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Teaching tuition has to be the toughest job i ever had thus far.
It isn't the questions that puzzle me but rather the patience and effort that is needed by the tutor towards the student.
It is very very very difficult to hold out and encourage a student when she is failing or 'not getting it' after lessons.
You would think that I should know better since I was such a student especially for math.
But no, despite being the failing student for the 2 years in JC, i never figured how my teacher managed to stick with me patiently and coach me.
Or Mdm mah who did a miracle and got me an A2 for amath when i was at f9 only a few months before the exam.
I gave my student a math paper today and she scored 0.
And for the first time ever, I really wanted to walk out of there.
The tuish ended and I spoke to her dad after, voicing my concerns on her results, only to learn that he wanted to withdraw her from the tuition centre.
It was when I stepped out of the tuition centre to go home that I realised-
I just got fired.
Sure it may only be by one student's dad but it still sucks.
I know it isn't really my fault for the student's poor results since she had issues with her foundation already but it still kicked me into feeling inadequate in this field.
How does one encourage another to fight on when she herself is giving up already?
Ohman, i never thought i would be throwing my hands up in the air.
Except this time round someone else has given up on me first before I gave up on them.
//edited//
It has been a week or so since I last written the above. After thinking about the whole experience at the tuition centre I realised how kids are very easily influenced by their parents and more often than not it isn't quite their fault for their odd behaviors... It is more of a reaction/result of their upbringing or their environment at home. I know this doesn't sound new but when you are actually interacting with a problematic kid, you can and will forget that he/she is a end product rather than a sole individual.
I believe that individuality usually comes in only after you are past a certain level of maturity. Or after your parents decide to let you grow as a human being. If not, you will be a mere product moulded and hanmared by your parents.
Thinking this way allows me to channel any frustration away from the kid. At least that is better for the time being.
Also im actually happy to be fired by this parent. The kid doesn't belong to this education system. I would suggest art therapy or even animal therapy but who am I to say anything? There is little i can do except watch a kid struggle in a system where she will not survive.
We can't be superheroes when people don't want saving.