IT IS heartening to read of the Government's emphasis on building a quality teaching force and necessary revisions on their compensation to retain good teachers. Even more assuring is the desire of the Ministry of Education (MOE) to seek out 'passionate' would-be teachers, minus the cookie-cutter process of selection.
The question of measuring one's passion comes to mind. How will MOE determine an applicant's level of passion? While we cannot deny the value of recruiting an experienced and more mature candidate, it is tricky to measure his ardour for teaching.
One potential inadequacy in determining a candidate's passion is to limit his record academically. At best, this merely gives an indication of one's ability to absorb and deliver hard information during exams. Many experienced teachers today do not always attribute their success only to their impeccable O or A levels results.
It is also inaccurate to equate passion with youth. Younger teachers may have higher energy levels but may lack the maturity and hardiness of an older colleague. Education Minister Ng Eng Hen himself commented that younger teachers 'pose a bigger challenge to MOE to develop and retain as many of them as possible' (Sept 6). The back gate is as wide as the front, so they say. The teaching profession is not one for the meek at heart. It requires high levels of energy, fortitude and integrity. Such virtues are more often than not acquired through years of experience.
Most important, a passionate teacher keeps his purpose in sight. One of my favourite teachers has to be the late Elizabeth Choy, Singapore's icon of endurance and courage during the Japanese Occupation. Even after she began her teaching career, Mrs Choy never lost faith in herself, her god and her students, many of whom had caught her vision and became teachers. In other words, she was truly a passionate teacher and mentor.
Passion is a measure of one's heart for a cause, person or profession. Taking such a definition into consideration when selecting our future educators will go a long way towards the good moulding of our young minds and hearts.
Sex education
'Make my job simple: Just teach me what you want me to practise.'
MISS BENNETT ISABEL: 'Which teacher teaches what he does not expect his student to practise? Which parent demonstrates what he does not want his child to adopt? Don't we teach - reiterate - even emphasise what we want to see take place in action? As a young person in the centre of this debate about sex education for the young, I wonder what exactly I am being taught. Is premarital sex right? If it is not, why then am I being 'educated' on how to have 'safe sex'? Is not 'safe sex' still premarital sex? Please educate us young ones on what needs to be practised. Don't give us a reason or an excuse to have premarital sex. The curriculum on 'safe sex' methods only condones and endorses the concept of premarital sex. The young may be in the 'raging hormones' phase of life. That, however, does not make us mindless beings or animals - unable to control and master passions, feelings and emotions. The power to choose abstinence is given to every human being, regardless of age. I have chosen abstinence, because I have been taught clearly that premarital sex - safe or not - is wrong. Make my job simple: Just teach me what you want me to practise.'
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