i finally understand how it feels to be in the "
best" class.. in my case, more specifically, to be the form teacher of the "
best" class...
when i was a student (and yes, i wasn't in the top class), together with my other classmates, we would always think that our fellow schoolmates, who had excelled in their final exams in sec. 2 and got good enough results to be in the top class, were
smart but arrogant nerds. we couldn't stand the way they always scored the best results, given the best opportunities... basically, just about everything good that happened to them, our first thought would be "
just because they're in the top class, they can have/behave like/get away with this and that..."
thinking back, i guess me and my friends just didn't want to feel inferior to them, and we were most likely super jealous of them too.. so we just made these remarks to make ourselves feel better... (well, it happened long ago, i'm really just speculating that those were our thoughts then)
but now, being a FT of the top class.. i finally can empathise, not just empathise, i can actually feel how it is like to be in the top class...
many people think that as students in the top class, they're able to get away with many things.. like how the boys wouldn't get caught for having long hair... the truth is, if you have long hair, you get caught, whether you're in top class or not... its simple as that. and yes, i do have boys who were caught even though i truly wish they had listened to my warnings and had their hair cut before the school wide spot check. and if no one gets pulled out, it doesn't mean they're excused because they're in the top class... it simply is because they all had neat and tidy hair.
but that's not all... when they're given the ok for hair check, many people would also say other things like "
they're in the top class, all of them are so kiasu, they'll definitely get their hair cut"...
left or right, up or down, no matter what the students do, just because they're in the top class, others will just have comments to make...
all the other classes have faulty whiteboards... whiteboards with "pit holes" on them, whiteboards that are difficult to erase... now look into the top class, they have a whiteboard which looks brand new, with its seemingly gleaming shiny surface which erases with ease....
once again, there's talk.. talk about how the school is bias to give the top class the best infrastructure... now, hold on, just hold on.... the whiteboard we had in our classroom was in the same bad condition as the others have now, one year ago... when we had a faulty whiteboard one year ago, i asked for a change... so one year ago, we already had this "new, gleaming, shiny whiteboard"... but other people wouldn't notice.. there isn't a need to.. because their whiteboards were working then... it's only when their whiteboards get damaged will they start to compare and realise and assume that the top class always gets it first...
as the FT of this class, i feel really sad for my students... they are always, and i do mean
always, being "
picked on"...
for all the others not in 4/5 or 3/5, and you're reading this, please remember that before the students of 4/5 or 3/5 were in their respective classes, they were once your friends and classmates in lower secondary. they are in this class, some because they chose to be, some because they are allocated to be in this class... 40 students from every cohort have to be in this class.. if you were one of the 40, how would you feel to be in their shoes? if they were truly arrogant, if they had looked down on you, let me know. i'll have a chat with them.. but if they haven't, don't find fault with them just because of the class they belong to... they're all just normal teenagers like the others in the "
non-top" class too...