Are VS Monitors taken for granted?

"You are conned, you are conned, you are really kanna conned, by the best con man in town. And the best in the world some say even in Batam, I will con you upside down. Cause im a con-trac-tor, nothing that i cannot do... you will kanna conned for sure, kanna conned through and through..."

...continuing from previous post

Monitors indeed, play an important role in school. An example would be that whenever there are any information to be passed to every/any class, the monitors will be called out, either to stay back after morning assembly or look for a teacher.

Monitors are however, constantly being taken for granted by many teachers. This could be perhaps 2 monitors are apparent in every class.

I have students, as well as teachers, and even monitors themselves telling me: The Job as a monitor is realli 'sai gang' (translated as: dirty job). This is utterly true. Monitors are the first to be blamed for whatsoever that goes wrong, and last/never to be praised for whatsoever that goes right. (though not in all cases)

Apart from handling class administration such as attendance and stuff, monitors have to take care of the class if the class is noisy or when teachers are not around. They also have to lock the classrooms during recess and after school (resulting in being the last to go down for recess/go home and first to appear to open the doors). Worst still, there are always this group of people who don't appreciate their hardwork, yet making things difficult for them. For some classes, students just refuse to listen to the monitors' instructions, and some even persevere the idea of staying in class during recess, or breaking rules in class. Perhaps monitors can be given more authority in class?

As to what Mr Maran have said "Monitors are there are a reason, not to look pretty". I have to agree with him. We, do have a job to do too. But can't we expect a little more appreciation?
Also, look at it this way, are ALL monitors that are chosen, the best people for the job?

During my term of office, I seem to be more concerned about Monitorial matters. Whenever i have the chance, I will inquire from my Sec 1/2/3 Juniors and even teachers about how their class monitors are like. No doubt there are potentials, yet there are also disheartening 'stories' to hear about.

To address such a problem; firstly, consider how monitors are chosen? Unlike the Prefectorial Board, the Monitors' Council does not have much say in the selection process of monitors. We do not conduct interviews, nor trial periods for them. Instead, in most cases, it ends up either like a popularity vote by the class, or selected by the form teacher. Usually, the notorious and weak are voted for (so that they have corrupted monitors which cannot stop them from breaking rules in class). Because of these few 'black sheeps', Monitors' Council is predetermined as 'useless'. But, is it our fault? Indeed, we need better ways to select the right people for the job. The council should be given more say on the selection process.

Think about it, would it benefit you to have a lousy monitor, who doesn't relay correct information to the class?

The role of the council is made worst with some teachers rotating monitors every term or as and when they like. This makes us very difficult to keep track of all monitors. As the council is trying hard to accomodate every teacher's preference of monitors, and it is practically impossible to maintain the bonding spirit amongst all monitors if they keep changing our monitors. Why can't monitors be like prefects, having the same people for the job throughout the 4 years once they are selected in Sec 1?

Moreover, such cases mentioned above kinda remove the prestige as a role of a monitor. Monitors feel that their role is not secure.

In addition to this, the council want to develop each monitor to be capable of being able to run the show. How is this to be done if so many new monitors are inducted every term? Do you actually comprehend our feeling of "功亏一篑" (translated as: efforts gone to waste)?

...do imagine a day where there are no more monitors in victoria school...

CCA Reflections

Frankly speaking...

It is almost time that I handover all my committments to the Sec 3s. Time really seems to fly. After being in the term of office as Head Monitor, i figured out myself to have been exposed to much more things than any other students... such as working with PB for the EDGE Project, taking care of the welfare of Monitors etc. (continued next post above)

Looking back, the role of being MC Chairman has indeed reminded me of my role as President (Chairman) of VS IT Club.

IT Club has been my incubator of growth in Victoria School. Despite having lots of tough times in it, I have been FORCED to surface what resilience there is in me. In it, I turely learnt the term "never give up" and "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". From IT, it learnt many things such as leadership, thorough planning, writing proposals etc. No doubt there are lots of resentment and power struggle, but still I managed to surface.

