A Conversation and some more...
Did some catching up with an ex-government offcial turned social worker, Mrs. Amy today. Still the same old darling- dimpled cheek infectious smile and unapologetic opinions with a touch of motherly instinct thrown in between every line of words. She`s been advocating for children `s rights for years and seemed to be pretty passionate and unnerving with her work . We looked into several issues, reversing and forwarding our memories, picking up on issues we felt dear to our heart and exclaiming "that was good" or "should`ve done it better" more than 10 times. Our generation gap seemed mythical in my crowded messy room as we exchange jokes and updates of our lives.
Excerpt # 1 - Children Angst or Suicidal Indoctrination?
"Did you notice how our creativity was pushed to the edge when we are 9 years old?"
"Like what?"
"Like when we are always asked to write an autobiography of non-living objects like cars and pens?"
"Yes. yes...I remember - the "Aku Sebatang Pen" exercise, my God, our protaganist always end up in horrible ways"
"Yeah, yeah...in the longkang, lost its ink and thrown away, got stolen yadda yadda.."
" Its not our fault, my teacher always asked me to make the stories as creative and as good as possible...tragedies are always a good option for good marks,"
"Exactly, we celebrate tragedy more than we celebrate happiness, we see death and destruction as interesting background for our non-living objects,"
" I don't see it that way though. I see an A+ in tragedies, works all the times,"
"What happened to your kilometrico pen, by the way?"
"Yours was a kilometrico pen too? It was always Kilometrico, by the way,"
"Mine dropped into the drain and left in the cold until its last breath,"
" Half of my class had the same ending,too..hahaha"
"Don't we all, don't we all,"
Excerpt # 2 - You Have to Bath According to the Scheme!
"My nephew, he`s sick. Got athma...real bad case. ICU most of the time. poor fragile thing..anyhow, he only take his bath once a week. The proper one with generous splash of water and soap. The rest of the week, his mom will wipe his body with water and little portion of body wash as he cannot stand the cold water. Well, one day at school, during Moral Studies, he has to answer a short quiz and on one question regarding hygiene, required him to answer how many times he "mandi" per day. He answered "once a week", cause he feels that is the only session he has that qualify as a real bath-lots of water, soap and shampoo. He got the question wrong. His teacher, answered firmly that to be hygienic, he has to bath 3 times a day. My nephew then said,
"But cikgu, I can't mandi 3 times a day or else I will die from the cold,"
"Tapi ikut skema, memang untuk jaga kebersihan, kena mandi 3 kali sehari,sakit ke tidak, cikgu tak tahu"
Not surprising though. Has our education substantially reflect reality? Has it been accomodative to children with diseases, children with disabilities or children from poor communities?
Even bath, a personal exercise to preserve cleanliness is subject to a formal scheme! Hah!"
Excerpt # 3 - "Saya Tak Tahu Apa Itu Kapal Terbang".
"I went to a small Orang Asli community in Pahang and talked to a kid there, she was very shy and all but after I "bribed" her with some sweets and biscuits, she came closer to me and willing to talk. She was 11 years old, I think. I asked to see her exercise book. She brought down the whole load and I start rummaging through the piles of books and papers. In her Bahasa Malaysia exercise book, there was a one liner, written untidily with lots of spelling mistakes -
Excerpt # 1 - Children Angst or Suicidal Indoctrination?
"Did you notice how our creativity was pushed to the edge when we are 9 years old?"
"Like what?"
"Like when we are always asked to write an autobiography of non-living objects like cars and pens?"
"Yes. yes...I remember - the "Aku Sebatang Pen" exercise, my God, our protaganist always end up in horrible ways"
"Yeah, yeah...in the longkang, lost its ink and thrown away, got stolen yadda yadda.."
" Its not our fault, my teacher always asked me to make the stories as creative and as good as possible...tragedies are always a good option for good marks,"
"Exactly, we celebrate tragedy more than we celebrate happiness, we see death and destruction as interesting background for our non-living objects,"
" I don't see it that way though. I see an A+ in tragedies, works all the times,"
"What happened to your kilometrico pen, by the way?"
"Yours was a kilometrico pen too? It was always Kilometrico, by the way,"
"Mine dropped into the drain and left in the cold until its last breath,"
" Half of my class had the same ending,too..hahaha"
"Don't we all, don't we all,"
Excerpt # 2 - You Have to Bath According to the Scheme!
