just a monday speech to be read by one of my students

Assalamualaikum and a good morning I bid to my dear teachers and my fellow friends.

Most of us here think that going to school is a guarantee that we will succeed. Sometimes, when some of us skip school too often or play truant, teachers told them if they wanted to succeed in life, they have to come to school. At other times, when teachers ask students why they come to school, they say they want to study so that they will be successful. But, unfortunately, they show little or no effort to study at all.

When teachers say “you should go to school so you can be successful” it actually means a lot more. To be successful, going to school is just the starting point. It is only the first of a list of things to do before you can be successful inside and outside of school. Today, I will explain to you about six things that we need to work on in order to really strive to be successful. Of course, for a start, go to school. We should avoid skipping classes or school days, by all means. That is the first step.

Now, once in school, we have to remind ourselves that school is a system where grades are always the priority. Therefore, we have to, firstly, pay attention in class. It is the place where we will receive all the main information about the subjects that we take in exams. We have to make sure that we understand the teachings of our teacher. After that, we have to work hard to get good grades. That includes making sure that we do all the exercises and homework given. We also need to put on extra effort through learning from extra books and finding extra information from other resources such as the internet, the television and magazines.

Other than learning about the subjects for the examinations, we should also learn values. To a certain extent, school is a perfect reflection of how the real society will look like when we go to the university or into the working life. Therefore, we could observe how we should be part of this society. For example, we should learn how to respect the people around us in school; just like we should later in our working life. Here, we should not only respect the teachers, but our fellow friends and other students too. Juniors or seniors; it doesn’t matter. We should also respect the non-teaching staff such as the clerks and the dear cleaners who we owe so much for keeping this school clean and tidy. When we respect people around us, we will be in good manners. We will behave. The value of good manners is also important everywhere, because it will, most of the time, keep us out of trouble.

Now, having intelligence and good manners is still not enough. The third thing in the list of being a successful person is to learn a few important skills. The skills include social skill, creative and critical thinking skill and risk-taking skill; just to name a few. To learn skills such as these is very important because once we are out there; either on our way to the tertiary education or to the workforce, we need to communicate well with other people using our social skill. We also need to think smartly about where should we start and how we can progress using our thinking skill. Risk-taking is needed when we have to make choices and as we know every choice has its risks. Know them well, and we will choose the right choice.

Fourthly, we should try to understand our surroundings. Gather as much experience as you can by joining in as many activities as you are allowed. As the saying goes, “experience is the best teacher”. Going through many activities and events will definitely help you to learn fast about how the world and the things in it go about. People who act too childishly are people who restrict themselves from experiencing more. They will have little meaningful insights of the world and will be too immature. Some of us might argue that there are several examples of people who go through so many things but are still immature and shallow. This is because they go through their experiences blindly. We have to think about and evaluate those experiences; don’t just have them. Reflect on them. Think! Understand! And make them positive experiences.

That aside, the fifth thing is we should try hard to know ourselves – our strengths and weaknesses. This is very important too because us, ourselves, are the core to whatever we do. And to be successful in the real world is to be clever in manipulating and improving your strength, in the same time confronting your weaknesses and turning it into something good. For example, one is good at cooking and has the passion in it. But he is weak in mathematics. He, then, should work on improving the cooking skill and in the mean time work on mathematics. How? Maybe he can manipulate his cooking hobby to learn about mathematics. When he has good results in SPM examination, he can pursue his tertiary education in culinary and become a great chef!

Finally, we should always realize that the basic of life is the spiritual aspect of it. And the only way to flourish our souls and spirits is to always try to stay close to our creator; Allah. Islam is, by all means, beautiful. If we try our best to be good Muslims, we are no far from being successful. In fact, being a true Muslim is being a successful person. The teachings of Islam are so broad that it touches every aspect of our lives. If we follow it closely; we will realize that it is a great way of life where we will be trained to be humble, disciplined, hard working, loving, kind, and intelligent people. And as we strive to be the best, we will definitely stumble upon difficult times. But if we stick on the basic of life, we will be just fine.

There you have it, all six important things to work on if we really wanted to be successful. In a nutshell, one can conclude that if we put our head and heart and soul into it, there will be nothing to stop us. Insha’Allah, we will all be successful people one day. Thank you.

sejujurnya

masa tadika, mak aku cakap, i couldnt stop crying on my way to the kindergarten.

masa cuti sekolah rendah,

"ohhhh cuti mau habis sudaaaa *stressed, most of the time would cry over the realization*"

masa cuti hampir habis waktu sekolah menengah,

"waaaaaaaaaaaa.......*lari pi sama mama* ma, aku nda mau pi sekolah boleh ka?" then i found myself in a wagon, in my way to the hostel.

masa cuti di kolej, merasa amaaaattt malas untuk 'pulang',

"aaahhhhh assignment................"

