Last night, due to the dreadful second half of MU-Chelsea, I read Supermiring Family written by Febi Wijaya, who is a student of St. Laurensia. I've heard familiar stories about the school - its obsession with biology projects, problematic brats (well...dissenting comments are welcomed), and high teacher turnover. The book confirms those stories.
Which, upon reflection, which might be the sorry state of the so-called international schools in Indonesia. Temasek, Lorens, Sinarmas, Global Jaya, I wonder what are the differences between National +, International, "berwawasan internasional", World, and Classical Schools. And that creep called Hi-Scope who wanted my original diploma as deposit.
1. iB, Cambridge O Level, or IGCSE curriculla
2. demand for "native teachers" for English and Mandarin (which, in proper English, meaning that the school is looking for Indonesian teachers)
3. ex-Christian & Catholic schools students added with some halfies, little expats from Korea & India, and of course ex-public school student
4. HIGH TEACHER TURNOVER. The brats test the limit, their usually-aloof parents complain to the principal, the principal discharges the teacher. Of course, sometimes it's the student that's got expelled. But disclipine is something frantically chased by the school to no avail. Being a foreigner doesn't always help.
5. Fetish with Math, Science, and English. And if the school is scared enough of government regulation, enter PPKn and Bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia is certainly useful, but we really need a serious Civic Education.
As usual, the salary sucks.
When I complained about Temasek students, my friend who was from Lorens said same thing there. And well, reading that book made me pondering if I was bloody lucky to survive in Temasek (I didn't resign - the principal said I'm out).
Of course, many teachers could be friends with students, but teaching a hard, unpopular subject with gay textbook that wasn't used anymore, so I had to replace it with handouts that was surely confusing and probably unpopular, I think I was bloody lucky to survive and to love my work.
Even worse, I think I like 50% of Temasek students. Lower than 50%? Okay, certainly not just 10A. That counts for what...more than 10%?
Currently there aren't many options in the job market for me. Luckily I can make excuse that there aren't many schools offering History or other Social Science either. And nooooooooooo way I'd like to teach English. Am I native BTW? Either by the school definition or by dictionary definition, I'm not qualified to be a native. I'm a migrant.
Of course, it's the youth vigour. The mallrats. The anime Romanticism. Plaid skirt. And according to The Sims, a Scholar has to teach in school first. And I've skipped the jobs of Playground Monitor, Teacher Assistant and Primary School Teacher. In Temasek I often thought "George Orwell was a teacher too" (and a colonial policeman, a tramp, a journalist, and a Romantic soldier whose vivid memory of the Spanish Civil War was diarrhea).
When I wanted to be a tutor, of course my idea of students were the lovely, attentive and smart students of La Trobe University School of Politics. Not some little prick who kicked up the wall thinking he's Leonidas from 300. But in the next 6 months there's a micro chance I'd be a tutor - even in Unpar.
And would I back to a school again? Well, let's see...if they need a History teacher for Cambridge A Level, I'm in. I'm also willing to teach Indonesian History, provided I'm permitted to defile the textbook and make up my own version (the true version. The textbook version is the gay version).
I was going to say "yeah, in the end, do the students care?" Surprisingly, some did. At least, a good number of them didn't object - and pretending to pay attention.
