Tougher to teach than be taught

Credits: Militarynuts.com

When we were young, we have an array of common ambitions - being a teacher, a high-ranking officer in the military, etc. These are jobs with distinct expectations, and often are more characteristic of principles and values than performance. A teacher is expected to teach the right values and being a role model in terms of behavior and knowledge. A high-ranking officer in the military is expected to uphold integrity, and to serve his nation with pride and honour. There is no room for compromise for individuals of a career related to civil-service and religions. We expect religious individuals to be pious in their daily actions, and a policeman to be catching the thief rather than be the villain themselves. This is a similarity among the various careers that I've just mentioned; They are all at the apex of the pyramid and no one is above them to question their decisions. A good example to illustrate this point will be the recent scandal issues revolving around the two top officials from SCDF and CNB, and that one lady which got many netizens internet-hunting for a possible suspect. It is said to be a bad practice for senior commanders to have more influence over decision made, due to a possibility of corruption when money is involved. There is a whole deal of expectation and great responsibility behind just the usual performance-demands of an ordinary job.

I believe this applies especially to teachers today, who are evidently struggling to meet the expectations. The way I see it, it's definitely tougher to teach than be taught.

STOMP, a citizen journalism platform for Singaporeans, never lacks stories related to unacceptable behaviour from youths today. Youths proudly displays arogance and a lack of filial respect for one's most intimate kin since birth. With the increasing influence and extensive usage of social media today, they take such rebelliousness to extents of sharing photos or videos with information on what they did. A recent disgrace to Singaporeans, Aaron Tan, tries his luck at being a YouTube celebrity when he verbally assaulted another individual for apparently stealing his girlfriend.

Credits: stomp.com.sg

Credits: stomp.com.sg

The overt use of vulgarities everywhere and even having the audacity to aim such remarks at teachers nowadays is really a cause for concern. Though there is no direct correlation drawn, we can infer that kids nowadays are harder to handle, and if parents themselves are struggling to be the disciplinarian at home, we ought to worry for our teachers.   

The most dangerous event that can happen in a big fire would be the feeding of more fuel. Children today are becoming a cause for concern because parents are over-sheltering and protecting them. This poor parenting techniques and lack of authoritative intervention leads to many children becoming complacent about being disciplined. The lack of proper upbringing and a blithe disregard to parenting 101 provides a world of opportunities for kids to be spoilt and highly rebellious. I recalled a particular incident during the Chinese New Year visitations where an extremely active kid was running around my house and making a huge hullabaloo over, if you must know, nothing. I was secretly glad when his mother called him over as though in preparation for reprimand. Instead, she helped him remove the pair of socks which he was wearing, so that he could run and not slip. Great.

Credits: guardian.co.uk

It is perfectly normal to think that the life of a teacher is very relaxing and pretty dictator-like in a classroom. Though that is the impression that all of us get after years of education, it is correct to say that it is much tougher to be a teacher than being a student. These education advocators are required to prepare the content which they need to teach and handle un-education related issues such as misbehavior or bullying. For every single homework assignment that a student submits, a teacher has to mark a few classes' worth of that one assignment. It's really not as simple or humdrum as simply turning up for class on time and reading from the textbook.

Credits: Sodahead.com

Credits: Straits Times

I must say though, that with the recent surge of teachers' misappropriate behavior and conduct (ironically also featured on STOMP), teachers may actually only have themselves to blame for struggling to do a good job. Pedagogues are reported to be laughing at the 'stupidity' of students on social media platforms, and to make matters worse, those who commented and engaging in the conversation are teachers themselves. There is also a few choking news of teacher-student intimate relationships, one of which resulted in a 41-year-old teacher being sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. Teachers have shown to be increasingly taking advantage of their authoritative position. Such as in such intimate relationships with students, teachers should be matured enough not to deceive students into interpreting their passion as affection.

Other cases include teachers who blatantly breaks the dress code at work and even resorting to inflicting of physical pain on students. Not teaching well is considered as bad performance in the job of being a teacher, but such behavior and conduct is utterly unacceptable.

