melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya

A huge fight broke up in my school yesterday. A group of Form 5 students fought with a group of Form 3 students. The situation got out of control so the police had to be called in. All the other students got excited and they rushed out of class to watch the spectacle from the balcony. We teachers had a hard time shooing them back into the class and keeping them seated at their place.

It was a total chaos.

Until today, it was the only topic discussed when teachers get together in the staff room, the canteen, the corridors, etc. Information concerning what started the fight and who were involved was gathered and shared. Teachers who happen to teach these students would then share what they know about them.

Amidst all these goings-on, one teacher's comment caught my attention. She said:
"Ada budak yang nakal, tapi hati dia lembut lagi... you can still reach out to them. Tapi ada budak yang nakal dan hati diaorang memang evil... and there's nothing you can do about it."

That gave me food for thought. I agree with what the teacher had said. I've encountered many problematic students, and you can sense whether the students are "reform-able" or not.

And when I've experienced teaching in both the morning and the afternoon sessions, I can certainly say that younger students are easier to mould. They are more impressionable and they actually listen to what you have to say. Thus, it's easier to put sense into their head, teach them right from wrong, and inculcate good values in them.

But once they are older, it's much more difficult to do so.

So I think that teachers should grab the chance to reach out to their students before the window of opportunity closes. Identifying the "potentially" problematic students is not really difficult, is it?

If we can "reform" them when they are still young, then, we'll save ourselves a lot of trouble later on.

When I think about today's kids in general (and the students in my school specifically), I shudder at the kind of people we're letting out into society.

For two days in a row now, after the last bell has rung and my students have left the class, I would stay back, slumped over my desk, feeling utterly defeated.

But I guess the moral of the story is to not give up on your students (even though their actions may at times cause you to have murderous thoughts about them). Try your best to reach out to them, to love them, to think well of them and to pray for their well-being. Avoid hurting them with your menyampah glance, comments and actions.

Remember:
"In all situations, it is [your] response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated; and a child humanized or dehumanized" -Haim Ginott-