IT club commenced my VS leadership career by sending me on the Leadership Training Camp 2003. That was when everything took flight. From there, I learnt many things/ways of being a leader. Mr You has always been telling me, being a leader for Uniform Groups and Clubs/Societies are indeed very different.

For example, IT club, we do not have rank and file. If you want to get your EXCO and cca members to be committed and respect you, you must first learn to respect others. Also, you must built strong friendly relationship with them, and learn how to gain their trust, by constantly support them. If not they will boycott you, and you end up doing everything yourself.

On the other hand, Uniform Groups are different. They force fearful respect (not all cases though). Juniors are forced to greet their Seniors "sir". They get 'pumped' and screamed at when work is not done, or if you do not 'respect' them enough. Thus, everyone follows the rigid system of rank and file, forcing them to take all instructions from those only of higher ranked. (correct me if i am wrong)

Moreover, IT club also built me up with team spirit, and it also gave me the idel how to run the club well, which put me in a good position for carrying on in the Monitors' Council.

Thus, IT Club will always be remembered deep in my heart... the catalyst which reflected what I really am.

Swine Sty Slumberparty Week

Its been realli crazy...

My daily routine for this week was like going to school, sit in for intesive Chinese lessons, then go home. Its kinda weak structure, kills everyone's brain cells. People like Kian Sin, Monk and Zhenyi were all doing Maths during his lessons. This is kinda waste of time, but... wat can be done?

I shall begin with what happened yesterday(Friday). Its was like finally the last day of the Intesive MT programme and I know this torment would soon end. Unexpectedly, the impact was much diminished, as Mr Chew dragged me out the whole morning to do some IT stuff for him. So my class escaped HMT lessons for more than 3 hrs. As usual they were playing cards, enjoying themselves; While the other MT classes were indulged in chinese fads, feeling immensed pressure for their forthcoming MT O Levels on 30th May.

Enough of these boredom materials lest you fall asleep. Let's start off with something interesting yesterday. After school I was practically relaxing in the Monitors' Council room. I then realised the best part about schoolling is actually spending time with my Juniors and peers in the MC room. I wonder how long this could last.

Jarren had a piece of Mr Ang today. George, Jarren, Chengwei and I were in the IT Lab doing some MC work, until we left the lab realising we did practically nothing much. I started giving them Full Admin powers for the MC Web, as they were probably gonna take over nxt yr. As we were walking along the corridor, Jarren had a dramatic fall. He was dancing like some swine, until he fall without warning, due to sudden cramps in his thighs. Of course everyone started laughing, as Jarren was still groaning in pain. Just then, Mr Ang walked past...

All: Good Evening Sir !
Mr Ang: Ei boy, don't lie of the floor.
Terence: Oh sir, he is having a cramp !
Mr Ang (to Jarren): Do you know why you have cramp?
Jarren (still lying on the floor): No sir!
Terence (adding on): He just did too much exercise during training just now sir !
Mr Ang: No, you have cramps because you are too heavy !

Poor Jarren, I bet half the school will know soon ! lolx !


The Mystery of Mdm Nabilah...

On Thursday, Mdm Nabilah had just hurt me... for the first time. A confrontation...

Mdm Nabilah: I'm so disappointed in you!
Mdm Nabilah: MC Chairman some more...

Apparently, she found out...

For those who are interested (George, I know you are), this was what happened... There was this Biology Mock Test for all Sec 4s (held on different days of the week; some taken 2 weeks before). Apparantly, my class was one of the last few to take. I was in the MC room the day before the test when someone had a copy of the MCQ question paper. Having too much to study within a day, I decided to stratagise and study only the chapters that are tested. I have been busy with many committements you see. In the end, the Paper 1 question paper was borrowed back...