Credits: Timeanddate.com

It's tough to juggle between being too personal to a student and having that authoritative voice to demand standards; Both of ends that we wish to achieve and not compromise. There is a lot of pressure in taking up the role of a teacher today, especially when their job lasts around the clock, with parenting at home seemingly analogous to being a teacher in school. It is a deep strain of energy and motivation to teach. Teachers are given this authority in school to produce standards, both discipline and academically. However, they must be very clear that it is a grave mistake to mix emotions with work. Teachers must not abuse this authority to hurl derogatory comments to insult students when they are provoked. This authority comes together with a convincing-credibility that comes tagged with teachers, all thanks to teachings at home where parents educate their children that they must listen to teachers. Students must understand what kind of concern their teacher is showing and not misintepret the intentions of a teacher. They should learn to differentiate between right and wrong and when in doubt, to turn to parents who should be readily there for their child. Parents must play an active role in the education and upbringing of their child, rather than simply dumping the responsibility to the teachers at school. I personally believe in refresher courses especially for senior teachers so that these individuals stay on tandem with what they are expected to do and also in-sync with the ministry's aims. It's a career for those with true passion and not one that is merely attracted by its monetary gains, though monetary gains must be appealing enough to motivate one to work harder. Teachers are role models essentially and in Singapore, we depend on good education and results - This basic essence cannot be compromised.

May we see more teacher awards on STOMP, less childish fights and vulgarities on STOMP, and definitely less teacher-student relationships... on STOMP.

Be Creative with Creative

CREATIVE has decided to grant some of its finest products a better home to stay in by giving them a chance to be adopted by tech-caring individuals, who would be none other than me and you. These speakers boasts some of its greatest sound features such as the Symmetrically-loaded Acoustic Module (SLAM) which provides a positive rumbling bass to that soft dulcet melody of blues in the background. It's the perfect companion that understands what you need based on the genre of music you are playing on your device(s) and delivering the quality with a neat and tidy design, high performing specifications and most importantly, wireless. Wireless with Bluetooth connectivity which would mean its wireless capabilities is compatible with most products, especially all your Apple iDevices that needs a more commanding speaker.

I have chosen to adopt the CREATIVE ZiiSound D5x Wireless Speakers.

All you have to do is to click on the following link Adopt Creative Wireless Speakers and follow the detailed explanation on the site. The gist of the adoption is to convince the staff at CREATIVE that you are the best available candidate for the job of being in charge of these potential-packed machines. This is my proposition to prove my worthiness of this essential product.

Compulsive Obsessive Disorder

I have a serious case of Compulsive Obsessive Disorder with regards to neatness and a little bit of cleanliness, though I've never been psychologically diagnosed with any of such conditions. But here's my point. I am an absolute neat freak. Everything needs to be perfect and in absolute pristine conditions, that is another point which I will come to later. My table has to be clean with everything arranged properly and neatly and above all is the main criteria of things being in the right position and in the right orientation; flawlessly positioned. And this has led me to really like sleek products like the Apple iPhone and the Apple Magic Mouse which has such intensively thought-through aesthetics that can sensually gratify me instantly. That is my exact sentiments with the Creative ZiiSound D5x Wireless Speakers. The suave black matches my iPhone 4 impeccably and there is just this extreme debonair with sleek black products of such design. 

I am really in need of a speaker!

Been surviving on a pair of free cheap speakers that has absolutely no bass at all and worst of all, USB-powered. I am a user of the sleek and prettified Macbook Air that is so thin but in exchange for that slim design, there's a tradeoff for lesser USB ports (Just 2 USB ports). Because I take a lot of care for my gadgets, I made it compulsory to put on the keyboard protector on the Macbook Air and other than protecting my keys from becoming shiny from the ever-present oil in our skin, it also impaired the speakers which are below the keys.