"My nephew, he`s sick. Got athma...real bad case. ICU most of the time. poor fragile thing..anyhow, he only take his bath once a week. The proper one with generous splash of water and soap. The rest of the week, his mom will wipe his body with water and little portion of body wash as he cannot stand the cold water. Well, one day at school, during Moral Studies, he has to answer a short quiz and on one question regarding hygiene, required him to answer how many times he "mandi" per day. He answered "once a week", cause he feels that is the only session he has that qualify as a real bath-lots of water, soap and shampoo. He got the question wrong. His teacher, answered firmly that to be hygienic, he has to bath 3 times a day. My nephew then said,
"But cikgu, I can't mandi 3 times a day or else I will die from the cold,"
"Tapi ikut skema, memang untuk jaga kebersihan, kena mandi 3 kali sehari,sakit ke tidak, cikgu tak tahu"
Not surprising though. Has our education substantially reflect reality? Has it been accomodative to children with diseases, children with disabilities or children from poor communities?
Even bath, a personal exercise to preserve cleanliness is subject to a formal scheme! Hah!"
Excerpt # 3 - "Saya Tak Tahu Apa Itu Kapal Terbang".
"I went to a small Orang Asli community in Pahang and talked to a kid there, she was very shy and all but after I "bribed" her with some sweets and biscuits, she came closer to me and willing to talk. She was 11 years old, I think. I asked to see her exercise book. She brought down the whole load and I start rummaging through the piles of books and papers. In her Bahasa Malaysia exercise book, there was a one liner, written untidily with lots of spelling mistakes -
" Cerit...an apa yang kamu tah.. tentang kapl terbng dalam 5 ayat".
First question I asked her...
"Pernah tengok kapal terbang?"
Shook her head shyly
"Dalam T.V?"
Shook her head more. Plus a short-lived toothless grin.
"Gambar ke, suratkhabar ke?"
She stopped shaking her head, looking uncertain. I gave up drilling her knowledge on aeroplanes and asked her the simple basic question,
"Tahu tak kapal terbang tu apa?"
She laughed like I was asking something funny.
"Saya tak pernah tengok".
Can I draw a picture of a huge frightening boar? I bet on all the aeroplane companies in the world that the small girl can "
Excerpt # 3 - Its always about khinzir
"Would putting satay daging together with satay ayam offend Hindus?"
"I guess so, Hindus don't eat beef kan,"
"Will we be more concern about pork being put together with ayam in an event attended by Muslims or about satay daging being put together with satay ayam in an event attended by Hindus?"
"Well...with beef, we always assume its fine, nobody makes noise, if it gets to the offensive level, we quickly go to the fruit section or walked out"
"And you see pigs as dirty and sensitive to the Muslims and Hindus see cow as a sacred animal, but its fine to overlook the satay incident".
"That`s why perpaduan is a dead letter."
"Touche".
First question I asked her...
"Pernah tengok kapal terbang?"
Shook her head shyly
"Dalam T.V?"
Shook her head more. Plus a short-lived toothless grin.
"Gambar ke, suratkhabar ke?"
She stopped shaking her head, looking uncertain. I gave up drilling her knowledge on aeroplanes and asked her the simple basic question,
"Tahu tak kapal terbang tu apa?"
She laughed like I was asking something funny.
"Saya tak pernah tengok".
Can I draw a picture of a huge frightening boar? I bet on all the aeroplane companies in the world that the small girl can "
Excerpt # 3 - Its always about khinzir
"Would putting satay daging together with satay ayam offend Hindus?"
"I guess so, Hindus don't eat beef kan,"
"Will we be more concern about pork being put together with ayam in an event attended by Muslims or about satay daging being put together with satay ayam in an event attended by Hindus?"
"Well...with beef, we always assume its fine, nobody makes noise, if it gets to the offensive level, we quickly go to the fruit section or walked out"
"And you see pigs as dirty and sensitive to the Muslims and Hindus see cow as a sacred animal, but its fine to overlook the satay incident".
"That`s why perpaduan is a dead letter."
"Touche".
posted by GEE at 11:58 AM
4 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Kampung orang asli area mana?
dah bagitau masa chat itu hari..ingat tak? next time pegi lagi bole singgah umah awak makan nasi? ;-)
sila-sila hahaha
Post a Comment
<< Home