Teaching and Educating

so we were trying to explain to someone what it is that we were doing in our school. what we mean by character development. that it is beyond just the structures of the programmes, it is more than the activities. that these activites and programmes are really just means to impact the lives of the students by touching the hearts.

however, so many people don't get it. because they want quick fixes. they want to know how things are done, as they always have been done, within the framework of something that they can take away and run with. but they cannot. because each student is different, because you really have to be sensitive to their hearts, their emotions, their feelings and then reach them in an emotional level, touch them, inspire them. that takes time outside of formal structures, that takes effort beyond structure, that is not something that you can follow from a script or a lesson plan. worst, it doesn't have easily measured KPIs.

and many Singaporeans, because of the way we are brought up, do not understand that and do not want to understand that.

but it's ok. i do. and i believe in it. i believe that it is just as important to spend time making small talk and idle chit chat with the students as it is to teach them the subject.

after all... we aren't just 'teaching books' (jiao shu), but we are also educating the person (yu ren).