幾句語無倫次
兩個成績不錯的學生說了幾句話。
一個說，「你的課頗有趣，但我不明白學來幹嘛…世界是這樣的了，改得到嗎﹖」他的大意是有些東西學來「無用」，反而「地理科仲有少少用。」不知同學說的「有趣而無用」的內容，是中港關係五十年、迪士尼化、全球貿易還是疾病傳播。我得承認自己今年的教學水準非常飄忽，狀態欠佳；對教學的內容喜破而不立(因為貪心，想草草收場，另起爐灶)。但學生對老師大人「欽點」的學習題目沒有興趣，我也真的要深切反省。
另一個則說︰「成績好，不難；但我覺得學的東西無挑戰性…跳級，會不會好一點﹖」
同學提出的問題，值得反思，無論是教師的水準，還是同學的心態。十多歲也罷，對前途迷茫，對生活價值有種種反思，渴求更多更多，希望進步，祈求挑戰。這種飢渴是推動學習的大動力。我至少希望兩位同學是如此的心態。
金銀銅鐵錫互溝的化學反應固然有趣，但人文知識並非沒有價值吧。沒有基礎，如何看得更高更遠﹖站在巨人的肩膊上看，不是能看得更清楚嗎﹖或許，你覺得站在傅柯的肩膊上看有個屁用!不過你知道嗎，影印紙其實有著很美麗的名字。橙色的紙張不獨是orange，也可是gold。紫色有lilac, violet與lavender之分，藍色可以叫lagoon。影印房其實美若大自然，但如你只看到紙張是紙張，我能如何喚醒你欣賞世間的美﹖
所以有時我頗喜歡留連影印房，欣賞紙張的名稱。不過影印機吐出小說節錄、剪報、舊歌詞，期望課堂有趣點、生活化點，卻明知砍代整個森林來造紙的代價，最後只能感動幾個學生，有時候我真的感到手足無措，也真的語無倫次。
19 則留言:
will be teaching, though part time, very soon in the summer (teaching school teachers) and also in the coming fall term in university.
going back to teaching... i did teach for quite some time before i left to US 2 yrs ago.
so... thinking more about students lately. reading your post today reminds me of those thoughts... what do they need? by that i don't mean doing things that they think they need, or even things that future jobs need from them, but what they really need for a better understand of self and others, and so the society?
i hope after 10 years or so, they would understand the things you taught are not "uesless".
we have enough for the pragmatic ways of thinking in hk which has become such dominating sytems of thoughts that also makes hk such a fucked up place.
i teach art and cultural studies, which is considered even more uesless, seemingly...
yet, i insist that we need it. we need art. we need creative workss, we need to express emotions, we need to expose ourselves to thoughts and feelings and mood that can't be told/understood via words.
and... we need to share.
we need it, students need it and the society needs it.
trust yourself!
take good care,
sun
能感動幾個已經很好很好。
信我，已經很好。
繼續加油！
我讀中四那年，教中史的老師冒險犯難，說「有D野身為中國人唔可以唔識」，隨即開始教學校「禁止」同學報考的現代史部份，堂堂聲淚俱下慷慨激昂。很多同學埋怨，都唔考，講來把鬼浪費時間。
教中文的老師，常常在syllabus之外帶動我們討論社會時事家國情懷世界動態，教曉了我一些簡單的政治經濟概念(兼英文科不會教的英文字)。很多同學都說，有書唔教，揾我地黎教飛。
但是我從那時開始成了不一樣的人，我知道自己對世界的「竅」是這樣開的。
如今，我行將就木了，仍然要說，我永遠感激他們。
謝謝您，徐老師。
謝謝您，毛老師。
所以，我還是要很老土肉麻地說，Miss Lee，努力啊。
還是這一句老話 -- 老師的一言一語, 是會植根於同學的心中, 只是發芽生長開花結果需時, 也要待適當的時機~
在茂密的森林中, 要下一代發芽生長, 只有在這片森林遭"催毀"後, 種籽才能有機會面向太陽, 茁壯成長!
