sunrise

when the world is still in slumber...

gss day 1

天地人

i'm never a fan of 战国 stories but this NHK serial changed my view.

and when i 百度 for 直江兼续, i found this:
iPhone战国武将版壳套发布会

这套单价高达99800日元的iPhone壳套
以日本战国时代的著名武将为设计主题，
分为织田信长、伊达政宗、上杉谦信、直江兼续、真田幸村五种，
由拥有三百多年历史的漆品老店“象彦”参与打造，尽显和风之美。

individually wrapped in a luxurious price.

i want get an iPhone!

are singapore teachers overworked?

In a forum letter in The Straits Times on 15 May 2010, a teacher’s wife, Ms Aishah Quek chronicles her husband’s typical work day. She bemoans her husband’s punishing workload and questions the seeming non-existence of a work-life balance.

A teacher in a local primary school, Ms Quek’s husband wakes up at 5am every weekday, and leaves home by 6am, to reach school in time for morning ‘guard duty’ at 7am. After remedial lessons, co-curricular activities and administrative duties, her husband reaches home at 8pm for dinner, before, surprise, surprise, he starts to work from home.

If these normal working hours are representative of a typical day in the life of a teacher, do teachers; the people who play an integral role in shaping young, impressionable minds, have sufficient time to relax and recharge, before the next day comes around?

A student in the morning session has about 6 hours of lessons per day (from 7.30am to 1pm). But that’s just about the time a teacher’s after-teaching hours begin.

“On a typical day, we mark assignments, conduct remedial lessons and complete many administrative tasks, which often extend long beyond our official working hours,” said *John*, 35, a married primary school teacher with a one-year-old son.

Another educator, *Seline*, 27, who called it quits after three years, said, “When my husband and I were both teaching, we hardly had any quality time in the evenings because we’d both be busy marking assignments, preparing for the next day’s lessons or just be too tired.”

Added another teacher, *Lionel*, “I already feel drained by the time I start marking my students’ work after 5pm. This increases the likelihood of making errors.”

my take on this issue is this:

1. it's got to do with the school culture set by the management (level heads, hods, vp and p).

with foresight, they would be able to lead the school to greater heights. but where they are so micro-minded and bitter, all the nonsense would be passed on to the teachers. that's where all the add-ons comes in after a class is over. e.g. new school of thoughts: a teacher should be given the space to re-think about how they teach in groups. old school of thought: a teacher must be seen doing something until 6pm. i know of a school which makes it a point to end the weekly contact time no later than 3:30pm while my current bullshit school ends at 5:30pm weekly.

2. it's got to do with the teacher-student ratio.

not all schools have the same ratio. where schools have a balanced ratio, a teacher's weekly teaching periods is 32, at 30 mins per period. this gives them time to rest in between lessons, to complete some of their markings, to settle administrative matters or even to prepare for the next lesson. however, the teaching periods in this bullshit school is 49, one practically starts and ends the day with the students. 

at the end of the day, can you really blame someone who quits before or after their bond is up? its the littering cycle that cannot not be broken. fresh teachers fill up the gaps of the drained ones, who were busy picking up litters thrown by the system.