Due to a lack of Bass and I am really particular about sound quality especially when I'm such a penchant for blue jazz type of music, I managed to get hold of a simple X-Mini which I combined together with the pair of Acer speakers that I have, to try salvage whatever sound quality it can have combined. It is obviously not good at all but it's better than nothing right. And because both are USB-Powered products, I had to use a USB Multi-Port Hub to extend the number of ports and it is so ugly with that messy myriad of wires tangled. That was why I've been looking for a proper speaker system for my Macbook Air that would use an ordinary socket to power up. 

In addition, I am obviously using my laptop as somewhat a desktop at home but I still purchased it for the awesome portability of the Macbook Air and hence unplugging everything and chuck it neatly is a pain in the ass whenever I want to bring it out to do my work. And yes, I do that very often so it's quite a lot of pain in the ass thank you very much. 

And that leads me to the next point...

Wire-Phobic!

It's Über annoying to find your precious gadgets messed up in a ball of wires that should be giving them power to operate and not handicapping them and rending them useless as seen above. I hate wires and though I may be exaggerating it in the above photo, I really do have very unsightly wires especially after combining it with the X-Mini for that bit of bass. 

And blimey is this wireless and neat. I do not need to spare time and effort into hiding the wires behind my Macbook or have to untangle vicious and intimidating wire knots when I need to remove it from the device I'm using it with. The CREATIVE ZiiSound D5x is completely wireless on top of the beauty of its design and sound power. Been looking for a dock for my iPhone and when you think Bluetooth may be eating on your phone battery and you want to charge your iPhone, do it with the inbuilt dock. 

Having that Bluetooth capability is awesome but with this speaker system, there is also a nice looking dock that matches my iPhone. I am actually very pleased that this speaker provides both alternatives and not limiting to one because I love products with classy variations. 

Particular for Perfection

Very particular for perfection, I search for the best that would suit my need in that aspect. I have been very parsimonious in the purchase of food and other aspects but I have never short changed that of my gadgets. I have a stickler for perfection so to speak and sure preserved well everything that came together with my purchase. Initially displaying outside on top of my cupboard, I've decided to put it into a box after it became so dusty. I take full care for my products, keeping them clean and maintained and if there are available protective covers that does not obliterate the aesthetic beauty of my gadget, I would purchase it to keep it scratch-proof. 

This is why I think I may just be dependent for my gadgets and maybe even that of the Creative ZiiSound D5x. If you are looking for adopters to take responsibility over this premium set of speakers, I can only say I may just have the best parental care equipped to serve it well. I have never settled for second best unless it's really way beyond my financial capabilities because I will be disappointed that I did not get the very best one. That was why I chose that of D5x and if it is good enough to be adopted by someone like me, you got to give me a chance. (:

CREATIVE Zen X-fi

Let's face it. To be credible, I must have used at least one of Creative's products if not its speaker. This is how well I have kept my Creative Zen X-fi and if the photo does not do it justice, I can assure you it looks as good as brand new and still working as good as brand new, which I'm personally quite surprised after my iPod Photo died on me after just a while. 

I'm not boasting about this just to win this contest but I was really taken aback with the X-fi quality of sound that this compact MP3 player can deliver. It's so amazing and the free earpiece that came along with it made it awesome. Never heard a sound so crisp and clean and with mega bass put on, it's just rock and roll! Nobody believes me when I say this has totally out-performed my Apple iPod as though I was just trying to convince myself, until they actually tried it and experienced it for themselves. 

I am a proud owner and certainly a pleased user of a CREATIVE product and that I think has to be the least I could prove to ascertain my comments thus far. 

Commitment

As much as this contest would be to express how excited and hopeful you are to get your hands onto this set of speaker system and really just drooling over its wireless functionality, my extra oomph to this contest would be that I'm a committed writer. I'm not just blogging out of interest and I'm definitely not into this for fame. But honestly, it's a saturated confection of both passion for the Language and how much I enjoy writing and expressing myself through words. I can assure a good unbiased review on this product if I am lucky enough to win it.