Popular

So here I am, fourth day into my subbing gig, and, for the last three working days in a row, Sprite has received three presents from her students.

Can anyone (not you, troll) say, wow?

It was just Saturday morning that et (or emu, or travestyno42*, or whatever he wants to call himself) commented that school wasn't a popularity contest. A sentiment which I agree wholeheartedly with, by the way. To be fair, it was Friendship Day on Friday and the chocolates were probably for that; the photograph on Thursday could be as innocuous as an extra print from the owner of the camera; and today's 'gift' was a 'thank you' note for the loan of a textbook.

Still, it must be nice to come in the morning to find something at your workstation that is not an offence report or a memo telling you that you have twenty things to be done before recess.

Who had the time to be popular? OK, maybe there were a few: the old-timers counting the days to their retirement and pension; the young 'uns whose sole preoccupation is still the good opinions of pubescent hormone factories; and those biding their time, waiting for the recovery of the economy before saying, "toodles!" to the service and landing themselves a better-paying job that ends when the workday ends.

I didn't have the luxury of popularity. Nor was it meant for someone with the appointment I had.

Not that I gave a[n] airborne fornication about popularity anyway. It's just as well for the state of education in Singapore that there are still teachers more concerned about doing a good job than being popular.

And no, that wasn't Envy speaking. I think I'm secure to know that my own worth is not measured in the opinion of others. Especially of others that don't matter.

This, then, is the big difference between the teacher and the sub. The sub comes in, babysits a class -- maybe teach a lesson or two -- then goes home. She doesn't deal with the administration, the orders from the powers-that-be, the parents, the kids or the CCAs. The sub doesn't suddenly realise, after five years of teaching, that she is working 69 hours a week (preparation, lessons, marking, admin work, meetings) and feeling very little enjoyment at being categorised and packed away into a role that she didn't relish in the first place.

A pity I did not realise this before I signed on the dotted line. I might have stayed in advertising if I hadn't remembered the warm, glowy feeling I had when I was relief teaching just after I'd returned from Canada and before I got the ad agency job.

No regrets, though, for what I'd done with the time in teaching. Made me appreciate my teachers for putting up with me all those years ago.



* A pretty good read in its own right, if you can forgive the usual teenage quirks. I'm quite impressed with his maturity of writing and taste in movies/ television programmes.


Addendum (Wed Feb 18, 14:23:00 PM): I'd just realised: there might have been a fourth gift. A rainbow coloured lollipop left on the table on my first day (exactly one week ago). 4-for-4.