Razak Chik
Tue Jan 28 2014
WHAT is it about teachers nowadays whose didactic deeds leave so much to be desired?
I am of course referring to the teacher in Sungkai, Perak who meted out a rather outlandish form of punishment to two pupils for failing to complete their homework.
He took to belittling the boys by likening them to bovines belching mulch out on some field when they should actually be attending to their scholarly tasks at home.
His punishment did not end up at merely tossing caustic barb – the teacher was accused of going through the extreme effort of dangling cow bells round their necks and offered grass to the two boys; it was lunchtime after all! There was further humiliation piled on when the comic pantomime somehow, perhaps naturally nowadays, ended with an undignified posting on Facebook!
What on earth was ‘Sir’ thinking about?
I had my fair share of teacher-doled punishment in my school days so I know a bit about incurring the wrath of ‘Sir’. Woe betide anyone in my class who failed to complete our weekly essays set by Ms Tan who, bless her; introduced us the joys of Shakespeare in Standard 5!
There we were, all innocent and untouched by Zionist zeal that would have doused Ms Tan’s literary endeavour on the mere hint that Shakespeare could be anti-semitic!
In our wide-eyed innocence, it never mattered if sleeper Shylock was Mossad in mufti or not. Just that, here was a moneylender who was no more determined than our present day neighbourhood Ah Long in employing inventive methods at debt collection.
To me they are just kindred spirits who would not think twice about extracting their pound of flesh when the date falls due and the cheti calls regardless of race. You owe me money, you pay me monthly!
So when the boys turned up in class without handing in their homework, the teacher simply flipped.
No doubt this is an oversimplification. At the outset, the two boys were like a fish out of water; or perhaps in this case – grazing on someone else’s pasture. They were attending a vernacular school when they themselves were from a different ethnic background.
Parents with kids finding themselves in similar dire straits know their conundrum only too well – vernacular schools pose deeper challenges to such families coming from other communities.
Naturally, the parents of the two boys took exception to this act of pastural (sic) punishment that they lodged a police report. The media got hold of the news and no amount of hush hush tactics could keep a good story down.
A horde of media men (and women) descended on the town; Sungkai being not too far from Tin Town Ipoh, to attend the press conference deftly arranged by the boys’ parents.
Unusually, at least one local television station with newly-acquired hardware flexed its re-invigorated outside broadcast muscle to cover this media event, such was the interest.
It is a commentary on present-day Malaysian society that such cases are coming out in the open followed by a certain degree of public debate and reasoned discussion, leading to some compromise solution.
In this case, the media was the vehicle while the debate which took place post the news conference having been thrown into the public sphere . Indeed, the ‘case’ was tried in the court of public opinion, everyone sat on the jury and there was nothing left for the ‘judge’ to do but pronounce ‘guilt’ on the part of the teacher.
Duly ‘deliberated’, the ‘guilty’ teacher was given his transfer orders – hopefully suitably chastened not to subject another set of young charges elsewhere to similar ‘grazing’ torment having been given his taunting lesson.
As for the boys, it remains to be seen if they had learnt enough of a lesson that should stay etched in their psyche forever; that a piece of homework is just that – work to be done at home!
Protes di universiti AS tidak tunjuk tanda perlahan
Dalam dua minggu lalu, protes pro-Palestin telah merebak ke kampus kolej utama di seluruh AS.
37 juta tan serpihan runtuhan di Gaza - UNMAS
Terdapat juga sejumlah besar senjata api yang tidak meletup tertimbus di dalam runtuhan yang menimbulkan risiko kepada kerja pembersihan.
Legenda EPL puji padang SNBJ
Pemain Manchester Reds dan Liverpool Reds memuji keadaan rumput yang cantik dan bersedia untuk kembali beraksi pada masa akan datang.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: Dunia saling tidak percaya akibat kebergantungan dipersenjatakan - Naib Presiden Suruhanjaya Eropah
Fenomena hilang kepercayaan yang melanda komuniti antarabangsa ketika ini adalah akibat kebergantungan yang dipersenjatakan oleh beberapa pihak.
Che'gu Bard tiba di mahkamah bagi hadapi pertuduhan kes fitnah, hasut
Badrul Hisham, yang memakai baju Melayu berwarna hijau, dibawa oleh pihak polis ke mahkamah dalam keadaan bergari.
WCK sambung misi bantuan di Gaza
Operasi itu disambung sebulan selepas tujuh pekerja badan amal itu terbunuh dalam serangan udara Israel.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: Dunia perlukan persaingan sihat dalam transisi ke Orde Baharu - Menteri Luar Arab Saudi
Dunia memerlukan persaingan sihat dalam transisi daripada Orde Dunia Lama kepada Orde Baharu.
Niaga AWANI: Jiwa SME: Permintaan daun moringa meningkat, jadi tumpuan luar negara
Berdasarkan laporan Vodus Market Research, sebuah firma penyelidikan dan analisis data pasaran dalam talian, kira-kira 71 peratus penduduk di negara ini mengambil suplemen pada 2021.
Nilai pasaran suplemen negara juga menunjukkan peningkatan ketara dalam tempoh 2014 hingga 2019, iaitu daripada RM2.07 bilion kepada RM3.1 bilion. Angka itu dijangka terus meningkat pada masa akan datang.
Nilai pasaran suplemen negara juga menunjukkan peningkatan ketara dalam tempoh 2014 hingga 2019, iaitu daripada RM2.07 bilion kepada RM3.1 bilion. Angka itu dijangka terus meningkat pada masa akan datang.
Niaga AWANI: FBM KLCI mencapai paras tertinggi walaupun ditengah cabaran Ringgit
Indeks FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI meningkat sebanyak 8.28% walaupun nilai matawang menurun sebanyak 3.79% berbanding dollar Amerika Syarikat (AS). Adakah trend ini akan berterusan sehingga bulan Mei akan datang? Kupasan lanjut bersama Ketua Penyelidikan dan Penasihat Kekayaan, Pengurus Portfolio, UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors, Mohd Sedek Jantan.
Niaga AWANI: Ringgit dijangka sekitar 4.77 berbanding dolar AS minggu ini
Pengarah Urusan SPI Asset Management Stephen Innes berkata ini bagaimanapun bergantung kepada reaksi pasaran bon global memandangkan ramai peniaga memberi tumpuan terhadap pelarasan oleh Rizab Persekutuan AS (Fed).