人文科學的用，在於無特定的用。
人文科學教的，是視野、學養、態度、觀點。
好像禮貌，沒有直接、實質的用途。但一個有禮貌的人，自然受人專敾。
這幾句那是語無輪次, 你這幾句著實引發我不少思想.
少年都是這樣的了, 懶的懶, 驕傲的驕傲... 總是極端.
不過miss lee 你也不要太自菲薄, 你的文字常常感動到不少人的呢, 好像我就是了.
醫生，週末早上看了你爸爸康復的文章，到現在半夜了，我還沒有給你問候，倒要你來安慰，太慚愧了。祝好。
阿晨、HAYLEY、飲者、E︰有時老師寂寞之處，在於未見到學生變好，卻因看他們只能慢慢長進而替他們心急。我都是抱著聖經的一句話︰不要怕，要管信。
波頭︰真喜歡你解釋人文學科︰有學養的人就自然受人專敬。可是學養不值錢啊。
從來只有「有趣」的東西才會入腦.入了腦,學養在有需要的時候便會發揮作用.
中一時背誦的中史三字經----經子通,讀諸史,考世系,知終始...幾千年來的事非,到而家都記得,因為那肚腩胖胖滿口鄉音的老師教得很有趣.
預科時讀的「蚯蚓爬行方法」、「迷走神經路線圖」早已忘記得不留痕跡---雖然那團神經線仍在我身體內,只因那bio阿sir令人悶得發慌.
課堂的知識反正大都唔知知嚟做乜(或者唔知幾時有用),此刻覺得有趣,至少肯定學生享受上課的時光,這是老師的功德.今天唔知通識有咩用,在某日他會發現,能看透世情,比懂得分辦沉積岩的年份更過癮.
一個首次留言的路人
actually your kids raised some very important questions. in adolescent psychology, it says, schools these days don't teach much "useful" subjects to prepare them for job. schools focus predominantly on the brainies, the kids aiming for colleges and universities. other kids cannot learn anything that can prepare them for a job after high school. then they end up unemployed because they don't have much job-related skills.
the german education system classifies kids when they're around 12 into three tracks. the first is to go to the university. the second is to go to a school that trains the kids for a sort of white collar job. then the third is the technical schools to train the kids for a blue collar job.
the aim of the german system is to make sure everyone will end up with a job that will suit them. sure in reality, kids drop out and end up without many skills you want them to have. but at least, kids have the options to choose a path that may suit their potentials and aspiration.
if we want our kids to be critical, to criticize your teaching and syllabus may be one good way to begin with. it's difficult to take criticisms though.
miss lee~~
由中一開始我已經好鍾意上你堂，覺得學到好多野，又可以擴闊視野。可惜到左中三又無左你堂，current issue科從此消失左。想讀既我又無得讀，有得讀的盧皓明先生又唔想讀，真係有小小浪費資源同心力。
Wow, you've a student leaving you such a heart-warming message above...
I just want to say that I feel your pain, even though the group I teach are all grown-ups, but sometimes it's even more disappointing to find that the adults who attend the programme voluntarily - thus giving me false hopes that they are really here to learn rather than being forced to attend by their parents - are actually interested not in the learning per se but the piece of paper that they could get at the end of the programme.
I think you will always get those people who will never see any value in the humanities and the arts no matter what their age and the efforts of the teacher. And it's probably not worth listening to such criticisms too much either because you have to remember there are other students in the class who would appreciate the work you do with them.
The subject I teach is research methods, and while I give them the technical skills of conducting research, it is actually more important to help them understand the assumptions underpinning social research - which means teaching them about the different research traditions, why statistics are not the be-all and end-all of social science, why there are immense merit in doing qualitative research, etc. etc. Some students appreciate that I give them more than what they bargain for, that I tried to make them think critically about the subject rather than just a course they have to do in order to get their degree; whilst others are exactly like some of your students, wondering what's the use of such "soft fluff" knowledge that apparently has no bearing on real life (but if they only deign to think for a moment, they would see that it does have immense significance in real life, especially if they are interested in generating useful and appropriate evidence for policies).
