Angry Birds

With so many mischievous kids around, I guess teachers often get angry easily.

From: The Straits Times Forum, 11 Nov 2011
'Shut up' is only the tip of rude iceberg


LIKE Madam Alicia Hock ('Teachers should stop saying 'shut up' to pupils'; Nov 4), my son's teacher in Primary 1 admonishes the class with words like 'rascal', 'stupid', 'sickening', 'nonsense' and belittling phrases like 'You've got the cheek to tell me this'.


When I raised the matter with the school, it did not help. The teacher continued her impolite ways and I wonder how such teachers can impart values to pupils.


The problem can worsen for pupils like my son, who has learning difficulties and attends a support programme in school. He has problems grappling with mainstream subjects and completing worksheets on time. Yet the special circumstance appears to have been lost on the teacher who penalises my son, as well as pupils who cannot complete worksheets, by making them stay back in class instead of going for PE lessons. When I sought the teacher's assistance in offering more help for my son, her reply was that she had 28 pupils to consider in class.


So the burden of offering extra help to my son falls on me, a single, working mother. It takes me at least three hours daily to complete my son's workbook and that excludes preparing him for bite-size fortnightly assessments for English, Maths and Tamil.


While I hope that the holistic strategy promised by the Education Ministry for Primary 1 will ease the teaching burden, I have my doubts when I think of the struggle my son and I must endure merely to complete his homework.


T. Arunachalam (Madam)

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This is a reply to the letter I've posted last entry. It highlights other 'pride-hurting' phrases used by teachers on students.

'Stupid' is pretty common. That's just stating the fact. Recalling some things I used to do in school, it feels rather stupid. I make stupid mistakes. Well, we all do too. However there are some who find it hard to accept, and feel greatly hurt when such words are used on them. No matter what, the most important thing is to recognize our own mistakes, learn from them and move on.

On the other hand 'Idiot' is less common. I remember a teacher in secondary school who used 'bloody idiot' to scold students. I think this is much stronger than 'stupid'. Probably we were still less matured then, so this phrase didn't have much impact. If a university lecturer were to use 'bloody idiot' on students, I think it will create a big hoo-ha. If someone scolds me 'bloody idiot' now, I'll be more hurt than when scolded the same phrase during secondary school.

Looking at the synonyms of 'stupid' - dumb, fool, moron, etc - we have an idea of the degree of insult and belittlement of each word. Which word are you the most (or least) sensitive to?

When people get angry, they need to vent their frustration through words. Teachers are human too. Let's take it with a pinch of salt.

Not to mention students who are totally immune to such words, and persist in their mischief despite repeated scoldings and warnings. Kids don't think words as deep as adults eh? That's good in a way too.