17 October 2008

It doesn't sound right, does it? ( Part 1 )

Last week Pah Cik was readjusting the timetable for Almanar when a form 1 pupil anxiously said. “Pak Cik, tiap tiap hari pun saya boleh datang ke Almanar minggu hadapan.” Then a chorus of other pupils quickly objected, “Tak boleh Pak Cik, kita kena pergi sekolah seperti biasa.” It was a baffling situation although the answer was indeed very simple. Pak Cik was too old - for that matter I was never trained to be a teacher - to understand the modern thinking in this highly complex field of management.

One group was given time-off for a whole week and others had to attend classes as usual. It transpired that those in the end classes ( of less able pupils ) could sacrifice their class rooms for the PMR examination (or to be sure that less noise would be created for the benefit of candidates cracking their heads in the life threatening PMR examination!) The ‘better’ pupils would continue to attend classes and be taught It was the same case with the end classes of form 4. They too, being poorer pupils, must not go to school and not be a nuisance.

So the school does not have to worry over the need for poorer pupils to get greater attention in education to catch up with the better ones. How simple the answer was to a simple problem.

That sounds right, doesn’t it ?