Joel Ryan Lee
I remember when I was studying at SMK Damansara Utama as a student. The passing of a student's parent was not a common occurrence. When it did happen, a little 'tabung' would go around the school to collect funds for the students' family.
However, very few would actually chip in unless they knew the deceased's family (the student). I myself didn't really chip in much during my five years at DU for the 'tabung' unless I knew the student myself.
Over here at SMKPR, Bukit Mertajam, I've only been here for 4 months but quite a few of our kids' parents here have passed away already. The 'tabung' has entered my classes a few times throughout for different families.
It kinda makes you wonder... why is this seemingly more common in a community of poor socioeconomic backgrounds? Is it due to the lack of medical amenities? Is it due to a lack of awareness of prevention of diseases? Very possible.
Yesterday I was talking to my collab Muhamad Nadzmi Dzulkifli about one of his student's mother who has breast cancer which made him very quiet and withdrawn in class.
This reality is very sad, you guys.
But this post isn't a sob story. In fact it's quite the opposite.
Something happened today and it really lifted me, almost making clouds form in my eyes. It happened in the weakest Form 4 class; my 4 AKh, where 28 out of the 16/17 year old 33 students are boys and all very rowdy/noisy/disruptive/uninterested in class.
These guys have very little on them.
With a reported household median income of about RM700, they kind of exemplify the group that is always hungry. Once, I brought in my tin of just plain Jacob's into the class as part of my lesson demonstration and everybody was staring at it hungrily; I know a few of them don't eat during recess at all because they don't have enough money. So I shared that tin out.
Yes, a lot of them are really poor.
But when the prefects knocked on my classroom door with the 'tabung' and I let them in, more than three quarters of them started taking out coins from their pockets to put in the 'tabung'. I asked them whether they knew the kid (who was Form 2) but nobody did.
They just gave, you guys.
Even though they didn't know who the deceased's family was.
Why? Simply because they understand. They know how much pain is involved when a loved one is lost. They know that even just a few cents can really help the grieving family.
They care.
Society calls them stupid because the majority of them still cannot form a single grammatically correct 4-word English sentences on their own. Society calls them hopeless because they sleep/talk in every other teacher's class (mine too sometimes ish). Society deems them to have 'no future' because some of them are illiterate/almost illiterate.
But you cannot deny these guys have good hearts. They are my heroes and even though I'm the teacher, I learn stuff from them all the time.
As what Charis Ding said of her kids, I feel the same as well.
"Some of the best people I've ever met."
However, very few would actually chip in unless they knew the deceased's family (the student). I myself didn't really chip in much during my five years at DU for the 'tabung' unless I knew the student myself.
Over here at SMKPR, Bukit Mertajam, I've only been here for 4 months but quite a few of our kids' parents here have passed away already. The 'tabung' has entered my classes a few times throughout for different families.
It kinda makes you wonder... why is this seemingly more common in a community of poor socioeconomic backgrounds? Is it due to the lack of medical amenities? Is it due to a lack of awareness of prevention of diseases? Very possible.
Yesterday I was talking to my collab Muhamad Nadzmi Dzulkifli about one of his student's mother who has breast cancer which made him very quiet and withdrawn in class.
This reality is very sad, you guys.
But this post isn't a sob story. In fact it's quite the opposite.
Something happened today and it really lifted me, almost making clouds form in my eyes. It happened in the weakest Form 4 class; my 4 AKh, where 28 out of the 16/17 year old 33 students are boys and all very rowdy/noisy/disruptive/uninterested in class.
These guys have very little on them.
With a reported household median income of about RM700, they kind of exemplify the group that is always hungry. Once, I brought in my tin of just plain Jacob's into the class as part of my lesson demonstration and everybody was staring at it hungrily; I know a few of them don't eat during recess at all because they don't have enough money. So I shared that tin out.
Yes, a lot of them are really poor.
But when the prefects knocked on my classroom door with the 'tabung' and I let them in, more than three quarters of them started taking out coins from their pockets to put in the 'tabung'. I asked them whether they knew the kid (who was Form 2) but nobody did.
They just gave, you guys.
Even though they didn't know who the deceased's family was.
Why? Simply because they understand. They know how much pain is involved when a loved one is lost. They know that even just a few cents can really help the grieving family.
They care.
Society calls them stupid because the majority of them still cannot form a single grammatically correct 4-word English sentences on their own. Society calls them hopeless because they sleep/talk in every other teacher's class (mine too sometimes ish). Society deems them to have 'no future' because some of them are illiterate/almost illiterate.
But you cannot deny these guys have good hearts. They are my heroes and even though I'm the teacher, I learn stuff from them all the time.
As what Charis Ding said of her kids, I feel the same as well.
"Some of the best people I've ever met."
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