masa di wellington,

"tik, yuk kita pi oriental bay?" *cepat2 lari keluar sblm lecturer masuk*

ps; dilakukan sekali sekala saja ok. SEKALI SEKALAAAAAAA.

sekarang, 25tahun

"....abang, boleh ka saya nda mau pi sekolah? *tells husband every sunday or after a holiday*

but let me tell you this

i get myself up and go all the way to that place and do my best in whatever i do,

OKAY.

fikiran satu kosong satu kosong

kadang2 aku rasa bersalah bila merasakan diri sendiri tidak cukup.

salah kah perasaan ini?

bila aku mengira-ngira apa yang aku ada dan merasakan bahawa apa yang aku ada itu tidak cukup? adakah aku dikira orang yang tidak bersyukur, Allah?

Ampunkan aku jika ya...

cuma aku sentiasa mengharap diri lebih baik dari siapa aku sekarang. itu yang aku kira-kira masih lagi tidak cukup.

bila aku lihat hasil kerja si polan itu lagi baik, aku merasa resah. aku rasa aku ingin buat sebaik itu. atau mungkin lebih baik dari itu. aku cuba. kadang2 terlalu mencuba, aku rasa. buruk juga hasilnya.

bila aku lihat hasil usaha si polan ini pula lagi berkualiti, aku merasa marah pada diri sendiri. aku berfikir panjang di mana silapnya usaha ku sampai hasil usaha ku buruk apabila dibanding dengan hasil usaha si polan ini...

apakah aku salah, ya Allah, bila mengira-ngira begini?

kalau iya, jadikan lah aku antara orang yang bersyukur.

dan jadikan lah aku orang yang 'cukup' bijaksana dan 'cukup' bakat dan ilhamnya..supaya aku mampu menggunakan apa saja yang aku ada untuk menghasilkan sesuatu yang baik dengan izin Mu..supaya aku mampu membuat apa saja yang aku mampu untuk memberi kesan kepada kebaikan dengan izin Mu..

aku cuma insan kerdil--tapi aku ingin beri 'kesan'

apa cita2ku terlalu besar, Allah?

buruknya sekolah?

we can always see things differently. the things we thought are good--are probably arent that good--it can be totally bad. and the things that are bad; tearing our hearts apart; breaking the hopes that we thought we had in our hands--are probably the best things that could happen to us..

paham x?

for example: aku slalu marah dgn budak2 dalam kelas aku. refer to my previous post. ini secara langsung buat aku marah dengan sistem pendidikan di negara kita. sometimes i feel most things arent where they are suppose to be (whenever i am at school).. perasaan marah itu buat aku bertambah over-peka to all the small details in school and in my life in particular. and i was like picking up all the sad things; the unfortunate things; the heart-breaking truths about life...

ya. aku memang sebegitu pathetic.

tapi sebenarnya? at the end of the day; you rest your head on the shoulders of your 'home', look back; and then you'll see...

Allah. semuar perkara baik saja.
perkara-perkara yang aku marahkan sebenarnya ada eloknya.

Sekolah ialah sebuah institusi yang penuh dengan falasi. Aku rasa memang itu pendapat aku semenjak aku dibangku sebelah penerima sehinggalah aku di bangku sebelah pemberi...but, despite all my bad-mouthing about it, aku sedar yang ia juga sama seperti semua 'barang' buatan manusia. it reflects its creator. kita ni manusia penuh kekurangan. takkan mampu mencipta sesuatu yang sempurna. berbeza dengan Pencipta KITA SEMUA.

--------

seperti yang aku sentiasa ingatkan diriku dan yang lain bila mampu; kesempurnaan ciptaan kita sebagai manusia terletak pada ketidaksempurnaan kita..hm. ini sudah jauh dari apa yang aku ingin sampaikan.

fokus ku sebenarnya ialah; dalam falasi diri--falasi sistem pendidikan kita terletak pelbagai kelebihan, pengajaran, kebaikan untuk orang-orang yang mahu berfikir, mau belajar, mau mengambil sesuatu yg baik darinya.

--------

dulu, ada satu kali tu; one of the parents said something like this:
apalah gunanya belajar semua sains, fizik, kimia, biologi bila kau keluar, kau jadi akauntan.
or was it that line? i wasnt really listening actually. but his point was; some of the subjects learned by the students will be wasted therefore learning those subjects are a waste of time.

a few teachers and i was so hot in our seats listening to what he was saying.
im an English teacher. but where i was before this? i was in a Chinese kindergarten for a year or so; was in a science boarding school--learning Chemistry, Biology and Physics for two years and then continued my study in TESL studies.

i dont think it's a waste. not at all.
you know why?

coz when we learn something; we werent just learning the subjects; what we learn affects us. it changes our logic, the way we think and the way we go through life and it adds our common knowledge; and most importantly; it makes us ponder the greatness of Allah.indirectly or directly.percaya lah.

