Vid 1: Social Cohesion, Vid 4: Home School Relationship

These two videos caught my attention as they contain issues that are more familiar to me. First up, the video on social cohesion -a problem which I think is quite imminent in our schools today.)

(Part the First) -- Well, isnt it ironic that the person who comes to advise Vanessa (the girl who wanted to lend Carol her Math textbook but backtracked) is Mr Tharman - a person of Indian origin / race. The fact that he is Mr. Tharman Shamugaratnam the (ex) head of MOE only goes to show that Izzah was wrong in putting Indians at a lower level of equality. However, I do think this situation is a permutation of the situations in Singapore schools. For instance, in my secondary three and secondary four class, the Chinese boys called Malays 'useless blacks'. Though my Malay classmates and I did not take any offense then, (these guys also called our tanned Chinese classmates 'blacks'), this video has made me wonder what would have happened if they sincerely judged that Malays were useless because, well, its a 'race thing'. In other words this video really hit home; good in that it uses a light subject as a refute over possession of textbooks and who is deserving enough to borrow their textbooks to explain an important feature that must be present in Singapore schools - racial harmony.
(Part the Second) -- I also think religious tolerance is important in Singapore, where there are people of different religions. The girls in the video were lighthearted and easy in their banter and I think this is what is happening in many of our schools. Through my school life experience, I think students in Singapore schools still have respect for another's religion. I actually do not think this video shows Carol being rude about Izzah's faith, I think she was being honestly non-judgemental . On a different note, I agree that faith is perhaps a touchy spot for many of us. In the 'words' of Mr Tharman, " (respecting one another's faith) is one of the many important facets of having a socially-cohesive society"....Social cohesion is important for all: it brings peace. This can be done through history - meaning Racial Riots and killings. My Social Studies teacher told me about ithe 1964 riots in such an animated way that I remember being really intrigued by her advice on racial harmony. I want to use that as a way to induce students to want to accept people of all races. I can also show it by being equally receptive to my students in the hope that they pick it up from me.

The Home-School Relationship is a nicer video to watch, its funnier. Today, with teachers and parents having to work closer than ever, good rapport between the two is necessary for effective growth of the child. To my mind, the video promotes good values to have by guarding against the undesirable ones. In scene one for instance, it shows Ms Wong being unsympathetically firm towards the parent of an ADHD student; I find that this is a no-no for us as teachers. A more generous attitude (willing to sit down and discuss instead on how to make the student disturb the class less) from Ms Wong would definitely bring forward a more fruitful conversation on the condition of the child.
Similarly, in Scene 2, I learn that patience (and the willingness to sit down and discuss as well) would have taken the conversation further. Mrs Ng was a tad too much since she barges in to the room and demands to be requited. Rude...kinda funny, but rude all the same. Infact, in this scene, because of the threat made by Mrs Ng, the home-school relationship gets strained and Sam's (the son of Mrs Ng who is the student of Mr Goh) education drops to second place.
I think the third scene makes a case for a fruitful home-school relationship effectively. I reminds me that as teachers, we can only do so much to push the student, and we need the cooperation from parents for optimum benefits to the child's education. In this case, since Mdm Lian is apparently tedious to talk to (she seems stubborn on her point), it can be hard to make the student stop the bullying. It will get harder in future for the teacher in this scene, because of this particular student, other students' progress gets jeopardised. Definitely, this is a case we need to keep in mind as teachers, reminding us how important this cooperation is. As awhole, I think that I do need to keep in touch with the parents of my students to learn about them more.