On the $60 haircut saga,
"As one writer puts it in one of our media commentaries, by raising such a hullabaloo, 'the mother did herself and her son no favours'. Now, if parents do not show graciousness to others and respect for rules, our young will not do so either. Soon, discipline will be eroded. The tone in our schools will deteriorate, and the tone in our society too."
You know what? I've been waiting for a public statement by an MIW that I could agree with, these are rare commodities and should be celebrated. Mr Heng Swee Keat gets my thumbs up for this one. I'm sorry parents, there is no way I can agree with the errant parent-and-son in this episode. I don't believe in calling the parent to ask for permission to cut his son's hair either. What is the school going to do if the every parent says no? Come on, it's hair. Not fingers.
The school's principal, Mrs Jasmail Singh Gill, agreed with Madam Ong that the teacher had no business cutting the boy's hair. The school principal in fact, don't have any business to be the school principal. I know we are really suckers for good customer service, our country is run like a company, commonly known as Singapore Inc. Look, we are not running a business in school. Students and parents are not customers of the school. Schools are not providing a service to students and parents. They are there to be educated, and the main part of education is to make mistakes, accept punishments and learn from it. The principal-student-teacher is a holy trinity that shouldn't be broken. Parents are there to send lunch boxes and support the cause, not interfere with it.
Some of us spoke about psychological repercussion. Please, it is cutting a student's hair in one corner. Then students enter an examination hall. Whoever was going to look at the new hair cut? After the exam, the student would go back, kick up a fuss with legs in the air and get his mum to make a police report. If you ask me, the parent's decision to make herself an asshole in public will instill more undesirable elements in her son than any psychological repercussions a simple unprofessional haircut could make. I still keep in contact with a friend who received a public caning in school for stealing. If you ask me, I'll tell you truthfully. He became a better person after that, not worse and he is "doing well" in life by Singaporean definition.
Singapore is a unique country. So long as we have conscription, and believe in it, we cannot relax on discipline right from school level. My sister, who was a young girl back then, kept reminding me since I was a young boy, "It is worse when you do your National Service." She was right all along. Though I grew up not believing in worshiping rules and laws, I have learnt to give the respect. Even a young girl decades ago would take her brother in hand and was wiser than a grown old adult parent today. At this rate, this little boy would have a hard time during his National Service. Let's hope he wouldn't join the ghosts of men who couldn't take it and jumped.
I'm glad Mr Heng Swee Keat came out to publicly to set things right. It would be another stab in my heart and another round of "What's Singapore becoming" if he would to support Principal Mrs Jasmail Singh Gill's stance. We need to support our teachers and help them help our kids. Let's wait for more sparkles of hope yet.
a school is a business organisation where people are educated in a civilised way.it is not a country or a political tool where politicians force their methods on kids no matter how dumb they are especailly in that day of exams.the shock exposed to kids at such an early age is unthinkable.
ReplyDeleteand what the hell is a political unit making its mark on school kids?spore is not a north korea or a communist state.
I agree that politicians should not be holding roles they are not ideally supposed to.
Deleteif you think you can do a better job to educate the future generation, stand out and step forward.
DeleteI also can agree that teachers should not be holding roles they are not ideally supposed to, eg enforcing discipline by way of a (barbaric) barber??
DeleteGreat that you agree.
Deleteits also the teachers fault.she should get an extra for this matter too.maybe clean toilets etc .she should call up parents after 1 week of non-compliance befiore taking action 3 days before exam and not ton that day of exam.
ReplyDeletei am sure teacher will be puinished as well as boy and parent.cant make an omellete without breaking 3 eggs.
Good grief. One can overlook poor grammar and bad spelling, but go get your shift key on your keyboard repaired, for crying out loud!
DeleteMaybe he is a westerner.Most people always type like that in the west especially in chat rooms.
Deleteasingaporeanson, I have to disagree with you on this one. I really don't understand why schools in Singapore have such stringent rules about hair styles, etc and would ban students from attempting an exam just because he/she does not meet that stringent rules on superficial looks. Come on, schools are for educating minds, not the fashion police!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I agree with you that it was equally dumb of the mother to kick up a fuss over such a small superficial matter. Hair will grow back. Her son can wear whatever hairstyles he want during the holidays.
I also agree with you that the principal was really f*ing her teacher by not standing her grounds over such a small superficial matter. Come on, have some perspective! If the principal agree with the mother, then in the 1st place, she should not have put up school rules restricting "acceptable" hairstyles for school. No guts to face the problem that she is responsible for, instead push the blame upon the teacher. I can only say that my sympathies go to the teacher who is caught between a rock (dumb-ass school rules on hair requirement) and a hard place (ensure that her student attempt the exam).
