He is Leaving the “Force”

I was bouncing around at a corner of Singapore and I bounced into T with his wife (and actually some other *little pals too). The world is kind of small, really. Heh..

A little catching up and erm.. a little finding.

T is good (erm.. of course this is not news). He is good enough for his superior to say to him “I expect to see your Senior Teacher (ST) application on my table at the end of this year”.

To some that may be a very encouraging note. But to him, this is the signal to leave the teaching “force”. He doesn’t believe in the system anymore. He is leaving to a place where he is really (only) asked to teach. No SEM, no TSLN, no TLLM, no PW, no I&E, no Traisi…. I am not saying he is leaving to a place with no structure, no system, but to a place (a private school) where he can focus on what he likes most – teaching.

Every year, we see the ministry is trying hard to draft policies to keep teachers and to draw new blood in. Somehow, it is also observed that every year, many younger officers are leaving (or planning to leave) the “force”, with many even willing to break the bond by paying a hefty sum of money. Oh well, it depends on how you want to interpret it. Mm…

Sure, oh sure, the not-so-young ones are staying. But it is not necessarily because they enjoy what is currently happening. The main question boggling them may be what are the other avenues for them if they were to leave the "force"? This December, I know at least one is traveling overseas to explore for such avenues, besides having a good break.

Don’t press me too hard. I now know where to “bounce to”. Haha..

T, may the force be with you, the "teaching force" I mean, even though it may not be the ministry's teaching force. :P

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有一位圣者这么说：

面对不可预料的未来，谁都不能保证自己会有怎样的变化；
但你自己唯一可以确定的是：「我的坚持，我不会改变」，
这是你自己对自我的一种自信。

自信心不足就会有许多的不确定，自信心足够，
纵使你面对黑暗时你会沮丧、你会挫败，
但终究你撑得过去，你还会再站起来，
而不是从此一蹶不振。