Maybe it’s someone’s birthday, the wedding anniversary for some, the death anniversary for others. It could have been the day where a great leader emerges; it could be the day where a great leader falls.
For me, it was just like any other Saturday. I woke up early (7am on a Saturday is early for me) and got ready for my weekly basketball sessions. We got to the court just like always and played for a couple of hours. Small talk and lunch followed. I got home, cleaned my car and bathed. Studied some for CFA and then went to meet the guys (and girls) for dinner.
Dinner was great. Checked out a new (new to us) zi char place in Toa Payoh.
Then I heard something saddening from V. In the school where she teaches, there are students (sometimes, it’s the whole class) that the school has practically given up on. Students who swear, smoke, mutilate their wrists and probably worse of all, given up on themselves. What the sad thing is, is that some of their teachers have given up on them as well.
These are students who have been swimming in a sea of negativity probably because of their external environment. First they pick up some bad influences from either a) their parents or b) a lack of concern from their parents which leads them to pick it up from present delinquents. If they happen to get caught doing something society terms ‘deviant’, then they get the label stuck on them and they resign themselves to that fate. From there, it becomes a self-reinforcing cycle and the gap becomes so wide some people believe it’s impossible to bridge.
Maybe why I feel so much for the kids in this kind of situation is because I tried to be one in the days when I wanted to be anti-establishment just for the sake of doing so. I come from a great family and I have a bunch of more than decent friends who would stop me if I was hurting myself. But the kids I described above probably didn’t/don’t have as much of a conscious choice in choosing their path as I did. The path they took was definitely through their own will but the environment they were in didn’t give them as many obvious options.
For now, I can only hope that teachers with students like this will be more like my friend V. A teacher who never gives up on their student no matter what. A teacher like this.