Lastly, I agree with Anonymous's comment on 14 September 2012 10:27 above. WTF is a politician doing adding oil to the above superfluous incident? No star for you Mr Heng, none at all. In fact, please be glad that you are not getting some rotan for not paying attention to the important matters. E.g. How to support the Singaporean children to develop at their own pace in face of intense competition? E.g. How to support those challenged with disabilities to reach their full-potential?
http://limpehft.blogspot.ca/2012/09/why-did-laurentia-tan-leave-singapore.html
http://limpehft.blogspot.ca/2012/09/muchopunk-on-being-disabled-in-singapore.html
Well WD,
DeleteYou are not disagreeing with me, but the rules. For one, I didn't support the rules. If I like how the way the country is run, I wouldn't have left Singapore.
My stand is very simple. Parents should not be setting a bad example for their children by going against them in public. We are talking about going to the police to make a report and getting the media to tell the world here. That's the context we are discussing about.
I support the teacher and condemn the principal for not sticking to her subordinate.
School rules, societal rules, government policies are another story for another discussion. I hope you understand where I am coming from. We don't have to agree all the time of course. Lastly, the links you posted are too wordy and lengthy. I often have trouble finishing his posts, not that there are anything wrong with his writings. I have a short attention span.
Just to clarify, Heng is the minister of education. I'll prefer him to speak out instead of hiding behind his desk like Wong Kan Seng did as Minister of home affairs when Mas Selamat escaped.
DeleteWD,
DeleteIf Mama keeps running to her son for every little thing, when is the son going to grow up ? Dont't complain about mama's boys later then. During NS sure die.
The buck stops at the desk of the ministar, at least he is not trying to be PC like the headmistress. He has my respect for that.
thats only a primary school kid!please lah...dun make him do leopard crawl and rifle physical training and standard obstacle course ok!
Deleteu all what?a bunch of oppressors from last bunch of oppressorss??sheesh,.,..u asians simply cannot think straight even when educated to high level!
i have seen an aussie schoolteacher come up to a bus and dragged 3 kids who were playing traunt,he was shouting at the kids like a commando about to kill the primary school kids.
Deleteits legal!its his job right!but is this what u want your kids to be faced with at school?is this the right method?
Hello anon 15.59
DeleteLi kong simi leopard crawl, rifle training ? You ang moh is it, talk about we Asians ? 12 years old is very young ah ? Hair cut only talk like the boy is being tortured like that. Simi psycological scar lah, simi LJ. If the boy cannot talk survive small issue like this, wait till he grow up and face competition from the FTs and pay multi million dollar HDB flat.
simi taiji?young weak ones must be natured to grow big n strong.haircut is ok...trauma should not be made on day of exam!u think little boy sell durian for livinbg is it?!!
Deleteu face simi foreign talent n wad flat?even if lil kid commando train n do ns at age 12yrs old,,he will still lose out to the waves of ft and he cant pay for flat which wont be his at the end of life!
ler kong simi jiao way!!!:)
It is your right to attend school, it is your responsibility to adhere to the rules of that school. Same rule for everybody!
ReplyDeleteand did the school do its job properly?no,it did not!otherwise it wont be in the news!discpline yes but dont need to take out guns.
Deleteor scissors / shears / parang / chai toh !
DeleteLooks like the mini fiasco exposed a school principal who lack principle. LOL
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Mrs JS Gill caved-in to Mrs Ong because of impendng police report or because Mrs Ong is a good customer, i.e generous donor to the school.
Perhaps I can share a story I heard aeons ago about LKY. It was rumoured that he made a trip to school to cane no.2 son in class for some offence committed.
Of course LKY did not mention this in "hard truths", probably to spare no.2 from reliving the embarassment.
By the way, I speak from experience that it made me a better person. LOL
the same thing happened in a village school in malaysia.as times go by,societ gets more civilised and orderly.
Deletecut and discipline ?yes, but not give an emotional scar.
you are right.you wont get to see this in england or even germany.its only in those war torn countries that their teachers grab a students chao tao and shave it all off on day of the exam.lol
Deleteits the morality issue here thats in question.if a person is born bad he would commit atrocities no matter how much discplining were given to him.however when treatment such as this were given it might cause fear to the infant.a fear that would develope into a mental issue when he grows up.
