The Pain of Underachievement

Today marks the beginning of the promotional examination for the Year 1 students in College. For at least two weeks leading to this day of reckoning, students have been slowly disappearing from classes, withdrawing into their retreat to go into intensive study mode. Others have suddenly appeared with work which is like months overdue, asking tutors to include them as part of the continuous assessment score. Still more have finally made appointments with tutors to do one-to-one consultation. Some of these people are those you finally see after countless rounds of exhortation, threats and pleas. Sometimes, it’s really quite baffling and amusing at the same time to observe student behaviour during this period. Many devils lose their horns and become absolute angels and I really hope they don’t regenerate after they know they can be promoted. Somehow I wonder why can students be more consistent. We also know the pressures teenagers face nowadays.
Times have changed since I was a JC student, that’s like 15 years ago man.
At that time, life was definitely more innocent. First, there was competition but not to this present extent. Opportunities for scholarships were quite limited and there wasn’t much information on such things anyway. Getting a distinction for a A Level subject in 1991 was considered a stupendous achievement and getting 3 or 4 distinctions for your content subjects made you a god among your peers, not to mention creatures with S papers of course. In class, we often joked about how many subjects can we pass, not how many can we ace. You see, I came from the notorious Arts faculty, the one with slackers, potential prom queens and kings and troublemakers. Those students from hell, I suppose. Perhaps because of the fact that most of my peers fell into the category of slackers, I thoroughly enjoyed my life in JC which happens to be the place I am teaching now as well.
I remember skipping Econs lectures to go out to coffeeshops nearby to eat lunch. At that time, the school was still at Bukit Batok and far away from civilisation. Coffeeshops offered us some reprieve from shitty canteen food. Ok, the food was not bad, but you would get sick eating at the canteen 3 times a day, 5 days a week. Of course the mandatory crushes on female students and helping your friends chase girls. JC really broadened our horizons especially in the area of BGR. Many people also went through their first heartbreaks then as well.
I was the CT representative of my class and I think I was already quite a model student, at least in my whole JC life, I was never late and never did a single session of corrective service or CS. But if there was one thing I really hated, it was Economics.
Somehow I think Economics had a hex on me, or maybe I lack common sense. I think it’s a mix of both. Half the time I could not figure out what on earth was going on. So the vicious cycle began: I cannot understand, I didn’t bother, I keep failing, getting single digit marks, I give up attending lectures, I throw in the towel. Finally three weeks before the promotional examination I mustered the courage to tell my Econs tutor I am dropping the subject.
She asked me, what are you intending to do next time?
I said I wanted to be a teacher, but not an Econs teacher because I only love History and nothing else. She nodded and gave me her blessings.
I think for me it was a very clear cut decision and I never regretted my decision, but I know many students are still trying to keep 4 subjects, do S paper and the like. Are we really doing subjects we like? Are we hankering over things just because others want them as well? Are we going to cry our eyes out if we cannot keep the 4th subject or get the S paper?
I think ultimately it’s a question of perspective, but there is one thing one should remember, we should not lose sight of what is truly important in our lives. Grades are important, yes I don’t deny that in this present context, but it’s the friendships you forge and memories you make that are more precious. You may be the smartest student in class, but if you cannot even have a friend to call your own, then I think it’s really a sad and pitiable thing. So to all those mugging for the promos, relax a little, don’t give yourself too much pressure. Just tell yourself, I am at peace with myself so long as I know I have tried my best. Before I sign off and bore you with my JC life recollection, I want to wish all students out there all the best in their examinations. May your dreams come true.

Oh well oh well, came back at 1120 pm to find two very interesting posts. My dear Aik Chuan, I am not predicting 3-0 to the Toon because I am biased. I mean the Toon is slowing coming back to their best. Although Parker and Bramble might be doubtful after sustaining some crap injury again, I still feel they have enough quality to beat Pompey. If we don’t beat them, the pressure would return. Lyndon, I agree with your observation. Cech is really quite undisputedly the best keeper now in Europe, but Chelsea’s cheating ways will eventually catch up with them. They will definitely get their come-uppance. Confucius once said do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you. Since Chelsea loves to deploy extra goalkeepers by telling their defenders to use their hands/arms, one of these days, they will definitely score an own goal and concede penalties. Mark my words, it will come.