I know this Mock test was supposed to be a driving force for us to study. Just think, I know the rational behind it, why should I create harm for myself? I hate being accussed of memorising the MCQ answers, why would I want to do that?

Mdm Nabilah: Should I still mark the paper?

I admit the MCQ turned out to be a breeze, and its true as no doubt I have seen the questions before. But still there are still things i do not know, and i want to learn from the test.

In fact, there are hell lot of others who went to ask for the questions/answers (I shall not pinpoint them). I'm not making excuses. I know I am in the wrong. As a student leader, I shouldn't have stooped as low as them and should not have touched other's Bio paper at all.

But I couldn't resist the tempation. I didn't have time to study the whole book... There is no point going into the test and coming out with a '0', like what Mr Wong said to Chris the other time (regarding the Chemistry test)...

...I also shouldn't even have lent out the questions to my classmates. I'm very sorry Mdm Nabilah, now I feel really remorseful after what you have said to me.

But I DID study (selective chapters though) for the test. Like others, I also want to know how well I would fair. I apologise to you once again, although I know my impression in you could have been tarnished... nevertheless, I shall make it up to you in the O Levels.


Swine Sty Slumberparty Week...

I am worried, anxious, apprehended, disturbed, perplexed, writhed. Concerned about this and that. I am troubed about my juniors, the council, the it club, and even my o levels. starting off with the council, there are many problems going on.

My two closest junior George and Jarren from Monitors' Council seem to be having a huge problem. So do Ramanan and Tadjuddin.

There seem to be so much uncertainty in everything i do. For Monitors' Council, we are about to handover soon, as most of my Sec 4 EXCO is like lost in their eluded world of acadamics. Things left to do:

- MC Shirt
- Attitude of Monitors
- MC Sec 3 EXCO
- Filing System
- Class Passes SOP
- EXCO SOP
- MC Website
and most imporantly - CAMP

im sure there are more to add, juz that i can't think of any more now.


In fact, I think that Holiday really issn't gonna be a holiday for me at all (I believe this is rather similar thinking for most Sec 3/4s)

First week, I am dumped with Chemistry and Biology Make up which take up 3 days. Following which is the Chemistry Practical Mid Years Exam. There is also the 2-day Monitors' Council Camp which clashes with my Biology class. Not forgetting MC EXCO Interview.

Second week, I will be attending a teacher's wedding ceremony.

Third week, i will have to attend IT Club's 3-day Camp, concurrent with Physics and Bio Practical Mid Years Exam.

And not to mention only having a week to study for my Mid year exams.

--" woot __

hey people, add some comments lea ! and link me up k z?


Its been a long while since i last posted. Has been quite a hectic week. Filled with quizzes and mock's'. Had Chem, Physics, Bio, Napfa... juz to name a few.

Results for the HCl paper one was out last Tue, quite ok a score for Paper 2. 79.5/110, an acceptable A2 score. Hopefully my paper one gonna be >60 / 90 so that I can at least get an overall A2 score. Pity to those who dont score a distinction for this paper, cause this's prelims and its yeah, counted for JC admission.

Talking about Chemistry really pissed me off. To think I lost my Chemistry file/notes, I went to borrowed and photocopied dem. Cost me $9.30 !! Worst, after spending so much $$, i dun think i did very well in it, cause i bearly know much about the Alkanes, Alkenes, Alcohol, Carboxylic Acids, Esters as well as all the linkage nonsense. In summary, I hate organic Chemistry. I only managed to breeze through the inorganic parts.

Physics was also so-so, the MCQ had choices which appeared almost the same. So Paper One was quite a rough ride through that one hour. Paper Two also.. haiz... Wonder if O Level's ready for me??

Bio's quiz was also quite lame. There was this question: "What do you use to clean the fermenter?"

(Definition: a fermenter is a machine which is designed to keep its inside environment favourable for the desired biological process to operate eg. Penicillin)

To think that something so stupid could appear. Of course, I decided to answer intelligently with "chemicals". Can you believe it, the answer was "Detergent" !? Who would be so shallow to put such a basic answer !! You think what, wash plates ah ! haiz.. Wadever !