ReplyDeleteis that the right thing and right method?method wrong but right thing.using an educated approah is the best policy.teacher should check haircut 2 weeks before the exam and when hair is still long after a week, a call should be given to parents to have it cut.in no way should hair be cut on the day of exam unless the teacher wasnt doing her duty for weeks.
"The simple fact is that the son was reminded over and over again to trim his hair. And when that failed, the school sent a letter. And the mother's response was that her son was dyslexic, and therefore forgetful."
DeleteI gathered that "over and over again" easily means 2 weeks or longer.
a..so if this dyslexic student had an accident or emergency in the day, the school will also send a letter and wait for the parents to response? can't make a phone call without iPone5? or this the latest NIE research finding to be the most superior method of "educating" our future generations?
Deletehi nix....its me again...,
ReplyDeletei had a primary schoolmate when i was younger.one time i saw him being dragged by the school form teacher in front of the class because he looked strange,his eyes was long with long cheek bone and a sad look.
then the form teacher laughed at him and said how funny he looked in class.everyone in class laughed including me.he was standing there sad and wondering why?he must have been very sad after that day.
20 years later i met him again.he was working at singapores top company in aviation.for some strange reason he still remebered me as one of his classmates even though i had became fat ,hairy etc etc.his immediate reaction was shame....he looked away..on the floor.didnt even lift up his head even.
now nix,is this what u need to have from every person you meet.discpline yes but giving them a permanent scar......no!
Hello is it Deb? I can't guess who's who.
DeleteScroll up and look at all the comments. Everyone has their own definition of what a school should be. Do you see where the problem lies?
you have a lot to learn nix.
ReplyDeleteThanks, learned one.
Deleteand could u like change the title from "cheer to heng swee kiat" to "zero to heng soon kiat"
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can be my first guest blogger and write me a post on that. I'll most gladly post it up with that title.
Deleteim the unknown soldier.
Deletesoldier also must write
DeleteLooks like unknown soldier wants to take you and the rest of the world on at the same time. Die, die must disagree with all your opinions as seen in the other posts as well. Come to think about it, looks very much like a troll.
DeleteDear Person(s)-With-A-Defective-Shift-Key,
ReplyDeleteI would like to drop you a little hint: the lack of capital letters at the start of your sentences is distracting and detracts from your opinions. It's like talking to a person who has a huge pimple in the middle of his nose - one can't hear what's being said because one's entire focus is on that huge red, pus-filled pimple.
I'm assuming the problem is with your shift key. If it's not, the only other explanation is that you were the victim of bad teaching by lousy English teachers at school or perhaps mistreated by one, which would explain your animosity towards this particular teacher.
Or maybe too busy trying to jump-start a similar second career while in still in school!
DeleteThe night before Mr Heng made this statement, I was attending my neighbour uncle's wake. Then at around 11pm, Mr Heng quietly appeared from a dark alley alone to pay his respect. It turned out that the uncle's daughter's boss is Mr Heng. He spent a good hour having supper & chatting with the family till past midnight. He left as quietly as he came. No fanfare. RESPECT! :)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous14 September 2012 20:25
ReplyDeletehey mate,
unless u intend to have this printed and made into an education diet in spore schools,,,,,,,this is how real peeps do it in cyber world!kapish?live with it!what a stiff butt u are!
Wow! Singaporean even expect fanfare for someone, nor matter the status, to attend wake.
ReplyDeleteThis is how far Singaporeans are educated to understand
what living is all about.
It is not to curry favour and spice flavour every dick, tom and harry in everything all the time.
He was at the wake and You got to wake up from your mentality.
You are lucky that Albany cannot protest right now. FYI, I have 2 kids, 18 and 13 and both been extremely conscious of their hair cuts since young, and even now in Melbourne. None inherited the father or my gene. They just happen to be super conscious of their hairs since young. If the teacher were to cut their hairs, I am sure they would have failed their tests.
ReplyDeleteHaving a nice hair cut does not equate to having talent, something most boys who are streetsmart will realise very quickly.
DeleteThe guys with average haircut will be most admired for either their academic intelligence, sports achievement, music and/or singing talent, etc, etc. These are the blokes who get the girls without even trying. Believe me or not, I learnt this from my mum and teachers. LOL
Nice Samsons there.
Deletei think that those countries where educationis is not considered important strickness are very important theor to make student educated but not over all cause developed countries are also strong in their education level so its duty of teacher that how to educate student wheather by beating him or by love..
ReplyDeleteregards
Andy
NitroTek