A Shocking News on Monday

A huge wall mural my students painted last year was very brainlessly painted over without even consulting the other Art Teacher in school! It disgusts me how these HIGHLY PAID SENIOR OFFICERS of MOE display their stupidity, vanity, selfishness so publicly by such insensitive, inappropriate foolish act!

The mural was gone over the weekend, leaving everyone in school feeling sad, angry, puzzled, pissed on Monday. The Art Teacher tried finding out what & how it happened, none of the decision-maker even bothered to explain themselves! There were cursing & swearing, crying, condolocence...

I was so pissed, I wrote the following email to the whole school last night. But till now, nothing from them still... I'm really angry with them! When did schools become a nest for such BIG FAT HYPOCRITS?!?!


Email to School...
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Dear All,

Hope this email finds everyone well...

This afternoon I received a shocking SMS from a student. I am very disturbed by what I learnt from the student & hence hope to find out from the school what exactly happened.

I understand that the school is going through R&R in preparation for the official opening. However, to just paint over a barely 6-month old mural seems rather irrationale & inconsiderate towards our students' feelings, isn't it? When I asked how they feel, their response is "now see the wall sians lo... spend so much time put in so much effort for wat?..."

I still recall how many of the Art Council members were initially reluctant to pay extra $12 for the workshop, some even feel that since they can't bring home their work, the school should pay as the mural is part of the school anyway. Joey & I had to convince them by saying that we are part of the school & the beauty of it all is that when they are in Sec 3/4, they can proudly show their junior that the mural was their GIFT FOR THE SCHOOL. Many were then motivated. In fact, they even came back extra Saturdays to complete the mural. When it's all done, they feel so proud that they even wanted PHAC's CCA booth to be in front of the mural at all functions & not forgetting the assembly program they did to announce their achievement to the school!

I am shocked not by the school's action in painting over the wall; I'm shocked by the school's sudden decision to do so, seemingly without even any consideration for the students' feelings! I was invited by an ex-student to view her exhibition at Serangoon JC. The school compound is full of colourful wall murals, all painted by students without any teacher nor service vendor's help. Some look really bad in fact. I even teased my student that some of her friends' work are quite embarrassing, but her response (& her friends' too) was, "But it's OUR work! This is OUR school what. & our Principal is very proud of us! Our Principal rocks!" I'm currently conducting an enrichment workshop in Northbrooks Secondary. 1st impression when one steps into the schoolis that it is a very vibrant school with display of students' work everywhere. When you take a closer look, these 'N' Level work is not even so-call "good". They are very average, but definitely students' effort. Think about the message the school is sending out to the kids. Now think about a mother who keeps all her kid's drawings & cards, no matter how ugly they may be. This is Mum's way of telling her kids how she'll always be proud of her kid as long as her kid tries & puts in effort.

Showcasing of students' work is our way of recognizing students' effort & also to boost their self-esteem (especially in neighbourhood schools) becasue it's our way of saying, "We are proud of you!", isn't it? Even if they are so-call "not up to standard", may I ask, not up to whose standard? If even a JC can accept student's mediocre work splashing on huge wall all over the school, who are we, with only Sec 1/2 (last year) kids, with no special Art training, to dismiss our kids' effort just like this? The point here is that the kids have put in A LOT OF EFFORT & they TOOK PRIDE IN WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!! Who are we to say that they do not deserve to be there becasue it's "not up to standard"?!?!

The rationale of displaying students' work have been totally mutated. Many schools are now employing professionals to so-call conduct workshops for students, but ended up getting their professional artists to finish up the work. Do you think these very beautiful end products mean anything to the kids, except the acceptance that they are not good afterall? It disgusts me that schools are using so-call "students' work" to show off, seem like all for vanity & materialism.

In a nutshell, I think this sense of PRIDE & belonging for anything/anywhere is like a chicken & egg issue. I mean, are we proud to be part of Pei Hwa family because Pei Hwa is good; or are we gonna make Pei Hwa good because we are proud to be part of Pei Hwa family?

Just my really sincere & truthful opinion

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Just as expected, there's no respond from the school to my email. In fact, nobody in school even dare comment & respond to it! Of course the management is not worried at all. Like Dar said, who am I??? Only a tiny little ex-school-teacher what! I knew this would be the result - NOTHING. But still, I need to voice this out for my kids. They have to know that people CARE, I care & we care! I know that are furious too. Think they gonna write in to the school as a group to ask why the school did what they did. I hope they go through proper channel & force the school to respond the right way...