Demolishing the Tofu

some stupid student blogged about some things that my P said to the whole school. P was basically scolding the school about certain things. the language he used was very harsh and certain terms were used quite loosely. so this stupid student, in a fit of self-righteousness, decided to take issue. he blogged about it, saying some nasty things about the P, claiming that the P is stupid, a lousy leader, bad for the school, etc etc

what this student doesn't know is how much the P has done for the school, how much he has transformed the school from one which people know for being horrible to one which is well-known for being an excellent example of all-round education, from one where students don't want to join, to one which students are fighting to gain admission to.

and so, without knowing the background, and purely based on what he sees superficially, he went on to pontificate, to make himself out to be some courageous and righteous crusader. and while he was at that, he did not suggest any ways to solve/address the problems that made P scold the school in the first place. all this stupid student did was whine, complain. "oh you evil Pricinpal. you scolded us with harsh tones. you are lousy, you are horrible."

i hope that this stupid student is not representative of this generation of youth. alas... it might be. it is a generation which loves to challenge authority. nothing inherently wrong with that, but this is also the generation (or at least those that i have seen) who dare not step up to be the authority. they tell you what they think is wrong, refuse to follow you, but refuse to offer solutions, refuse to take responsibility of leadership. they expect things to be handed to them exactly in the way they want it. they do not know the concept of fighting for what they want, they do not know the concept of seeing past the surface, thinking deep and hard. they do not know how to take hard knocks, to get back up after a trashing and continue fighting.

if my generation is soft (and i think we are), the next is far worse. they do not think they are soft. they think that they are damn bloody good when they are nothing but posers and pretenders.

i know i have written about this before, but being a teacher has made me realise the importance of teachers being firm on students. i am thankful that my class is responding to my firmness (to the point of teacher brutality...). i hope that they will end up all the better for it (i firmly believe they would).

i believe in tough love. spare the rod, spoil the child. i believe that we have to be harsh on our young, tear them down, all the horrible things, the lousy habits, the many character flaws that they have. only then can they be built up, molded into the sort of people that society needs, the sort of people who will lead fulfilling lives.

btw, someone called Ally left a comment on my post about Parental Guidance. Ally, do i know you?