*.* Having authority and being a servant *.*
Matthew 23:1-12Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people´s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ´Rabbi.´ As for you, do not be called ´Rabbi.´ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ´Master´; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."I went for morning mass today at SVDP with my brother. Since this is the holiday week for me, I decided that I should attend mass as frequently as possible. When school kicks in next week, I will be too busy and tired to rush down for mass.For today's homily, the Father said that he as a priest, has a lot of authority because He is a teacher. And he related that what he is doing is also similar to the school teachers because we teach people. As people of guidance, we wield a lot of authority in our hands. We can make a person or we can crush a person's esteem. We can make someone's day happy or make it gloomly. We can create useful knowledge or knowledge that is not applied usefully in their lives. We can help people become interested to learn or destroy their interest to learn. As teachers, we do possess tremendous power, indeed.I got reminded of the times I relieved the technical and normal academic classes. In my 3 weeks there, I had almost relieved all the technical and normal academic classes from Sec 1 to 4. Particularly, what left me the greatest impression were 2 classes. Class A: This class has students who like to draw. They were very happy when I appreciated their drawings. And they wanted to draw more for me. When I look at them, I wonder if they will put that much effort on thier drawings to their studies? I don't think so. But the bottom of it all, is that they still have something to give. There's another girl whom I do not know her name. But she took to me almost immediately. Such that she was so "friendly" to call me "Miss Adorable". Of course, I didn't allow her to call me "Miss Adorable" but I compromised for "Ms Hazel". No matter what, wherever I go, she would greet me "Ms Adorable" and I would chide her and tell her to call me "Ms Ho" or "Ms Hazel". There was one day when I wanted to give sweets to my sec 2 class and I carried that bag of sweets with me in the morning. When I saw her at the bus stop, I decided to give her some sweets. After all, it was my last 2 days in school and I do not know when I will see her again. And during that school day, when she saw me again, she said "Thank you Ms Ho. Your sweets were very nice." And all that is coming from a technical student.The next scenario comes from a technical class too. This class is the most notorious in the whole school. Almost every teacher is keeping the class under a watchful eye. They are monitored very closely. The thing is, not everyone in the class is bad. Just because of some bad students, the whole class is held responsibile. On the 2nd last day at Zhonghua, I wanted to inform my class about something. They were sitting for their class test after school. Being early, I decided to loiter around the corridor and I entered a technical classroom where I saw a group of girls cleaning up the classroom. The tables were pushed to the sides of the classroom, one on top of the other. The chairs were stacked on top of one another. I asked the girls who helped them to do all these. And they said that they did it themselves as the guys have disappeared. The girls also swept the whole classroom so that they have a clean place to sleep in at night during their camp. I was totally impressed and touched. This is because, even though the whole class had abandoned them, the group of six girls still remained behind to do what they had to do. Who has taught them this responsibility? It must be so hard to do what they have to do especially when 3/4 of the class have disappeared. I talked to one girl and she shared that she cried so hard when she failed her promotional exam (to be promoted up to Normal Academic). My heart went out to her. But she said that she wants to try again. When I asked her why, she said she did not want anyone to look down on her anymore. She hates being in the technical stream. The harsh truth is, it is very hard for a technical student to be promoted up to normal academic unless the student works very hard (or is brilliant). The thing is, the syllabus for technical has been greatly reduced such that it is below the normal academic standard. But, it is not impossible.The technical students are the most oppressed lot. Because at the end of their 4/5 years, they have to come to terms with the fact that they really can't do anything much. Not only that, they have to suffer the stigma of being the naughtiest, cannot study type, etc... The thing is, if we do put aside the black sheep, the white sheep are actually not that bad. And if we were to give chances and the face to the black sheep, you can actually win the black sheep over. Teachers have given these students the whole idea that we think that they are the bad lot. And they have admitted that they enjoy irritating teachers because they feel bored and they want to see the teacher angry. But the idea is, they can be good IF we give them the chance to do so.Being a teacher holds tremendous power but we also have to be servants of authority. We need to respect these underprivileged lot and to relieve them of their burdens that they are feeling. We need to provide opportunites to grow in their self-esteem so that they can feel they are useful and appreciated. We cannot afford to grow so proud and to use the power we have indiscriminately. We cannot afford to do so because every subtle action has many ripple effects. We always have to be continually grateful for the opportunities to meet such students.Today's homily struck me a great deal and made me appreciate the role as a teacher once more. I wonder how my life will be like at NYJC but I am thankful for the wonderful experience I had at Zhonghua. I am seeing things I may not probably see for the longest time ever. I will seek to be a humbler teacher, acknowledging my students' strengths and transforming their weaknesses into strengths.
A Child of God blogged @ | 10:32 pm
