step nearer to achieving my goal!!).

But I have to accept the fact that it’s the time of the year again when we celebrate one of the greatest entities of our nation: teachers/ lecturers/ educators. The teaching profession: the noble profession; and to quote my Physics tuition teacher when I was in Form 4 and Form 5, Mr Khoo, "the profession that creates other profession." Throughout my years of education that I had in different schools, I was under the wings of many teachers; some who were very dedicated, while others sadly, were non-committal. Why were they uncommitted? Perhaps they are part of the out-group according to the leader-member exchange theory?? Perhaps they had too many students like me who had rudimentary knowledge in that particular subject?? Perhaps their upper echelons did not practice the four subfields of humanistics perspectives: human relations movement, human resources perspective, behavioural science approach or management science?? Or like what Millika Vasugi stated in page E7 of the Sunday Star (11th May 2008), perhaps it is not always possible to be passionate about every aspect of their teaching duties? Perhaps they were not given the subject of their choice? Perhaps, they were tired (and I so happen to be the victim of their aftermath). Nevertheless, I have to admit that I reciprocated their resentment accordingly....

Anyway, the "hell" of this semester (which has not ended yet) has made me more creative so I shall not let my creativity go to waste. Thus, I shall compose a poem dedicated to all the teachers and lecturers who have taught me patiently (even when your words always bounced off my auditory canal for some unknown reason, thus failed to enter my memory), sacrificed their time for my well-being, and believed that I would make the grade.

Lecturers and teachers are creatures of mythical wonder,
With powers of knowledge so great, they can break hearts asunder,
They make us learn and understand theories like crazy,
so that we will be prepared mentally,
for this wonderful contraception,
Exams, tests, quizzes or assignments, it may be called, to punish deception.

"Good morning, (or whatever time of the day it is)" is their usual phrase,
whether a gentleman or lady with a smiling face,
But behind those mask, i somehow know,
that the passion to teach and share lurks, and will always grow.

These creatures are always so patient, even in stress,
they never give less than their very best,
They are wise and share from their heart,
not just lessons from books, but worldly advice they impart.

But there is something we, students, should be aware,
especially when we get a little (??) noisy and inattentive,
I know it's students' nature, the behaviour called mischief,
but some of these wonderful creatures just don't care,
they may scream and prance like a furious roan,
as if we are deaf and have no minds of our own,
So when this happens, please beware!
They can strip you your dignity, even your hair.
But after doing it, they do feel miserable and terrible too,
So to all students, don't act like a fool...

They know everything, these wonderful creatures,
from economics, management and marketing theories,
But one thing we do know is that these creatures are known,
For their service to the society and dedication they have shown.

THANK YOU, TEACHERS... THANK YOU, LECTURERS...

OMG, in retrospect, it all sounds very lame. Since assignments have fragmented my thinking patterns, this post will be greatly-fragmented as well. I shall dedicate a better post to all my wonderful creatures teachers/ lecturers/ educators/ tutors on Thursday in appreciation of their patience and dedication. Note: I am posting it on Thursday instead of the actual day because being a humble person that I am, I do not want to steal the limelight away from the others on Friday!!!!

Market Research assignment 2 calls...