Current mood:

enraged

- Why do couples conceive and have children, only to leave them in the care of the teachers? -
One of the draw backs of being a teacher is that I am averse to the idea of having my own children considering that I get to see how much the young has degenerated.  I am profoundly fearful of finding out that in spite of a morally sound upbringing, these non-existent children of mine will one day turn into delinquents, having mixed with the wrong crowd.  

Having been part of the school's Discipline Committee, I am privy to many of the major offence cases.  It is already problematic enough having to counsel / punish the offenders who may be resistant to all sorts of help offered by the school, but the depressing part is having to deal with the parents.  Most of them live in a time warp, believing their child to be the adorable 3-year old that he / she once was and refusing to admit to the fact that their child is no longer innocent and clueless.  Some parents on the other hand, do nothing but cry and lament over their wayward son / daughter.  They will then feign ignorance at the best method to handle the child and will plead to the Discipline Committee / school management to look after him / her on their behalf instead.  Typically, I would always try to be as sympathetic and as understanding as possible particularly when I am aware of the myriad of family problems and emotional baggage that the offender may have.  However, I draw the line at being a surrogate parent.  Hey, I was not the one who conceived after a night of torrid passion so why the hell am I expected to attend to your child 24/7?  He / she is not the only student in the school and contrary to popular belief, I do have a life!!!  Also, no where in my job description did it state that I have to be someone's surrogate parent after his / her own set of parents have washed their hands off him / her!  I can only do so much between 7.30am till 6.45pm, Mondays to Fridays, and once the child steps out of school, it is the parents' responsibility to ensure that the child is not up to no good.

Recently, I found out that a girl from my form class has not been home for three months.  She cannot communicate with her father or stand the sight of him, hence, she packed her bags and have been staying, since April, with three cousins who are in their early 20s.  No one in the school was aware because she had attended school as per normal.  The story only came to light during the June vacation when the father called the school and asked to speak to me because he did not want me to release his daughter's report book to her.  So he came down on a Saturday, with his wife to sign the report book and to lament the fact that they do not know how to handle her.  Apparently, this is a yearly occurrence except that this has been the longest that she has not been home.  When asked, the parents claimed that there was nothing that they could do.  I am certain that if it had been me, my father would have dragged me home from wherever I was holed up in.   I said as much but they insisted that they could not do that and instead begged me to knock some sense into her head.  What I wanted to do most was to knock them on their heads instead!  What sort of parents are you to lose all semblance of control over a 16-year old girl?  You are both adults and are her parents for heaven's sake!  Show her who's the boss!  Mind you, I am not asking that the parents beat the crap out of her but if none of the soft approaches work, then be firm and try the hard approach.  I know that it is not easy to be a parent in the 21st century but those who choose to have children must learn to shoulder the responsibility of raising their child / children instead of passing the buck to a stranger.  Honestly, the government must make it compulsory that in addition to attending the marriage preparatory course, couples must also attend parenting workshops BEFORE they settle down.  If you are not ready to be responsible for your offspring, then for goodness sake, stock up on those pills and condoms!!!