All four English clubs escaped unscathed from their Champions League encounters this week. Arsenal defied the saying “You can’t win anything with youngsters” and got a result at Ajax by defeating them 2-1. Manure got a result by the scoreline, but they again left it late when Ruud scored a 84th minute winner. One thing I really hate about this equine-faced player is his uncanny ability to feed on scraps like these. Benfica must feel really aggrieved. Chelsea and Liverpool ground out what had been described as an absolute bore with two controversial handball decisions going against Pool. Maybe that’s life, since there were criticisms of Pool’s CL victory over AC Milan not being fully deserved. So you win some, and you lose some. Rafa would see this as 2 points dropped but I think Mourinho would be a happier man.

All right, now for the weekend

Blackburn v West Brom 2-0 (Bellamy to drive the nails deeper into Baggies’ coffin)
Charlton v Tottenham 1-1 (Bent vs Defoe, a clash of England strikers)
Fulham v Man Utd 1-2 (A tiny blip for Alex last week which would be addressed this week)
Portsmouth v Newcastle 0-3 (I am going to tempt fate by going for Owen to score again, and the Toon to keep a clean sheet)
Sunderland v West Ham 1-2 (Renewed confidence to be dashed again by Harewood and Co.)
Man City v Everton 2-1 (Two crisis teams, Moyes to cry his eyes out)
Wigan v Bolton 1-2 (Bolton to consolidate their position at the lofty perch of EPL table)
Arsenal v Birmingham 2-0 (Brucey to leave the capital with nothing)
Aston Villa v Middlesbrough 2-1 (Milner to do us a service by crushing the Smoggies)
Liverpool v Chelsea 2-1 (Lyndon, this is for you, I am sticking my neck out to predict Pool to be the first team to end Chelsea’s run)

Recently the government charged three individuals under the Sedition Act for stoking the fires of racial misunderstanding on their blogs. The very fact that what individuals write on their blogs is no longer free from the prying eyes of our omnipotent government is very sobering. I mean sure those bums were really asking for trouble doing that kind of thing in our multi-racial society. After ten zillion years of National Education, countless campaigns and 40 long years of nation-building, surely some message/propaganda would have diffused into the cranium of those numskulls. So now we have three very scared bloggers in a deep cesspit and one million other bloggers fearing for the worst. Is it now time to do some self-censorship?
Surely blogging is an extremely carthatic activity if one’s energies are channelled properly. But sometimes things can really get out of hand. Just today when I was browsing through the Chinese newspapers, another piece of news involving teenage bloggers caught my eye.
Apparently there were several cases highlighted. In one case, students from a JC were suspended from school for a few days for slamming the Principal and Vice-Principal on their blog. In another case, comments were found on a girl’s blog which criticised a teacher (apparently a spinster, loosely translated as old hag, old virgin in Mandarin) for being overly fastidious when she chided the student for having a skirt which was too short. The student said that the old hag is always jealous of sweet young things. In another case, a teacher from a secondary school in West Coast commented that he had been hurled vulgarities on a student’s blog and that student even cursed and swore at the teacher’s family (you know what I mean). Another student also hacked into the school learning portal and posted obscenities there. Blogging is an ubiquitous activity among teenagers, but there is a lesson here.
Think twice before you do something naughty. The long arm of the law can catch you if it wants to. A lawyer interviewed reiterated the fact that teachers can actually file a lawsuit if there is a case for defamation. So students, before you launch your character assassination of your ‘favourite’ teacher/principal, think long and hard. Don’t throw away your life because of this.

