blog/enigma

Thursday, June 26, 2008

8:41 PM

I am depressed for a number of reasons.

The most obvious one would be the aftermath of the assembly. For people who doesn't know what's happened:

Background
The assembly topic was regarding the 3.0 MSG mark for EP3 (CCA) leaders. The school is pushing for the policy of relinquishing the leadership posts of those who can't make the academic cut (getting more than 3.0 MSG for one term, not sure what's the GPA equivalent), at least temporarily.

This issue is triggered by a parent complaining that his son was too heavily involved in his CCA, Scouts, and had gotten 4 Ds in his A levels.

A survey conducted Mr. Hon (Principal) showed 9% of the student population objected to this measure. The other 91 percent consists of students who didn't indicate their stance, or didn't object to the measure.

Issue
Usually I don't participate in assemblies at all (unless you count the snide remarks), because they disinterest, or sometimes entertain me with the sheer banality of its format. Mr Hon will announce the school's interest in some issue, and he'll pretend to "discuss" it with the school population when what he's really doing is to strengthen his support and refute all the other arguments.

Of course, that's my own flawed, immature, childish, rebellious judgement, and is my personal opinion. I take it upon myself that I may be wrong, but unless a new trend show up, I will not waver from my attitude regarding assemblies, that they are inherently totalitarian, and it's a facade of supposed democracy. If I have to be convinced by higher authorities, by twisted reason, I will not waver.

But that's not the point. The point is on Wednesday, for once, I went up on my own, to confront Mr. Hon about it. I say confront because I realized what I did wasn't just to go to the mike to present my position on this issue. It was to struggle against something that was already decided in Mr. Hon's mind.

There were various reasons why I did it. One, because it was relevant. I cannot stand by and let a decision that would affect me be ratified. The second one was due to the lack of a proper stance against the decision. When (potential) leaders of elite EP3s (note: prominent CCAs, consisting mostly of sports) were summoned down, most of them gave vague replies, generally agreeing and going with the flow. Others gave feeble attempts, like bargaining for a 3.5.

What is this nonsense?

I understand that it's a minority group we're discussing about. And yes, students are meek and obedient when faced with authority. But to me, it's a gross injustice. What is this nonsense?

I went to the mike, and that is what I said (the rough idea. You'll have to trust me on accuracy.).

-I questioned the accuracy of the survey. It was obvious that only a small number of sec3s supported the idea. I asked the students again, who actually supports the idea. A few stick-like hands rose up. Everyone else was laughing at how inaccurate the survey is. Oh, so that is 91%? I don't think so.

-Mr. Hon insisted that his survey is "real". He went on to tell us that we shouldn't blame others for not electing. I couldn't understand why he's denying himself the chance of seeing the real, pertinent truth. We can see, quite clearly, that the survey does not reflect real results. What's the point of such a survey then?

-For me, it's really a matter of principles. Such an action taken by the school is a direct message to the EP3 leaders. It's an alarming threat, that "If you don't perform academically, we're taking your post away." That might not be intended, but I feel that, too acutely. I'm sure many of us feel the same way. Isn't the school supposed to be, oh, "nurture leaders?" Is this the way that the school is nurturing and supporting leaders?

-I'm pushing for the notion of approaching student leaders with academic difficulty on a case-by-case basis. Some EP3s really NEED leaders. Then I mentioned I was from band, a poor decision on hindsight. I mentioned that we need lots of leaders, because it's not easy to run a band.

-Mr. Hon then questioned that do we need so many leaders for band. I replied that the band won't perform optimally if we lose even a single leader.

-What I didn't mention was how Mr. Hon seems to be dismissing leaders as a infinite resource.

-I touched on the idea of leaders whose results are not due to EP3, but other reasons. It's not fair. If the person in question is slack, and doesn't do his leadership post well, sack him for all I care. But what about people who really work hard, still fail to perform, taking the post won't help. It'll make him lose respect. It'll crush his self-confidence.

-Mr. Hon said something about grades being the basic standard we must achieve.

-I was really tempted to say, "If we take a A-levels student with straight As and throw him in the workforce, he'll earn what, 3k a month? A professional saxophonist? Easily 10K a month. The professional would enjoy his job."

-Different definitions of success, people.

-In the end, the chairperson said there was no time, and Mr. Hon said he would consider my take on the measure being a guideline rather than a rule.

***

The aftermath was rather complicated.

Immediately after, I had a distinct floaty feeling. I felt like I've won a battle, even though I could never beat Mr. Hon in an argument. I have people telling me that I was "articulate", "persistent", and there were people generally just saying how I impressed them. A clap on the back. My ego was inflated.

Then came other remarks. A teacher pulled me aside this morning, and told me something along these lines: "You don't have to listen to this, but you have to take note of your speech when talking to Mr. Hon. You have a lot of bravery, but no EQ. You cannot confront Mr. Hon just like that, twice even. It's not respectful. You can make suggestions to him, but what you said made things difficult for Mr. Hon."

I nodded. At that time I didn't give it much thought.

Then teachers I know started telling me the same thing. I was in the staff room, and suddenly a booming voice said, "JIASHENG! YOU ARE THE ONE! THE ONE WHO CONFRONTED MR. HON!"

I said, "It wasn't a confrontation. It was a... erm. discussion."

They weren't convinced. In fact they were going on and on about how I have no EQ.

I bet now teachers discuss me in the pantry, when stirring their coffees.

"You know that boy. So rude to Mr. Hon. No EQ."

I'm depressed about how this school operates like that.

Do note I omitted all names, for fear of persecution.

I'll like to hear from you. You can use a pseudonym, and I promise to guard your I.P. address with my life. Just tell me something I should do.

Though I shouldn't expect any tags.

signed, jiasheng