The PSLE results are out today. My mother, who is a home tutor for primary school students and I had a lengthy discussion about my two cousins who just received their report card hours ago. We debated about the most important criteria in choosing a school. My mother thinks schools do not really matter, as long as the child is determined to succeed and works hard. I beg to differ. Having been a youth social worker for the past two and a half years, I have seen how a good school environment (Principal, teachers, peers and culture etc) can be a protective factor for the development of a teenager. The simple fact is, there is a lower probability for the child turn astray if he is in a good school. Period.
Well, that aside, I also took some time to reflect upon my upbringing and the way I handled my first major examination of my life. You see, I was taught to come up with answers to questions posed in class. I was taught to either memorise them (like Chinese characters), or remember them in a certain way (Mathematics - the standard steps to solve standard questions). Practice papers and past year examination papers were a must to do and re-do. There was hardly any room for creativity, except perhaps during Art and PE classes, many of which were always the first to be replaced by examinable subjects should the teacher be rushing for time to finish the syllabus.
I was also not comfortable with not knowing everything about the subject before taking the examination papers. I was simply not comfortable with not knowing.
Then came the 'O' levels; the most angsty period of any one's life. Sure, I was in one of the top schools then, but I found it hard to cope with the sudden increase in curriculum and subjects. I did not fare well in artsy subjects such as literature and history. Too many words; too many intangible stuff. I did not fare well in the Sciences either, all three of them. Too technical, plus I could not link them to why they were important in my life to lose sleep over them. I continued to score straight As in my Mathematics though, heh.
Throughout the four years, I (over)indulged in my CCA instead. I guess during that period, when I was questioning what was life all about, my band conductor did no other teachers in class did, that is to explain the (or rather his) philosophy of life through music. He once commented, "You learn 'A' Math for what? To go market buy fish ah?" With that, it marked a shift in the way I learn. I began to place more attention on intangible yet equally significant things in life, especially feelings and emotions, as well as character development.
Junior College came and went like a breeze. The super crazy and ra-ra two years of my life. I took the time to build relationships and enjoy the company of my schoolmates. I eventually did well enough to enter University and decided to major in social work.
University days deserve a post on its on, so that's for another entry.
It just hit me today when I was chatting with my colleagues, that many a times in counseling, we are threading on uncertainties. Did we build enough rapport? Is our hypothesis and assessment spot-on? How should we intervene? Will it work? What if it doesn't? Will it be detrimental to our clients? What if the intervention seem to work? How sure can we be that is is not due to other factors that caused a shift in the client's life? and I'm sure the list can go on and on....
In as much as they do not know the answer, we x10000000000 do not know the solution given we are not even in their position! Plus, are there even answers in the first place?
The only certainty is that we are on a journey of the unknown with our clients.
How ready and comfortable are we to do that each time we receive a new case?
~
"To sit without the answer, in a state of unknowing and be comfortable with it, is to embrace that point of infinity in which all things are possible."
"Rebecca"
