This is the content of my speech during the assembly on 9th of November 2010 (if not mistaken):
......Today, i have an experience to share. I think you, students, often hear teachers talking about good students and bad students. But i know students also talk about good teachers and bad teachers. So for me, am i being label as a a good teacher or a lousy teacher? I experienced both. Some students told me, “Mr.Fredy, you are a good teacher”; at the same time, you can read at the 3rd floor prep hall’s whiteboard which says “Lousy counselor, we don’t need you Freddy Chan, get lost from our school” (Although they spell my name wrongly, but i don’t think they are mentioning another person). So what is a good teacher & what is a lousy teacher? When a teacher do things in a way you like, he/she is a good teacher; when a teacher scolds you, do things the way you don’t like, then that teacher is a bad teacher, that’s what i observed.
Anyway, that’s not the main thing i wanna talk about today. What i really want to share is about emotional management. As i mentioned just now, students write something unfavorable to me. At first, i was really angry. Although i’m a counselor, i know my rights as a teaching staff and i was thinking of taking disciplinary action on those students. But i didn’t do that, because i thought that maybe i should take this opportunity to reflect on myself first. So I thought, although i did nothing wrong, but as a counselor i can use other approaches instead of scolding students. I’ve taken this opportunity to try to improve myself instead of just to taking action on students to get back my rights, or pride, to relieve my anger. Students might stop doing nonsense out of fear but did i fulfill my job as a educator? When I lose my temper and scold students or speak harshly with students, this may distant students from me, and i won’t be able to fulfill my job as a counselor, because students may not feel comfortable to share things with me when they need. More over, if i’m being emotional and ‘swallow’ their words saying, “we don’t need you”, i might give up the job, giving up on the majority students by listening to just some minority voices. These are some of my reflections.
So for you students, when your friends say bad things to you, call you names, or when your teacher scolds you; instead of getting angry and fight back, do you try to reflect on yourself, and try to improve yourself? Or you just say that person is lousy, talk back to teachers, call other names which you yourself don’t like it, or to pick a fight. By doing all that, you might relieve your anger temporarily, but does it do you any further good? Or actually it bring you more harm later, and let the negative power cycle around?
I want to dedicate my words especially to those students who are going to graduate. I hope besides being successful in your academic, and maybe sports, you’ll also learn to improve your character. Learn to reflect on yourself. You might think all your attitude is ok for you for now, or even in your college years. But in the future, when you still don’t try to learn how to reflect on yourself and change, you might bring damage to yourself. So later when you go back to the prep hall and see those words, instead of laughing at it, i hope you can think about what i’ve said. Think about it not for me, but for yourself.
Last thing before I finish my speech. Maybe you’ll hear about rumors about another person, but before you clarify, please don’t take others opinion as a fact and believe it. Even you yourself, sometimes believe in something without clarifying the whole thing. Things happened before where students fight because his friend is saying something about another person, which is not true, or not the whole truth, and turns out that students believe it and fight back with the innocent students. Maybe you don’t want to listen to me right now, but in the future when you really face some difficult situation, i hope you still can remember what i’ve said. Good luck for your exam, and good luck for your future!
