PTC: FT's afterthoughts.

2 hours, 30 parents, averaging 4 minutes per pupil. First, my apologies if the session was too brief especially to those who waited so long for such a short meeting, please convey my apologies and admiration for parents of Weishen, Jian Cheng, Sok Kuan etc...



Typical session goes like this: Hello Mr/Mrs ---- Nice to meet you, this is your child's result for this term.... I have set targets for him/her because it does not make much sense for a bright pupil like him/her to be aiming for just pass, so these are the results against the target....good, good, a bit below.... results are good/on the right track/can expect more.... socially speaking, he/she is in good company, the classmates are really nice people.... your child is..... Is there anything you need me to take note of in the future? No? Ok, in that case I just want to thank you for coming, sorry for the short time, I wish to have more time but the queue is rather long, please feel free to contact me when you need to know anything, thank you... have a nice day.



I don't know what you guys think but it wasn't easy to stay focus, very often my mind is still lingering on the previous person when the next is in front of me. Then there were minor requests and incidences happening, some of you fooling around in full view of observing parents (yeah... sometimes you were not aware how many pairs of eyes were looking). A slip of tongue, and there! one negative remark blurted out from me and it triggered a landslide of complains from the parent, you looked away in disgust and at that moment I knew I had let a child down. Didn't I promise to stay positive? Meanwhile, parent rattled on... I could sense the disappointment in you. Tried to say a couple of nice things but its too late, the damage is done. For most of you, I guess the day went well. Especially that cheeky smile just before you left but my concern still dwell with the one that went away upset over the experience.

At the end of the day, I wish I had more time to spare but I was the last to finish already. Tired, talked too much until it is becoming a professional hazard. I was glad school holidays is just round the corner. Come to think of it, I should consider myself fortunate as some others will be involved in band camp. And so I paid the band camp a visit before I left.

Fruitful day.

FT