Star Q
The article written by Dr Aarzmi Yaacob which appeared in the Star newspaper a while back was not something that we are unaware of. Much have been written, by teachers and those not in the teaching profession alike, who think they know more about teaching than teachers themselves, about the grouses and dissatisfactions that teachers experience. Too much have been written in the media to let the public know about what teachers face and how teachers feel; unfortunately.
The thing is when the public knows every single detail about the goings-on in the teaching profession, teachers are sitting ducks to the criticisms from the public. Putting out your dirty linen out to dry in the eyes of the public, makes it prone to public scrutiny. Sadly but truly, the public (which is normal in human beings) tend to see the dirt collected on the linen and not what the linen has been used for.
The public thrives on picking out every single comment about the teaching profession and twisting them around, highlighting all the negative points. Very seldom do we hear the public giving glowing remarks to the teachers and throwing them roses. So much so that even on the once-a-year Teachers Day, we still get scathing comments from the public condemning the teachers.
When teachers and every other Tom, Dick and Harry write about all the minute details of the teaching profession, you can expect people to know your secrets. I mean, imagine if a husband and wife tells the whole world about what they do every day, their quarrels, their interests and the bedroom stories, people are bound to pick out the ones that appeal to them; the sordid details.
Similarly with teaching, it would be instrumental to the teaching profession if less is said about it in the daily papers, especially with regards to the details about what teachers actually do. I mean, it isn't every day that we read about nurses administering medicines to patients, or how they take care of them or what actually goes on behind the walls of clinics or hospitals. We don't hear nurses harping about what they do and how the public should react towards their profession. The same goes with other professions. They do not expose their secrets to the public and hence, their occupations are not open to public scrutiny.
As for the teaching profession, the damage has been done. There is no turning back to rectify all the mistakes done when teachers and non-teachers go public about the teaching profession. Perhaps it is time to take the silent approach and let the public know only what they are supposed to know. Perhaps teachers should stick to what they do best, that is teaching. As for the public, they will thrive on what ever information teachers have to feed them. If teachers teachers stop feeding them, then perhaps they will die; or at the very least be less intrusive towards the teaching profession.
