THE subject briefing and THE Work Review ^$%&%&*$%&#&$%

Two "important" events in ONE day, not for the faint-hearted.


Due to work in school in the morning, I went there with an empty stomache (without lunch, what is this??!! slavery???) to know about the new syllabus for the subject. Is there really a need to change syllabus every few years?? Or it is just for the benefit of those &%^&$ at curriculum planning people (if they are people at all??) because if they do not plan curriculum and syllabus, then they got nothing to do. It is just a shift of focus, more emphasis on some areas. But has anyone considered that are we producing more able people or the pupils have benefited (it must be backed by statistics and data.) by shifting the focus?? Even my Uni course in design puts a good amount of emphasis on understanding materials and technology when we are designing.

From my point of view, designing is like climbing a mountain, example Mount Everest. Of course different design problems are like different mountain heights. Some mountains are tall, the problems are difficult to solve, while some mountains are low, problems are easily solved. But the question is what do you carry during the climb??? if the mountain is low, maybe all you need is a trekking shoes, climbing shoes or running shoes and comfortable attire; these are the equipment that you need. And high mountains like Mount Everest, you will need oxygen, warm clothings, fuel to boil snow to water, sleeping bag and tent for shelter from the harsh weather. Same, designing will require knowledge of how things works, how materials behave in different conditions and technology. Many advancements in product design is a result of advancement in materials and technology. Just comparing, previously most products are made from wood and metal, but the creation of plastic revolutionise many of the products we use. I still remember when I was young, the containers for food are usually made from metal. Presently, we eat our food from plastic plates and drink from plastic cups. But that is not my point. My point is designing without knowledge, just on appearance and aesthetics is like climbing Mount Everest without equipment. The climber maybe able to climb halfway, but to reach the top, that is another thing. (Oh, for your information, people have reached the top of Everest without oxygen.)

Show u some works of teachers and the pupils are expected to produce this???








WoW, this is amazing!! Pupils at secondary level is expected to produce this??? That will be great. We will have a whole bunch of designers in no time, but not a very big industry. MNC still station most of their product designers at their home base. And pupils, i assume, are to know 3D studio max when i assume most teachers presently have not used before.

My suggestion:
Why make the present teachers' life so difficult? Why not just hire all the design students from Nanyang poly to teach design and sack all the teachers??? It is part of their course work in poly to use 3D studio max to do some work so the present teachers do not have to go for course to learn how to use the program. Even the industrial designers from ITE can do this job.

A short reflection from learning to use Solidedge during Uni.
It is suppose to be a 8 weeks project to breakdown a product into parts, draw the parts in Solidedge and assemble in Solidedge, to be printed for submission. Not much was taught to us about the program, even the instructors are quite new to it, only one attended the course for it. So my buddy and I spend about 3 weeks going through the tutorials in the program to learn about the program and the next 4 weeks everday afternoon drawing the parts of a compass into Solidedge and 1 week to get all the necessary views for printing. It was interesting for me.

BUT does it make sense to 10 weeks for the pupils to learn a program to only produce a few pages of the work(which is not even 10% of the overall marks), when the rest can be drawn?

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The next thing (work review) really blows my mind.

I never thought i was doing great because I think I still like to have abit of "free" time to relax, read papers and play PC games etc. I work to live, not live to work, ok??!! But some of the points from the review really frustrates me, I try not to complain, but look at it as areas to work on. BUT i still love my "free" time. HAHAHA! Why do so much just for that 1 miserable month of performance bonus, when I got 12 months of salary, 13th month plus 2 months of variable component, just as other civil service??? Think WIN-WIN??? (7 habits of Effective people[teachers], which they are trying to push for in myschool.)

I got "ok" feedback, but prefer to list the not so good ones, just for laughs.

A) The criteria for promotion (leadership) is Intellectual Capacity, PGS (Dun know what it means but in simple, Stamina to see things through) and Ability to movtivate.

1) Intellectual capacity....Hmm....Maybe I am not smart enough for this system, I am an idiot to join it in the first place. Hahahahaha! Or not smart enough to carry "balls".

2) Stamina...Oh.....too much Medical Certificates (MC)....Oh. So our medical benefit stated that we "can" have 30 days of medical leave, but cannot take too many??? Then our dear friend said that not saying that I come to work sick...blab...blab...blab. SO a leader has to be superman??

3) Ability to movtivate...Hmm....I dun see my supervisors movtivating me leh, how???? Always give critical review.

B) Must have stamina to see things through.

Oh so I teach the pupils halfway??? Or i book bus to bring the pupils halfway then they walk for the rest of the journey?? Or do project halfway???

C) Track team to contribute more to the school.

More runners are already training 3 times a week and some of them have 2 CCAs in order to better CCA grades, according to the LEAP criteria. Then must produce results, how to produce results for track when we do not have a coach, other top running schools are training 6 days a week, without the school asking them to contribute more to the school?? And meeting the criteria of achieveing NYAA?? Service Learning, Coummunity Involvement Project(6hours)?? The whole development of a pupil?? After all that, do the pupils got time to study at all???

D) If I want to promote so badly, then fight for it. Look for gap to fill.

Hmm.....What kind of Gap???

Must be proactive, look for oppotunity to do jobs for the "boss" - hmm..either it means to carry balls or I do his job, then he does his sup's job, then his sup does his sup's job, then one on top has nothing much to do, except to come up with so "new" ideas or philosophy. So might as well sack all of them and I do everything. Pay them so much for what??? Do not forget their pay comes from taxpayers' pocket.

E) Cockpit - which area I want to take?

Bro, I am already doing almost everything, from coverpage (when the pupils come in at secondary one), the 4-5 times a year printing result slips, class allocation, curriculum setup, class list and supporting the promotion exercise. Which area????

F) Ability - developing, not competent, not exceeding.

Parents, can you imagine all the teachers teaching your child in school only have developing abililties?? They are not competent enough. You are being ROBBED! You are not getting your money worth of school fee. BUT what can you expect from the meague school fees that you pay ($17 per month?)? AS the saying goes, WHEN YOU PAY PEANUTS, YOU GET MONKEYS.

G) Form class - both two teachers, what have I done?

I did not know form teachers also have to fight for "oppotunity" jobs. I thought we just cover each other is good enough. And during the discussion about my class in the beginning of the year, by saying that I only co-teaching this class and still new to the class is also not politically right. It seems to "show" that I do not have rapport with the pupils. By not reserving my comments politely is also not right, but do they really want to hear the harsh truth???

H) What kind of boss is this?

Work for him in the morning, then go to briefing above without lunch, did not even ask if we had lunch, where got welfare?? Fortunately, my gastric did not act up or else I will be going to the hospital and not the briefing.

I) Taking a risk by giving me the whole level to teach next year.

Why not you dun take the risk if it is so difficult to trust??? And that is very movtivational for a supervisor to say this to his sub, considering he fulfill the criteria (ability to movtivate) for promotion???? Can you imagine the officers say this to the army before they attempt the Normandy:" I am taking a RISK to sent you to NOrmandy? I hope you can survive and not die at the shores of Normandy???" Or is our country taking a RISK to let our army defend our country??? Hmm......................

In conclusion, it boils down to job satisfaction. It is not the money. If the pay is low, boss is good and got commission. Because I come to realise that work hard do equal to promotion or more pay. It is abit like communism, no matter how much I work, I still get the same pay, same increment every year.

The sky here is too small for my talent.