Life's not just about passing exams. As a teacher our job is to open the students' minds and develop their critical faculties rather than just furnish them with knowledge that they regurgitate later. Even blue-collar workers need humanities and arts if they are not all going to turn into anti-social hooligans - the finer things in life that we teach in the humanities and social sciences are not about fine material things but the spiritual and social. And we all need that individually and as a society.
So keep up the really good work that you're doing Miss Lee, as others have said above already, even getting a few young minds to start thinking and reflecting and questioning about the world we live in is already worth all the blood, sweat and tears that you have spent in preparing for the class. Take care.
I am happy for you. And frankly speaking, the satisfaction sometimes in a higher education level is less (but is more comfortable).
共勉之。
by the way, do you know if nowadays primary school kids learn 倉頡 or other chinese input method? I would like to find out because I would like to use the method that my son eventually would use. I am using 縱橫輸入法, but I don't know if primary schools would teach this.
Miss Lee,
很高興能看到這個blog的文章,你所說的真是許多老師們的心聲.我的好友們自離開大學堂,已在中學任教了十多年,營營役役,十分勞苦,工作超時,還要時常做報告及出外進修,為糊口還要跟出版商編書,日日做到無停手!真是老師吾易做...
最近,我到了大學堂作part-time lecturer授課,吃驚的是現今的學生們對上課筆記的要求,他們不愛翻參考書,即使我已提供了許多參考資料,但他們要求的是spoon feeding般的筆記,有同學說不夠長的筆記怎樣做essay?
我反問:做essay不是要自己翻資料的麼?
"吃驚的是現今的學生們對上課筆記的要求,他們不愛翻參考書,即使我已提供了許多參考資料,但他們要求的是spoon feeding般的筆記,有同學說不夠長的筆記怎樣做essay?"
Spoon feeding!
Exactly!!!
還有...一次在大學堂教Advertising時，不知是否時間太早(9:00am的課),大部分的學生毫無反應,舉最顯淺的example(如問女生們有關化妝品的ads),問他們可有留意?同學們目定口呆...那麼問他們有沒有考慮畢業後從事廣告? 又是呆若木雞...那麼問他們為何要選讀這科,他們異口同聲說:這科是必修科目!
我是否入錯了班房? 難道我要棟篤笑完結我的課堂?
kajie，五師兄，SNOWDROPS︰有時教書，只感到自己的熱情被冷淡對待，很不好受。我會問自己，係唔係自己傳統古板老套，係唔係有generation gap。點解用心做一件事已不再被認為是基本求生技能，但是是但但卻是社會大眾默默接受的norm﹖
我會唔開心，但無理由用心去工作去生活是錯。我堅心自己在做對的事，你有你呵欠囉。有時有老師會這樣鼓勵我，有些學生不會表達他們已受了你影響，不代表自己做的工作沒有價值啊。
五師兄，我學校的學生在小四學倉頡，而我認為倉頡是最快和直接的中文輸入法。
不過，你個小朋友好似得幾個月大喎…
Be honest, 如果工作沒有了那份傻勁，根本不會有passion 把最好的做出來.我明白這樣會有點辛苦,但我情願作我認為對的事,至少我會感到自己敬業.
Ｍiss Lee,這不是你的問題,而是整體香港人對自己工作/讀書的要求問題...我想分享的是,即使在商業機構,我和我的好友們也遇過不少毫無責任感的同僚,他們會質疑為什麼要這麼用心工作?(有些更是自己的下屬,你對工作有要求,他們會覺得你多餘,玩針對!)...氣結!...有時我會問:不如我收埋你份糧好嗎?
在我的行業,能遇上好team可以一起衝鋒陷陣,是多麼難能可貴!
最終,我還是堅持我的passion,我想這樣我會尊重自己多點.
敬業樂業有自足價值，是我的工作取向和態度。
但，工作和私人生活應該要儘量分開。
Pain and gain，從來都是雙生兒。
不同年紀會鑽不同的牛角尖
以前我會急急想改變對方
現在不會了
因我發現成長是旁人幫不了忙的
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