Napfa test was ok. Confirm Gold already. This week we had the 2.4 km run. This time, I had no one to pace with. In addition to this, Desmond borrowed my watch, and thus I can't time myself. This run ended up rather dramatic, I had Roy chasing behind my ass (juz like a dog). Before the race, he challenged me, claiming that he could outrun my trial timing of 11:11 (i was only aiming for a C grade though). And in the end, instead of outrunning me, he even got whacked up by Kian Sin. sigh, Roy... 不自量力 ！

After the race, two people in my class vomitted... Bleah .... Kudos to Clement and Darren ! lol

Hectic Sunday !

woah, just as i thought this Sunday would be a relaxing one, i woke up realising that there's so much work to be done ! OMG !

I planned to study physics today, but as I found out I had hell lot of Social Studies Source Base Questions for hw, which usually take me half a day. And it DID !

Started rushing off my SS, juz in case teacher made me stand behind ... AGAIN ! Well, standing behind wasn't that bad, the bad thing was that I was *suaned* by her because I was the monitor. Heard of 知法犯法，罪加一等? Ya, that's what she meant. Well, the other time, I was punished not because i didn't do my work, instead because I brought the wrong workbook (u noe 4A instead of 4B). Ms Kong, sorry bout this though !

Well, Source Base Questions DID take me that long. Finished around 6 pm. (Imagine if i could take that long during examinations). Aft finishing it, I smsed Lisha and realised I had to do essay comprehension for English Tuition tomorrow. OMG !! How to finish, and about to go out for Mother's Day dinner soon :-) . Looks like once again, my procrastination skills has done it once again. Haiz.

Yup, back from dinner now. Had a nice 8 course meal including my favourite sharks fin and chilli crab. Felt like wishing mum a happy mothers' day, but it looks so old fashioned. If i were to spend money to buy her gifts or stuff, I usually end up getting chided for wasting money. Typical mothers ei. So i decided to show her my good intentions via some actions --> through o levels. A rather belated gift though.

Ok, action speaks louder than words. I better get started to prepare my mother's present: Starting off by doing well in tmr's physics mock. Got to run. Got to mug. C ya !

Yet another boring weekend...

Wow, this weekend really came in handy. Needa cool my brains down aft a bad nite's slp due to the Higher Chinese Prelim or SA1 wadever u call it. Higher Chinese SA 1 really sux, studied like mad just for 35 marks !? And I already lost 4 marks on the easiest mistakes... omg ! I hope I can get my A1 this time ... Yah, thanks to this HCl (not hydrocholoric acid though), i onli slept for 4 hrs. Haf to replenish already. bloodshot eyes are getting into my way.

Woke up @ 1030 am, decided to catch some cartoons to accompany my breakfast. Pokemon !! Sheesh, been missin this cartoon since a long long time ago... Needa catch up on my childhood.

Spend my whole Saturday slacking.. dunno wad to do. Ended up playing some IQ computer game with Jeremy. Took us 2 hrs to solve 3 IQ rooms. Looks like Jeremy and I are not damn addicted to this game.. haha. Can't wait for the next room to come out !

Nobody seems to be studying for the upcoming Physics Mock Exam, so I decided not to study too. Well maybe, juz maybe I may study tmr. Mock's not counted anyway ritez? Maybe because everyone has to rush out that piece of SS homework ... bah !

As a web designer, i spent quite some time today wondering what to implement for my blog's design. Haiz, guess I'm sick of designing, so gonna leave things as boring as it is. Sorry if my blog's design suk !

Warming Up...

Finally, I managed to set up my own blog, will be spending some time to work it all up. Hopefully, this can be a place where people interact. Hope to make this place an online portal for html/webdesign hehheh... 将让大家拭目以待 !