To Teachers With Love
I would like to share an article written by an ex-student to his teachers. Hope it is of some comfort to all of us teachers to know that there are those who appreciate our work and contribution in educating them.
To Cikgu, With Love.
This is not the 16th of May, but yet I would like to just say “Terima Kasih” to those people who taught me ABCD, 1234, tenses, metaphors, hyperboles, calculations of the difficult weird unimaginable logarithms, how plants perform photosynthesis, how to do this and that and tons of other things. They are also the one who taught me the concept of what is right and wrong and to list out the things that they had done for me, it would be nearly impossible.
However recently I’ve been reading a lot of negativity being put up against teachers. There are police reports lodged against them, bad news on Buletin Utama and so on. Yes, they are not angels. They are human, just like us. They might make mistakes; no one could run away from that. This suddenly reminds me of a Malay proverb “Kerana nila setitik rosak susu sebelanga” and also “Seekor kerbau membawa lumpur terpalit semua”. This is exactly the issue that is going on right now; just because of a few mistakes by a few of them, parents, media and the society put all the blames on teachers and the teaching profession.
As a 21 year-old, I can still rationalize that this is just not right. Some parents will go all out putting the blame on teachers even when their children did not get good grades in examinations but when the results turn out to be great, they will just go “Oh, anak saya memang seorang pelajar yang pandai, rajin dan bijak. Ini semua berkat hasil usahanya dengan bantuan tuisyen dan ulangkaji.” Ever heard of that before?? I’ve heard ENOUGH. How could there not be any gratitude towards the existence of the school teachers who were there all along? Are these people not good enough to be appreciated?
Yes, I admit that I am a bit emotional about this issue. You might say that this is just a piece of writing based on prejudice but you cannot deny that all of this is a reality. It is happening for real! It is not just about appreciation towards the teachers, but also about the respect that is no longer being given to them. Recently, it had become a controversial issue when a standard three student sent a text message saying “I will rape you” to his own teacher. That is just the tip of the iceberg; we all know that there are many more news and incidents that had proven enough to say that teachers are no longer being respected by their students or even the parents themselves. “Ugut Bunuh Cikgu”, “ Pelajar Belasah Guru Disiplin”, “Patah Hidung Ditumbuk Murid”, “Pelajar Sepak Perut Guru” and more newspaper headlines that had shown how disrespectful are the students nowadays towards their teachers. Ten to twenty years back, it was hard for us to hear about news like that but nowadays, it is a normal tune to the ears, meaning to say that it is normal to hear students beating up their teachers and it is nothing new for parents to sue the teachers. RESPECT. We had lost this particular sense in our society.
It is never easy to be a teacher. It is not just about getting into classes, teaching a few lessons and going home at 2.00 p.m. It’s not just that. If you had ever cared to understand the nature of their work, you will know that they are juggling between tons of things to do. Teaching more than 20 students in a class, writing reports, handling the co-curricular activities, marking their students homework and exercises, drafting and marking examination papers, meetings, courses and when they get home they still need to think about what to be taught the next day. The same routine goes on and on every single day. Some might say that it is easy to work as a teacher, but that is just a perspective from people who are looking from the outside. If we were to take a good look at it, try to understand how they work, we will know how hard it is to be a teacher.
Parents and students, please take a second, just to think and take a look of who you are without these bunch of teachers, maybe only then you will realize that without them, without the education you’ve once gone through before to become so called “successful people”, you are just nothing.
Everyone, we’ve been under their guidance for at least 11 years, from Standard 1 to Form 5. They were the ones who nurtured us. Their hard work moulded us into who we are today. Appreciating them won’t cost you a thing, it is the simplest favour you could ever do as a return.
Teachers,
You guys have and will continue to be a great influence on me. Thank you for the great work you had done and the huge impact you made and will continue making in the young people’s lives as a teacher. May god bless your endless efforts, your kindness and your dedications throughout all these years.
By:
Mohamad Azlan Bin Basri
To Cikgu, With Love.
This is not the 16th of May, but yet I would like to just say “Terima Kasih” to those people who taught me ABCD, 1234, tenses, metaphors, hyperboles, calculations of the difficult weird unimaginable logarithms, how plants perform photosynthesis, how to do this and that and tons of other things. They are also the one who taught me the concept of what is right and wrong and to list out the things that they had done for me, it would be nearly impossible.
However recently I’ve been reading a lot of negativity being put up against teachers. There are police reports lodged against them, bad news on Buletin Utama and so on. Yes, they are not angels. They are human, just like us. They might make mistakes; no one could run away from that. This suddenly reminds me of a Malay proverb “Kerana nila setitik rosak susu sebelanga” and also “Seekor kerbau membawa lumpur terpalit semua”. This is exactly the issue that is going on right now; just because of a few mistakes by a few of them, parents, media and the society put all the blames on teachers and the teaching profession.
As a 21 year-old, I can still rationalize that this is just not right. Some parents will go all out putting the blame on teachers even when their children did not get good grades in examinations but when the results turn out to be great, they will just go “Oh, anak saya memang seorang pelajar yang pandai, rajin dan bijak. Ini semua berkat hasil usahanya dengan bantuan tuisyen dan ulangkaji.” Ever heard of that before?? I’ve heard ENOUGH. How could there not be any gratitude towards the existence of the school teachers who were there all along? Are these people not good enough to be appreciated?
Yes, I admit that I am a bit emotional about this issue. You might say that this is just a piece of writing based on prejudice but you cannot deny that all of this is a reality. It is happening for real! It is not just about appreciation towards the teachers, but also about the respect that is no longer being given to them. Recently, it had become a controversial issue when a standard three student sent a text message saying “I will rape you” to his own teacher. That is just the tip of the iceberg; we all know that there are many more news and incidents that had proven enough to say that teachers are no longer being respected by their students or even the parents themselves. “Ugut Bunuh Cikgu”, “ Pelajar Belasah Guru Disiplin”, “Patah Hidung Ditumbuk Murid”, “Pelajar Sepak Perut Guru” and more newspaper headlines that had shown how disrespectful are the students nowadays towards their teachers. Ten to twenty years back, it was hard for us to hear about news like that but nowadays, it is a normal tune to the ears, meaning to say that it is normal to hear students beating up their teachers and it is nothing new for parents to sue the teachers. RESPECT. We had lost this particular sense in our society.
It is never easy to be a teacher. It is not just about getting into classes, teaching a few lessons and going home at 2.00 p.m. It’s not just that. If you had ever cared to understand the nature of their work, you will know that they are juggling between tons of things to do. Teaching more than 20 students in a class, writing reports, handling the co-curricular activities, marking their students homework and exercises, drafting and marking examination papers, meetings, courses and when they get home they still need to think about what to be taught the next day. The same routine goes on and on every single day. Some might say that it is easy to work as a teacher, but that is just a perspective from people who are looking from the outside. If we were to take a good look at it, try to understand how they work, we will know how hard it is to be a teacher.
Parents and students, please take a second, just to think and take a look of who you are without these bunch of teachers, maybe only then you will realize that without them, without the education you’ve once gone through before to become so called “successful people”, you are just nothing.
Everyone, we’ve been under their guidance for at least 11 years, from Standard 1 to Form 5. They were the ones who nurtured us. Their hard work moulded us into who we are today. Appreciating them won’t cost you a thing, it is the simplest favour you could ever do as a return.
Teachers,
You guys have and will continue to be a great influence on me. Thank you for the great work you had done and the huge impact you made and will continue making in the young people’s lives as a teacher. May god bless your endless efforts, your kindness and your dedications throughout all these years.
By:
Mohamad Azlan Bin Basri
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