www.dancing-notez.blogspot.com
认不清，看不清。。。
Thursday, April 17, 2008
♥ 3:28 PM
School, work, school, work...
Phew, the transition is tiring!
There're only 3 modules this semester instead of the usual 8.
Which gives us all a well-deserved 'break'.
But sadly, this will last only for ard 7 weeks, cos our attachment to the centres will be starting again on week 8.
From 8.30 am to 5.30 pm.
Daily.
Ahhhh...
Someone in our lecture class posted a very important question to the lecturer on the first day:
Is it true that we'll be given a certain amount of money to buy our materials for the setting up of our learning corners?Answer: Not sure. -_-
I think they should. We're already not paid for our attachment in the childcare centres!
I've been thinking alot recently...
About my future being in this field.
Back in year 1, we were all juz a group of unsuspecting freshies whose only goal in mind was to complete our projects to perfection and work hard in whatever that was thrown to us.
Starting year 2, I started questioning myself,
'Is teaching in a childcare what I'm going to do for the next 40 years of my life?'
'Do I really want this to happen?'
More importantly, what am I going to do with earning just $1000+/month from this? I give part of my pay not only to my parents, but to my (maternal) grandmother as well. After all tt, I'll have to survive by just a little over $500. Then, deduct away the transport fees, meals, daily neccessities money... And I'll spend the rest of my life saving away. What??
What infuriated me the most was when I found out that RTRC actually offers a 18-month course for a Diploma in Early Childhood Education. After that, you can start teaching. 18 months. So what is the 3 years in poly for, when everything is the same thing in the end?! I can safely assure you, you will get a job in a childcare whether or not your certificate is from NP or RTRC. S'pore is desperately lacking in childcare teachers.
The root of the problem goes back to the pay. Call me materialistic, money-minded, whatever. But the truth is, you have to worry about such things when you are not born in a silver spoon.
The teachers from Caterpillar's Cove earn only $1000/month, when the fees there are $1200/month. ???!!!?! And this is considering that Caterpillar's Cove is a 'higher end' childcare. I feel like scratching something now.
People will probably say, 'But you like children, right?'. Yes, I do. But this is not only questioning my passion, it's also about financial stability, my future. There're so many more factors, other than just passion. We have to acknowledge this very real thing called '
reality'. And also, I probably wouldn't be having this rant now if we were shown a bit more appreciation, acknowledgement and respect.
It's year 3 now, the last lap of race for me. And I feel more lost than ever. Like a headless fly. Oh, one more thing. Whether you have a Diploma or Degree in ECH, there is
NO difference to the pay. The same thing goes for those who only have a certificate in preschool teaching. In short, any xiao jie, auntie, ah soh, ah ma, can teach as long as you obtain a basic cert plus/or B4 in O'levels English and 5 O'levels credit (new policy taking effect in 2011). And the feeling of me wasting my time overwhelms me again.
Yet, this is the path that I've chosen for myself. I'll have to figure and sort this out on my own. Maybe, we might've made our choices a little too early in our lives. But everything in this country here is all about systems. In the past, if you are streamed into EM3, your future is N(A) or N(T). Now, if you are in N(T), you're still doomed to the ITE path. Making choices after PSLE, selecting subjects after sec 2, making choices after O's, as well as after poly/JC... We have no choice but to make a choice, in the routes that we take.
- -Huey-
