I didn't do anything much during the weekend. Of course, I had my regular couple hours of tuition on Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening but other than that, it was a stay-at-home-in-front-of-the-tv-and-pc kind of weekend. Actually, I don't get much of those so it's not such a bad thing but I can't help feeling rather glum and gloomy when I'm indoors for too long. Maybe I'm a clautrophobic?? LOL
Anyway, I've realized that I haven't blogged very much (not sure if I've ever mentioned them at all!) about my tuition kids. There's two of them; one is a sec. 2 express student while the other is from sec. 4 normal acad. The former is essentially a pretty bright boy but he's extremely lazy. His exam results are often rather decent but his math grade fluctuates wildly from D to B -- depending on the number of careless mistakes he is wont to commit at that point in time. So my job basically is to remind him, ceaselessly, NOT to commit those avoidable errors and to assist him in his understanding of the more complex math problems.
The latter is a different kettle of fish altogether. The first impression I had of him was that he was a diligent and an eager learner who only had problems with his studies due to his relatively weak command of English. However, after two months of tutoring him in Chemistry and Math, I've discovered that the real impediment I must overcome is his attitude (or lack of it) towards his studies, especially those subjects which he has grown to despise i.e. Chem & Math. The only time he makes any significant effort in those two subjects is when I'm around; in other words, during his tuition lessons. He had even openly admittedly (without any remorse, I might add) that he didn't think he would do too well for the 'N' level prelim exams he took recently. I shudder at the thought...
With the real 'N' level exams barely a month away, I have recently stressed upon him again the need to revise his Chemistry and practice his Math especially during those days in-between our tuition sessions. Very emphatically, I had reminded him to focus on his weaker topics and even offered to hold extra sessions to help him with his revision. What is the point, I reiterated, of being able to understand so much by the end of a couple of hours of tuition, but not being able to retain that understanding long enough to apply it in his assignments, tests or exams? I'm of the opinion, however, that my words had fallen on deaf ears.
What is it with the majority of today's Malay youths? They fail -- no; they refuse -- to see that this is the time to give their best, when they are still in secondary school; Not at a later time, two or three years down the road in ITE. I'm not even asking them to think about their future career prospects, but simply to give it their best shot while they still can, to improve in their studies not for their parents or teachers, but for themselves. Where is that desire to better themselves as individuals? When will they stop deluding themselves with the belief that it is ok to put in mediocre efforts, that mere pass grades are acceptable? When will they learn that dreams and aspirations need sheer effort and commitment before they could turn into reality?
When will they, finally, wake up? (Perhaps, when it's too late..?)
