teachers 'r' us

been busy, so updating my blog's not been top priority.

and i know this is 24 hours too late, but what the heck...happy teachers' day to my fellow educators!

and thanks for the smses too! you crazy kids sure know how to brighten your old lecturer/tutor's day :)

unlike the kindergartens, primary, secondary schools and JCs, teachers' day isn't celebrated over at the poly. not in our poly at least. plus the exams just ended last friday so perhaps the students aren't really in the mood to thank their lecturers, especially if the paper was a real killer. i can just imagine what those smses would be like:

"happy teachers' day! thanks a million for that horrible paper you set - now i know what it feels like to be suicidal. if not for the exam, i'd never have tasted utter desperation and defeat. but it was a lesson well taught, and i'll never forget how painful it feels like to be a complete loser...

...anyway i truly hope you'll enjoy marking the scripts because from what i've heard from my classmates, it'll probably be an easy task since the answer booklets are virtually empty and thus free of our terrible handwriting which you constantly complain about! have a great day!"

ha!

anyway, it was a quiet day in campus yesterday as school's officially out. but while many of the students are enjoying themselves, the lecturers are now scrambling to complete the exam processes - after marking the scripts, there's moderation, board of examiners' meet (BOE) and lots of behind-the-scene work before we can release the results officially.

i've been assigned to a committee that's in charge of processing the exam results. and on the day of the BOE, we've to present the findings of how the respective levels have performed at the exams. and honestly, it's not something that i'm looking forward to for several reasons:

• it involves pulling out data from the system, analysing the figures, importing information from microsoft excel sheets into powerpoint. i'm not an expert with microsoft excel though i can get by with simple commands...and i'm certainly NOT a numbers person. they just confuse and befuddle me endlessly, and i can't make any sense out of statistics.

• i never enjoy being in the spotlight and unfortunately, i'll have to present the results to all my colleagues and bosses. we're talking about 200 lecturers here. it's very different lecturing to students and speaking in front of a large audience, and it's made scarier when you're among fellow lecturers. as this is my first round in the committee, i'll be spared the agony. but next semester, i'll have to do it.

• will have to put aside 2 full days involved in preparing the results. so our actual work begins only after others have completed theirs...that's only the tip of the iceberg. 3/4 of the so-called holiday break will be spent on this as there'll be another few rounds of processing. after the main examinations, we also have supplementary exams for those who failed or for some reason, were unable to sit for the main papers. what's worse is that the busy periods are sporadic, which makes it tough to plan for a long break.

bleh. bleh. bleh. triple yucks.

so yes, the popular belief that lecturers can "enjoy" school break is pure rubbish. we've got annual leave to clear but unlike those in other professions, we can only take our leave during the official term break. (we're not allowed to go leave during term time as that would disrupt our teaching schedules).

and everybody knows teachers/lecturers aren't well paid (unless you're in the top scale) and that's the truth. many of my peers who aren't in education get 2x, 3x or even 4x my meagre salary. i kid you not. being an educator may be a noble profession, but it barely pays bills.

so what's in it for educators if money (i assume) isn't the key motivating factor?

well, many of us are in this line because we're passionate and committed about moulding and inspiring young minds, and we take great pride in our students' achievements and success, big and small.

for me, it's always very heartwarming to receive emails, smses, and recently, wedding invitations from former students. i take those as positive signs that i've somewhat accomplished what i'd set out to do as an educator.

so to all my present and past colleagues, and those who're in teaching, HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY once again.