Another Friend In
I have a former colleague who had been passed over for a promotion from Assistant Engineer to Engineer even after getting his degree from NTU and was very upset. We used to work pretty closely last time, even though he was working in Process while I was working with Equipment, and always had a good time during breaks. Back when I left the company, he had asked me if it was worth giving up being an Engineer to be a Teacher. We had a couple of good chats while in the cleanroom and I had encouraged him to give Teaching an opportunity as it becomes available to him. The company has been too harsh on mistakes at times and I felt that anyone working in the fab was just waiting for that one incident to remove us so that newer and cheaper staff may be brought in. Also, personally, I had always wanted to go into Teaching because I wanted to give something back to society......and perhaps I was too cheapo to give big to charity or not smart enough to be a Doctor.
Anyway, couple of weeks back he gave me a call and told me he had just returned from an interview at MOE HQ. He had applied to be a Primary School Chinese Teacher and wanted to find out more about the Teaching environment in Singapore's primary schools. I assured him that he should be able to do fine and not to worry too much. Of course there are the usual "In-Group" or "Power-Clique" in the schools and they generally do not like Mid-Career entrants such as ourselves but they generally do not touch Chinese teachers. Why? I did not tell him then but I personally think it is because these people do not see Chinese teachers as a threat to them climbing up the Leadership Track. I personally have great respect for Chinese teachers, they have the most thankless jobs of all the subjects and with the government removing the need for a Mother-Tongue subject when applying to local universities just to prevent a brain drain, alot of students are simply turning a deaf ear and giving no respect to them.
Got a call from him again couple of days back and he told me that he had received an SMS from MOE. He asked me if it was the same for me back then and I told him yes. I congratulated him and wished him all the best. He knows that I really want to return to Teaching and said that he hopes to attend NIE at the same time with me. We had a good laugh and I told him that I hope so too myself. Now if only MOE will forgo that report from my previous experience and give me another chance.
Anyway, couple of weeks back he gave me a call and told me he had just returned from an interview at MOE HQ. He had applied to be a Primary School Chinese Teacher and wanted to find out more about the Teaching environment in Singapore's primary schools. I assured him that he should be able to do fine and not to worry too much. Of course there are the usual "In-Group" or "Power-Clique" in the schools and they generally do not like Mid-Career entrants such as ourselves but they generally do not touch Chinese teachers. Why? I did not tell him then but I personally think it is because these people do not see Chinese teachers as a threat to them climbing up the Leadership Track. I personally have great respect for Chinese teachers, they have the most thankless jobs of all the subjects and with the government removing the need for a Mother-Tongue subject when applying to local universities just to prevent a brain drain, alot of students are simply turning a deaf ear and giving no respect to them.
Got a call from him again couple of days back and he told me that he had received an SMS from MOE. He asked me if it was the same for me back then and I told him yes. I congratulated him and wished him all the best. He knows that I really want to return to Teaching and said that he hopes to attend NIE at the same time with me. We had a good laugh and I told him that I hope so too myself. Now if only MOE will forgo that report from my previous experience and give me another chance.
posted by Prosage at 4:53 pm
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