AN OPEN LETTER TO 3/4

On the tagboard, I receive something pretty psychologically disturbing... A girl (gender assumed) by the nick "Tee Hee" wrote "y r u always on policies? Different ones at that. isn't it suppose to be like a dairy?"

Firstly, to get the record straight or round for the matter, my agenda for a blog is quite different from many others out there; I am a mismatcher, which means I do things I want, not to conform to other expectations. Secondly, I don't own cows, goats or any cattle, and neither do I deprecate myself with sick cow/goat jokes. The other thing which I seriously cannot understand where in this blog did you find me arguing about milk?

I should write something about myself in this post. Anyway that was what blogs or should I say conventional ones are all about, right?

I should dedicate my post on my form class 3/4. As I tried to "teenagize"* myself by using what I always see on my girls' blogs "3/4 rock my sox" (Traumatising but quite a relief :S) In fact I was pretty affected by some fo the entries in the girls blogs regarding the IJ Netball Carnival and most importantly about the apparent lack of unity. The very fact that I was stuck at home, doing my readings so that I can start drafting my essay for my Master assignment didn't help. Driven by impulse, I decided to take time to sit the girls down and talk to them about how I felt about the incident. I should write this as an open letter, a follow up to the talk we had in the hall this morning.

* Shortwoman Dictionary, the abler companion of Longman Dictionary (yah that is a lame one) refers that to making someone perceivably old, young again by using the jagong (opps jargon) of the young through their words, written or spoken.

An open letter to 3/4

Dear girls of 3/4,

It came as a surprise to me, that I was made form teacher of 3/4 2004. My inital reaction was that of shock and uncertainity. I had established close bonds with my 3/3 and 4/3 classes and was wondering whether the whole lot of you will be even close to that.

However, my interaction with all of you for the past 5 months had shown me that 3/4 is a much united class than the 3/3 I had initially 2 years ago. Your camaraderie in the Sec 3 adventure camp, your enthusiasm in the many decorations competitions had made me sit up and look at this class with different eyes; though I must admit that I first look at the class with tainted lenses and never see all of you as new and exiting experiences but as ghosts that continue to haunt my past encounters with 3/3 and 4/3.

There are groups of girls who are keen to make the class a great one and tried their best to do so. I appreciate what they have done as that is what I believe education is all about. It is not just about academic excellence, it is about working with each other. Some girls commented about the lack of cooperation from a big/small/certain group of girls but I guess this is part and parcel of what it can happen in the real world. It is all about working with the people you don't usually work with and bring out the best of each other. I remember when I was in Victoria School Sec 1 n years ago (where n is a positive integer), I came from a class of only 19 students, a bliss for teachers but an absolute nightmare when it come to taking part in inter-class sports and games. How can you form a bloody soccer team of 11 players out of 19 when most of us are not that physically gifted? As a result it was a walk in the garden for the rest of the other classes when they were drawn to meet us, whether it is volleyball, or basketball, whether it is table tennis or soccer; for the result for us is always L-O-S-E. We were the perennial losers. However, we sent in a team for EVERY competition, we played every games even though we were subjected to physical and verbal abuse from the other classes who basically uses us as punching bags. Sometimes I wonder, if I was in a another class, would I have appreciate my friends/classmates/confidantes that much? It was when we cried (yes we did CRY) that we became closer to each other. After 2 years of being "bullied", I noticed that I have grown, (not puberty) as a person.

I feel that I had inherited a good class, and I believe it has the potential to be a great class. And to do so, every single member have to put aside their own differences and start seeing things from other people's points of view. It also mean that we have to help each other as a class, spiritually, emotionally, and academically. That's when we start growing as people. Only by helping others, then you will grow.

I would like to see the 3/4 girls getting together as a class. To make the teachers stand up and look and appreciate, to get the class to cooperate, to help each other grow as a class. I don't need 3/4 to win every competition available for I never see disgrace in losing; you learn from your mistakes and get valuable lessons in life. Besides it is never about losing, but how you lose. As a class, you win as a class, or you lose as a class. There are no individual identity just individuals having a class identity. Neither do I want 3/4 to compete to be the best class ever, because in my opinion you are already the best!

I hope that those in 3/4 who read this will relay it to your classmates, and hope that this will spur all of you to a common goal!

Good Luck!

Mr Ng
Form Teacher
Sec 3/4 2004