Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Help Needed

I’m having a dilemma.

Should I begin my term in one of the universities, I’ll have to drop some of my students. I’ve decided to keep the higher paying ones (such as my rude Sec 2 boy) and those I have a larger responsibility to (such as my autistic PSLE boy). The ones I had planned to drop were terrible-agency-rates Primary 2 temperamental boy, lazy Simei-residing (relatively out of the way) Sec 1 and the two lovely girls (Pri 1 & 4) who adore me.

I made casual mention to Primary 1 Lina, during our morning session today, that I may be teaching in a school. Immediately, she asked me whether that meant that I would stop teaching her sister and her. Later, in my afternoon session with her Primary 4 sister, Emily, their Mum asked me about it.

(Both the sisters are in the same school but in different sessions. Lina’s in the afternoon session, while Emily is in the morning one. I teach them both on the same day, but I return home for lunch in between sessions. It was amusing and shocking when Emily told me what I had told Lina in the morning tuition session.
I asked Emily, “Oh, you met Lina just now?”
“No,” came the reply, “My mum told me.”)

Just before I left from the afternoon session with Emily, the girls’ mum brought up my possible (or rather, likely) future teaching career in a school (or more accurately, going to Uni) – basically the likelihood of me leaving them. She blackmailed me emotionally (not that I’m accusing her of being unscrupulous) by telling me how much her girls like me (they really do, I know, and I too find them and the family absolutely charming), and how they have improved in their work since I came along.

That doorway conversation with her Mum pulled my heart in both directions – joy and satisfaction, in opposition to impending guilt and dilemma.

Can I initiate a discussion here? Help me make a decision on whom to let go:

P2 Daryl [2 x 1.5h]: Bad $, bad temper, lazy, frightening Mum – sure to go

P1 Lina [1.5h] & P4 Emily [2h]: Worst $, Case study as above and in previous blog entries (16 Feb, 2004: “Happy Loving Day” and 22 Mar: “Expiring”)

P2 Jing Xiong & P6 Jing Rong [Combine 2h]: Good $, PSLE boy involved, nice Mum, but no particularly close bond

P6 Jun Jie [2 x 1.5h]: Moderate $, autistic PSLE boy who’s grown accustomed to me, often difficult to teach, future progress almost negligible

Sec1 Guan Hui [2h]: Good $, relatively out of the way Simei resident, too long a session for the boy, over-dependent on me, lack-of-initiative in studying, little improvement in work, fairly fond of me in comparison to his past >10 tutors, Mum who gives me pineapple tarts and fried rice and recently started working part-time in order to pay for her children’s tuition fees

Sec 2 Zhen Ling [2 x 1.5h]: Best $, streaming year, good progress with me, rude and possibly unappreciative, but one I’m the most comfortable with and the student I’ve had the most number of sessions with since I started this round of tuition – I’ve more or less decided to keep him


This reminds me of that choose-6-out-f-10-people-to-save-from-a-sinking-boat interactive, discussive, secondary schoolish, analytical, decision-making activity.

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