After the previous round matches, the all omnipotent pundit has been brought back to earth again with a score of 6 out of 30 matches. I got only three results right, that’s 3 points for the Bolton-Portsmouth game, the NUFC-Man City game and the Chelsea-Villa match and a right scoreline for the West Brom-Charlton match. There were simply too many shocks to take over the weekend. I bet only the most foolhardy of Blackburn fans would have predicted the result at OT. Similarly no one thought cellar dwelling Sunderland could conjure a win at the Riverside, and this was a team that was conceding stupid goals and not scoring enough, sounds similar to a team in black and white, eh?
You may call me cheapskate but I was also pleasantly delighted by the total destruction of Man U Reserves in an encounter with NUFC Reserves and the former was literally chopped to pieces by one of the pretenders to Shearer’s striking throne, Michael Chopra. Chopra has been scoring goals regularly in the youth teams and the reserves and even made a first start against Intertoto opponents before succumbing to injury. Now two goals against the hated enemy across the Pennines would be a signal to Souness that it isn’t just the lanky Ameobi available should our strikeforce become depleted. I bet the gaffer would be extremely pleased with this performance.

A check on the papers reveal that all’s not well with Manure. At this stage, they are already 10 points behind leaders Chelsea. Fergie persists in playing a 4-3-2-1 formation which does no justice to Rooney’s goalscoring talents. The situation got so bad on Saturday that fans were chanting 4-4-2 at Fergie. Why the hell was he resting Rooney and for what? Ruud seems also to have lost his composure in front of goal. Watching the match and looking at the chances he had, you reckoned he would have had a hat-trick. Scholes did the unthinkable, gifting the winning goal to Pedersen. With a player of his experience and quality, no one would have thought it possible for Scholes to do that idiotic thing. So committing kamikaze in front of your defence is not the Toon’s prerogative.
And of course, with Heinze out, the stability of the defence is also compromised. Now Fergie refuses to talk MUTV and has a minder with him. Apparently two fans tried to whack him after the collapse to Blackburn. As the Sun aptly puts it, The Reds are At War. Nice. All hail the impending or should I say the total collapse of the Manure regime. No doubt, Gary Neville can shut his gab about the Blues losing grip by 2010, Chelski would be the one to beat now.

As a fan of Newcastle United, weekends don’t often end pleasantly. But over the course of two weeks, many Toon fans managed to avoid the painful plight of cardiac arrest watching the kamikaze style of defending for which NUFC is so well known. The weekend fixtures began with an intriguing visit by Liverpool to St. Andrews and after a forgettable first half which I was almost bored to tears, the second half sprang to life which put paid to accusations of the League being boring and predictable. 4 goals in the space of 18 minutes isn’t what we call boring football by any standards. As my fellow football pundit Lyndon put it, Liverpool must be cursing at the wretched luck. How did the three points get away? 1 goal scored in four games and 2 scored now in a single game and not even enough to win the game. Rafa must be scratching his head. Frankly speaking, the defence of Liverpool was not convincing and Reina’s comical handling does not inspire confidence at all among the back four. It would have been even more humiliating if not for Cisse to spare Liverpool’s blushes. Sigh, how can Pool win the title like this? I mean the Toon has no hope but to aim for some cheap Cup but Liverpool cannot win the league based on the evidence of this showing. Good luck to your Champions League encounter against Chelsea. Shudder…
Moving on, Chelski or Roman’s team managed to keep a perfect record of 7 victories after overcoming a dogged Aston Villa which had threatened to beat them at Stamford Bridge. The only plus that came out of this encounter was Chelsea conceding their first goal in like 500 over minutes of football and Luke Moore helping to contribute 10000 pounds sterling to charity. Good job, Lukey.
Next up was the showdown at Old Trafford where the student faces off his mentor. Mark Hughes brought his Blackburn team and played the perfect role of a spoiler with Pedersen scoring a beauty of a goal in each half to condemn the Manure team to their first league defeat. Guess what, it was Paul Scholes who gave away the second goal.. Nice. He was big mouthed enough to say that if Manure did not win their matches against Blackburn and Fulham, they can kiss the title goodbye, so now his prophecy is half right. I think Scholesy can be a psychic when he retires because his predictions are darn so accurate.
Finally to the Toon’s victory over Man City. Owen has begun to repay his transfer fee by netting the winner in a pulsating encounter in a 1-0 win. Bowyer’s through ball was magnificent and Owen’s finish was exquisite. Souness was gushing also at the strength of our midfield and when the big guns are back… heh heh we are going to beat the hell out of those clowns who have laughed at our misfortunes.

