So Long, Class Monitor..
It looked as if he had a tough day in school when he walked out from the school compound after dismissal this evening. While walking to the car, he could not hold back his tears and started sobbing uncontrollably as soon as he got into the car. He got a near miss of 2 marks to a marginal A for his Chinese Penulisan paper, his first 'B' so far.
We did an 'autopsy' on the test paper together just now and I reckoned that apart from the toughest section, ie. the essay section which he lost almost 10 out of 30 marks, he also made lots of careless mistakes on other sections which he himself agreed wasn't too hard after all. The essay part required him to write an essay with almost no keywords to guide him through the process, a big jump from the previous exam where more than sufficient keywords were given for them to form an essay.
What disappoints me most was he could easily get a marginal A if only he had checked his work thoroughly. He was so careless to the extent he copied the wrong answers to the questions though he had numbered them correctly beforehand! He later told me he suffered from "brain freeze" at that point in time! O.o.
On another note, I have been observing him very closely ever since he took up the post as class monitor more than a month ago. Ever since then, he comes home after school everyday looking like a deflated balloon, energy all drained up. I did confront him and advise him to quit if he really can't cope but he insisted he enjoyed being a class monitor.
When the recent exam was near, things got a little bit out of hand when teachers kept piling up on homework to cover the exam syllabus. The boy would start to yawn, his eyes turned red as though he could doze off at an instant and it's not even 9pm yet!(he is in afternoon school) The homework craze never stopped even during the exam week with the teachers still pushing through the syllabus until we almost went bonkers, I tell ya!
He does confess that he feels very tired having to run all kinds of errands for his teachers but still insists he is happy to be a class monitor. And mind you, he not only wears one hat but two if not three. Did I mention that he is also the cleanliness member aka leader on every Friday? *sweat*
I wrote a blog post "Of Being A Class Monitor" earlier today as a reminder post to myself to guide him through as he walks his new journey, no pain no gain though my heart aches everytime I see him all drained up before we can call it a day.
The autopsy result: He did pretty well in his Chinese Pemahaman paper which he sat on the same day as the Penulisan Paper but he sat for the former paper first when he was not too tired, both physically and mentally compared to the latter paper taken after recess.
Conclusion: We had a heart to heart talk just now, and it's agreed that he will quit as a class monitor after the coming school holidays. Guess he is not ready... yet to wear so many hats in a crazy school environment (which SJKCs don't). I know the experience he gets from being a leader in any form might benefit him in the future but for now, our sanity outweighs anything else.
So long, Class Monitor....
posted by Inspired Momx1 @ 10:45 PM
8 Comments:
My girl was also a class representative in form 1 and she gladly gave it up after one year.. after the experience, she didn't want to be prefect too and ended up being a librarian instead.. less stress, she told me.. hahaha..
Well, I let her decide... no point forcing them to do what they dont like...
It's quite stressful to 'manage' a class. Don't be disappointed or feel sad, Ian. You can be the Class Monitor again, when you are ready for the additional responsibilities.
And you have one great mama who supports you all the way~
Take care.
Not easy to be a Class monitor......
I just shared Ian's being a class monitor story to my elder girl this morning, when I sent her to school. I said Ian has no time to check his exam paper, and also need to bring home more homework after being the monitor. I still discourage her from being the class monitor. hehehe!
Like you said, got good and bad for being class monitor. Probably, Ian shouldn't give up the position that fast. You should bring this up in the coming parent day (get report card day). Talk to his teacher about this. Teachers shouldn't ask any student to walk to other classes for the test paper mistakes, they should do it before the exam was started or the teacher should do this task herself. All students need a peace of mind when sitting for exam. Teachers can also ask other students to help running errand, where by class monitor should only take care of the class when teachers are not around. When Ian resigns from being class monitor, all these should highlight to the form teacher. It isn't Ian not ready to be class monitor, any good student also isn't able to cope up with such a heavy duty.
wow. he burst into tears as soon as he got into the car. He is that stressed out over his first B. Pity him..
But glad he has a supportive mom who goes through each and every problem he has and talk things through. Not many parents do that anymore these days..
Wai Mann, if you have highlighted this to Ian's form teacher, and the form teacher is willing to make some adjustment in his duty, I think Ian still can continue to be class monitor. Because Ian enjoys being the class monitor, he is only sad over his result now. So, don't give up if there is a way.
Yan: Had a brief talk with his dad last night. He suggests that he tries one more term as class monitor and see how things go. I am a bit hesitant to talk to his class teacher, my boy told me she can get upset over petty issue eg. when the class din greet him "Happy Teacher's Day" on the recent Teacher's Day. ^^
ya...agree with claire. Let your boy follow his heart. Marks isnt everything in life (furthermore, do u notice their school standard so si-beh high?) *no eyes to see anymore*
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