I may not be a GEPer, but I identify with them more than other students in a class after teaching for 1.5 years in SBGE classes, a mixture of talented and hardworking 'mainstream' students and a group of gifted students. I do the ' ' for mainstream is because this is just a term used to group different students with the same characteristics together, but I don't think such grouping do any good in education.

Anyway, I digress.

Why do I identify with GEPers? Well, I shared common characteristics with some of them.

1.) I practically 'sucked' in all subjects that I don't like to study (Which includes geog, chem, EL, chinese, chinese lit)
2.) I have great difficulty remembering and completing my homework on time
3.) Somehow, I put in sufficient effort to get the results that I want (which is just a pass then, but I did failed my examinations in one occasion though, not a good experience to get a principal breathing down your neck and had to get my sis to bear the brunt of his fury)

Due to my active contributions to the economy (via arcade and comics) during my secondary school years, I was placed in one of the worst classes in Sec 3.

Anyway, what does identifying with GEPers got to do with the title?

I came from a premier school that is comparable to the premier school that I'm teaching now, both in terms of academic results and status in education right now. And I remember 2 types of teachers clearly, obviously they are categorized into the good and bad types.

The good ones truly believed in every student's abilities to do well academically, after all, we all had a PSLE score of 250 and above so our quality cannot be that bad. Most important of all, they taught us how to learn. Hey, here you have a kid who like failed your Chemistry for like 2 years and you believed in him getting an A for 'O' levels. Here you have a kid who either 'forgets' his homework or submits 'duplicated' copies of it and yet they could see pass these flaws and believe in our abilities.

The bad ones are those who deep in their heart already condemned their students, that they couldn't handle the workload and will fail in exams and in life. They teach us so that we could clear examinations. Hey, here you have a kid who like failed your Geography for like 2 years and you believed that he will be one of the many in the class who will pull down the average grade of the school. Here you have a kid who either 'forgets' his homework and gives them a heart attack chasing for it, or a kid who have no integrity by copying his homework just so to appease you.

Needless to say, I was inspired by the good ones while I loathe the bad ones. When I was asked to write an essay for my application for scholarship, I wrote about them. When I went for interview for teaching positions, I talked about them. They are the reason (Both good and bad ones) why I'm here at the moment. I believed we need to have more good teachers and do away with the influence of the bad ones.

As a teacher in a premier school, I don't believe the crap that many students couldn't cope with physics or any other subject for that matter. I believe that every student, barring special circumstances, would be able to do reasonably well (i.e. B) in every subject as long as they put in good effort to try to do so. Because the limiting factor is not the student's aptitude or potential here, it is their attitude and motivation to excel.

If you believe that you can, you will find motivation to work hard and go for the grades. If you believe that you can't, you will find excuses to account for your failure. I hope you found inspiring teachers who made you believe in yourself and not be affected by those who made you believe that you can't. I found mine.

Learning is not about assessment. So why should we teach to prepare for examinations when we can inspire students to learn?

Easier said than done. But I'm trying.