sebagai contoh: konsep inersia.
Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion.

aku rasa antara semua konsep mudah dalam fizik, ini yang aku paling ingat. ia juga jadi salah satu kerepek yang aku jadi kan falsampah dalam fikiran-fikiran aku.
lihat konsep ini dalam real-life. lihat sos dalam botol yang di-jerkah menurun. lihat badan kita dalam kereta yang berhenti guna break. perubahan pasti akan ditentang dahulu sebelum diterima.

botol yang digoyangkan kebawah terhentak berhenti ditahan tangan. sos yang bergerak kebawah bersama goyangan botol tadi terus menentang ke-berhenti-an botol itu dan terjatuh keluar dari botol.

tidakkan ia mengajar kita sesuatu? tidakkan ia membuatkan kita berfikir?

itu baru sos. belum lagi knowledge pasal binari. pasal plente. pasal sistem pencernaan. atau macamana mau buka tutup akaun. ia efek jiwa. biarpun bukan pendidikan agama; ia tetap efek jiwa. sebab semua pengetahuan pun datang dari Maha pencipta.

tapi itu pun kalau kita mau belajar.

aku belajar berdebat bukan untuk jadi politician. tapi ia mengajar aku menjadi pemikir-sisi-yang-lagi-satu..bukan sesuatu yang boleh dibanggakan. tapi aku sentiasa mencuba.

ha. i always found myself almost crying over simple things at school--macam kerja banyak, tugasan banyak, tekanan dari pelajar yang berharap, tanggungjawab yg berderet2 (tambah lagi tanggungjawab di rumah yang baru) tapi bila air mata hampir hilang; baru aku ternampak everything the other way around. kerja yang banyak dan tugasan yang banyak mesti latih diri aku jadi lebih 'tahan-lasak'. tanggungjawab disekolah dan rumah, dan harapan anak2 pasti buat aku tertolak dari comfort zone aku. sebab aku tidak mahu fossilized dalam belajar pasal hidup.

haha. merepek di hari sabtu bila banyak lagi kerja sedang menunggu. aku cuma berharap kita semua dapat memberi peluang kepada perkara-perkara yang jelik di mata kita; manatahu kebaikan akan tertunjuk dari nya. sama seperti sitem pendidikan negara kita. yang penting; kita sebagai 'pengguna', cuba mencari apa yang terbaik bagi kita.

my dear students; learning and knowledge are never easy--as all the other precious things that we have to struggle for.

tidak faham

Dulu, aku masuk bidang perguruan ni ada sebab juga. Well, sort of. Sebab tersebut ialah: aku mau tolong remaja-remaja yang menghadapi masalah macam aku hadapi masalah dulu. Sebab aku rasa, masa sekolah, aku kurang dapat pertolongan. Or so I thought.

I thought that I would be able to help them as I wanted to help the past version of me. I thought I would be able to do so because I thought I would understand them as I thought that the problematic students and I walk in the same shoes.
But all those thoughts: I thought wrong…

I once again confronted one of the problematic students in class today. Two actually. Two from different classes.

In one of the cases, I could clearly see how his face was full of anger towards one of the discipline teachers who had issued a warning letter to him. And the other one; he was cold; barely showing any emotion. He couldn’t care less. He simply said; “Aku nda mau belajar suda…Malas.”

Dalam kedua-dua perbualan itu, aku terdiam dan berfikir: sesungguhnya aku tiada sedikit pun kemampuan untuk memahami remaja-remaja ini.

Keluarga kau kacau bilau? –tidak.

Hari-hari kau tidak cukup duit ka?—tidak.

Apa yang kau cari?—enjoy la,cikgu!

Kau tidak mahu ubah nasib keluar kau?—mau. Tapi aku malas.

Kenapa malas belajar?—malas la cikgu.

Sampai bila mau begini?—ntah. Sampai besok.

Why they do what they do. Why they are angry. Why they are lost. What are they searching for—I have no idea. It was totally different from back then. It was totally different from my case when I was in school. I felt helpless for I feel that I could do nothing to help. I could not make them change their minds. I could not help them to understand the perspectives of the people (teachers) that are actually scared for them.

This is the new era; of course. Even though the age gap was only 9 years; I could not barely touch their minds nor their heart. How can I be sure of that? Because they always have something to say back to me. They were adamant to stay that way. They are sure that they are at the right side of the ‘line’. They are very self-righteous.

I asked them: do you understand how fucked up your life would be in the future if you keep being like this?

Their answer is: “yes. I know.”

“That is my point. You know. But you don’t understand!.. ‘cause if you do understand it like I understand it, damn it, you’ll be scared as shit!”
Ok. Not that harsh, though. I’m a bit softer now. Haha.

Kesian anak-anak ini. Ke mana lah arah mereka nanti…