IS IT TO ME TEACHING A TRUE CALLING

Dear students,

Still the same way i start addressing whenever i am about to make an entry to this very blog. I mean dear students though they are nowhere to be found. We were so close once that almost after weekly night classes we had with a few of them a cup of nescaffe o  at a stall known as kedai Ayu, named after an attractive young woman who happened to be a daughter of the owner of the restaurant. That restaurant is in fact not far from school, provided we make our way there on foot. There, some hot topics popped up ranging from students' problems, cheap gossips among students as well as rumors among teachers about unfavorable students.At times, we kept talking about good old days of PMR batch 2009 while searching for ideas on how to revive the lost fighting spirit . Of course, those with me at that time as volunteers namely Aidil, Bob and Mat Yie were from 2009 batch. We had a great fun teaching them as we did enjoy the process instead of focusing on the result. It proved that the result would take care of itself if we had enjoyed the process. The key here is we in order to get a great result must enjoy things at hand not spending to much time thinking for perfection but doing very little or nothing.

But, do i enjoy doing things i repeatedly do it on daily basis or not? i might answer without a second thought yes! yes in the sense that i have no choice left considering unsettled loans from banks. Or yes because it might be a true calling for me. I have searched some blogs on teaching. I do agree with many who argue that teaching affects generations or its effect is eternal. How if we give them a bad impact for lessons not well executed or for ill-planned teaching exercises which did not augur well in the long run. We indirectly deny them their right to access the best educational experience where knowledge gained and skilled acquired. Aside from that we are also to play a prominent role which is to develop students' characters explicitly or implicitly. The question is if we just let the evil triumph over good things for fear of being labelled as too much meddling on students' affairs or other teachers' portfolios, are we still regarded as a man who makes a difference or the other way around - the one who makes things worse.Edmund Burke nicely strung a line of words for thought, he was quoted as saying all that is necessary of letting loose the devils  is good men do nothing.To take corrective method is a crucial step not to let evils reign. It is true, teaching is not one-fit-all method, we need to constantly learning, relearning and unlearning before unleashing our true hidden potential.

A true calling I might be willing to call it is of last Tuesday when  i happened to stumble upon my ex student of smaasza at KLIA's departure hall holding my hand for a handshake while asking me whether or not I remember his name .Sadly, my memory worked a bit slow at that crucial moment of time as i could hardly recall his name.But i managed to save to face as i could vividly recall his trademarks like his neat handwriting, only i forgot to talk about his footballing prowess. He was as for yesterday a handsome man, no longer a pocket man with dimples on both cheeks when i taught him in form one, 2007.i after all used to call him and his colleagues of 1a2 a bunch of genius, the brightest students i have had ever taught so far. I gave him a warm send-off seconds before he departed for Jordan to do medicine.

Do i have to wait for such a moment to call it a calling. I might do no justice to countless other students under my in-charge as they are still deserving respect and care , let alone well-thought lessons as much as Hadi and his bright patriots deserved. This alone leads me to look deep down inside to find the answer for my so called true calling. Or i simply call it a calling out of nothing.

Sir