Given - 9 His point blank save in the 7th minutes from Sibierski was the platform for our victory.
Carr - 7 A steady performance
Boumsong - 6 Not very convincing, he has been poor for many matches now
Bramble - 8 Finally showing what a rock in defence he actually is
Babayaro - 7 One of the best games he ever had
Bowyer - 7 Grit and determination personified
Faye - 6 replaced Bowyer, did what was needed
Clark -7 Geordie spirit flows through him, a toughie
Parker - 7 Soon to be knocking on England’s door
N’Zogbia - 8 Another good performance, how can Emre or Luque get into the side?
Shearer - 6 - His head down paved the way for the goal
Ameobi - 5 A lot way to go to replace Shearer
Owen - 10 Two goals in three games, 7 out of 9 points since he started, what a transformation. All hail the new hero of Tyneside.
Subs n/u: Elliott, Harper, Moore.

The League Second Round threw up a few acts of David slaying Goliath, with Spurs going out to Grimsby in the second last minute of normal time, Pompey also out by the odd goal in five to Gillingham and Man City suffered heartbreak after losing 3-0 on penalties to Doncaster Rovers.

This is the Third Round Draw and I bet a few lower division teams would be also trying to put banana skins under the Premier League teams, let’s just hope it’s not the Toon.

Doncaster v Gillingham
Bolton v West Ham
Crystal Palace v Liverpool
Manchester United v Barnet
Chelsea v Charlton
Reading v Sheffield United
Fulham v West Brom
Mansfield v Millwall
Sunderland v Arsenal
Everton v Middlesbrough
Wigan v Watford
Grimsby v Newcastle
Aston Villa v Burnley
Blackburn v Leeds
Cardiff v Leicester
Birmingham v Norwich

After scoring 8 out of 30 points and squashing my opposition last week, I will try my luck again this week as I seek to replicate my form. Here goes:

Birmingham v Liverpool 0-1 (I will still plum for Pool to nick this)
Chelsea v Aston Villa 2 - 0 (No other way except for Chelsea to win this)
Everton v Wigan 1-1 (Toffees low on confidence, perfect for eating)
Man Utd v Blackburn 2-0 (Bellamy to be frustrated)
Newcastle v Man City 2-1 (Toon to win this, please)
West Brom v Charlton 1-2 (Bent to score, again.)
West Ham v Arsenal 1-2 (Arse to stroll again)
Bolton v Portsmouth 2-1 (Trotters trot over Pompey)
Middlesbrough v Sunderland 2-0 (Mackems stuffed)
Tottenham v Fulham 1-1 (Spurs to misfire again)

Every year as we near the beginning of the examination period, there is always a phenomenon in College. Students will start disappearing one by one from classes. It will start as a trickle before becoming a deluge as the examination period draws nearer. Today, my Project Work class was done by half. When I asked what happened to those poor MIA souls, the rest gave me goofy smiles and sheepish looks. Of course, they have gone into hibernation to prepare their final assault on the examination.
I think this is the student mentality; why come to school and sit through seemingly less important lessons when I can stay at home, lie on my comfy bed, meet up with friends and do my revision all at the same time? This is where they are wrong because kind teachers sometimes give hints during these last days before Doomsday and absence from classes can in the end count against you.
Of course, we are always fighting a losing battle trying to have full attendance in the period leading up to the examinations and convincing them to come to school is an uphill task. Having been in the line for 6 years doesn’t make me more prepared to deal with this. In the meantime, I guess I have to just wish these hibernating chaps all the best and hope their hiatus from school would have done wonders for them.