Saturday,
21st March, 2020
In
the midst of the corona outbreak in Vietnam. Of course, not just Vietnam, the
whole word has gone crazy about this virus. Over the past few days, the
Vietnamese government has been generous enough to fly all the Viet citizens
from the epidemic areas home, especially from Europe. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh
City, the 2 main cities of the country have welcomed waves and waves of people
returning home. People may argue about the incompetency of a communist
political party, but in distress time like this, all we care is that our
government is doing all their efforts to save our people's lives. That's it.
For that, we listen to their instructions. And stay positive for the future.
I
have finished one of the largest projects that I have ever undertaken since
entering the adult work life after graduation. Launching a new product,
especially in time where people need insurance plan in place than ever, has
been a journey full of joy and lessons learnt. Maybe all the night work and
weekend spending mostly in-house, running models, reviewing materials, checking
up on grammar and wording (no matter how much I feel like I have had enough of
Kumon marking, eye-bailing all the commas and full stops to take marks away
from kids, I still continue doing it at work now lol), creating test plans,
discussing solutions, etc., can be reduced a bit, but then it's not work after
all. I learn here and then that the final result may not be as compelling as
you want, but the journey through, with like-minded people, makes it a thousand
time worth the efforts. This is absolutely correct, for the journey of 9
months!
Now
it's over, the project has completed its first phase and the product is
launched, my weekday night time and the weekend can be much more relieved, I am
back to the habit of watching everything on Youtube that comes up on the side
bar. It can be anything from drama series to documentary to music videos, as
long as the subject catches my interest at first sight.
Today, I stumble this video on one of my following channels. ABC Q&A series have always been the number 1 resource for practising ESL listening paper back in high school. So from time to time I still watch this, so as to catch up with Australia's current affairs.
The
topic for Q&A panel discussion is on education (again and again!!), but
focus on the funding. Ok that's the big picture which people like regulators,
educators, principals, etc. have to know about. But then how about parents,
children? They are the main beneficiaries for all of this. Do they, or to what
extent do they need to know about funding?
I
mean, the concept of funding disparity between public and private schools may
be a bit too broad for normal parents to care for. And talking about the
consistent decline in PISA score all the time just adds more to the fire. It may
instead be better just to get down to the understandable level of actionable
items could be of more help.
Like
telling the parents to remind their kids to respect their teachers and behave
at school. Education which starts from home first always delivers pleasant results.
Then
offering teachers a fair compensation
(not remuneration) package, at least to their satisfaction so as they stay in
the job as long as they can. The children need them. And the whole country
depends on them.
On the training side, put appropriate entry requirements into
university teaching degrees, not something like ATAR 6x and sending an offer
just 5 minutes after the release of ATAR to a 9x ATAR kid. Give the students a
clear picture of future job prospect for teachers, encourage and aid them
through scholarships and sufficient teaching placements to boost the graduate's
job readiness skills.
Then the lifting results will kick in with its finest form, very
soon!
Australia is certainly capable of delivering world class
education to its citizens, the country just needs to focus a bit more with
better strategies and a clear vision!
I may criticise NSW high school curriculum in this area and that
area, but a huge credit and appreciation is always for this place which has
nurtured me with fantastic education. Always follow and want the best for the
state and the country down-under, especially with its education system.
P/S: Listen to Eddie talking about example in Griffith where
rural teachers just can't leave school for few days to attend training due to expenses
and no replacement. Ok, you made the resources available, but can the teachers
really utilise them? This's the level of detail that needs to pay attention to
when doing any project, in any discipline. I reflect on this thought a lot as I
go about with my work everyday. What can I do directly to serve the people at
the core of my profession's interest better? Then if I can't do it well
consistently on a daily basis, should I think about a bigger problem? Maybe not.
Or maybe one day when I get up the ladder, I may see things in different perspective
thus arrange different priorities in different orders. I don’t know it yet! For
now, the motto is always ticking in mind: "Do what you love and love what you do. Passionately!"
