AFTER reading the articles, 'Sec 5 class advised: Go to ITE instead' (ST, Jan 12) and 'Principal's ITE advice 'had to be delivered'' (ST, Jan 17), I would like to share my experience.

I attended a top junior college. Three months before my A-level examinations, one of my teachers advised me to drop her subject, saying that my poor grades over the past year would guarantee me a failure, and that I should concentrate on my other subjects. She made an indirect reference to the school rankings.

I refused, and was not offered any form of assistance. On my own efforts, I eventually aced all my subjects and graduated with a perfect score.

If I had taken the teacher's advice, I would have been unable to qualify for most of the tertiary courses that I was interested in. My point is that the teacher, or the school, acted in its own interest, instead of the student's interest, of which it had a responsibility to protect.

The manner in which the message was delivered, 'the tone', was up to the interpretation of the parties involved but it is the intention with which the message was delivered that is important here.

As we become more affluent as a society, as we cultivate a more global outlook, we have started to expect more from our education system. We want Montessori schooling for our young children, and when they grow up we expect world-class educational institutions to be available to them. As we strive to achieve these utopian ideals, we should ensure that these are real achievements, and not just 'paper' ones. We need to be confident that the reported standards of our institutions are an accurate reflection of what is actually happening on the ground. If not, it will just be empty talk, and life will not be any better for our children.

We need to have teachers who nurture and encourage our children. The key to learning is motivation, and teachers play a very important role in inspiring that precious spirit. No child should ever be labelled a 'failure' or denied help.

The notion that one's worth is measured by academic achievements is an outdated and illogical one; it is just a means to an end in our society. Schools should protect their students' self-esteem, and not their rankings.

Juliana Thay Hui Cheng (Ms)

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