MORE than any other career, teachers have the power to transform lives.
The work of those dedicated in their profession (around the world) who continue to strive every day to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education is essential to the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all.
“Sometimes as a teacher, I could notice things about a child that even parents don’t notice,” said Puan Sri Rathi Khoo during an interview with The Vibes Culture and Lifestyle.
Earlier in the week, the writer paid a visit to the private residence of the teacher in Gasing Heights to observe the anniversary of recognising the rights and responsibilities of educators.
As we sat together enjoying the morning breeze and coffee prepared, Khoo fondly reminisced about her days as an educator, which began in the late 60s.
She formerly taught English and History at Bukit Bintang Girls School (BBGS) for the first five years when she began her career in 1969 and later Accounting in La Salle Petaling Jaya (LSPJ) for 18 years straight. The principals at the schools then were Elena Cooke and Brother Felix Donohue, respectively. Khoo was a secondary school teacher in both institutions.
“I am still teaching today, and I do so because I really enjoy it, but the setting is more private with a smaller group of students now,” she noted.
“We would usually have the lessons here at my home, but given the pandemic, classes have temporarily been adjusted online,” added the 74-year-old.
Khoo expressed she had only taken time-off twice when she followed her husband, the late historian Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim, to Singapore in the late 90s when he was a visiting scholar then and later when he fell ill (between 2017-2018). The gap in total took about five years.
She worked in the Ministry of Education before the start of her teaching career, “but I eventually said that I have to teach”.
“As a little girl, I have always told myself that I wanted to become a teacher.
“I always tell my son(s), especially Rubin, how grateful I am that I still remember formulas, and have not forgotten anything that would disrupt the delivery of my lessons well to students”.
Stand and deliver
“Throughout my career, I never used to sit during my lessons because one of the best methods of teaching is to actually walk around,” shared Khoo when asked about her teaching style.
“For me, teaching was not ‘teaching’, it was more about engaging and interacting actively with the kids.
“Textbooks act as a guide for the students, but during my class, I never asked students to open their books just to read them aloud. I never used to write much on the blackboard,” she noted.
“This is because I want my students to look at me and pay attention to whatever I was saying – they have to be attentive for as long as the class is in session.
Noting teaching to be rewarding, Khoo shares, “I would always tell the kids to hear what I have to say and make their own notes, and we will recap later. I am that kind of teacher, even when I was teaching students for their A-levels.”
“When they begin to recap their learnings, it is not me that is talking anymore. It is the students, and I would listen and correct if there is a mistake.
“Even then, I would encourage them to speak up, and tell me if there are contradicting facts from the textbooks with the lesson plan.
“I would say to my students that I don’t have to be right all the time, they just need to prove me wrong. This is how we can establish a conducive learning engagement.
“Children are very receptive to things, therefore a teacher’s role in the learning process is very important. Again, to be a good teacher you have to love what you do fully,” she stressed.
A strong supporter of public schools, Khoo retired from LSPJ in 1991 at the age of 45.
“Sometimes when you have worked for so long, you get a little biased with certain things. The ministry brought about a rule around that time missionary headmasters have to retire at 55,” she highlighted.
“Prior to it, the heads can go on even beyond that age limit and there was no retirement age set. I don’t know, maybe I was very attached to the headmaster LSPJ at the time, he was lovely and inspiring, so I decided to retire early.
“Also, accounting was so in demand that private schools and colleges were already reaching out to me for my expertise in the subject.
“I then continued to teach part-time (tertiary level) in Methodist College (MCKL), as well as some other colleges. On top of that, I had my private classes so there were still students coming to me for lessons.
Challenges in change
Having observed the waves of change in learning over the years, “What I have noticed is that there was never a revision of syllabus so often back when I was still a school teacher”.
“Nowadays, the changes are ever so often, and I am seeing it even until today. It looks as though the ministry is finding faults in their own syllabus – if the syllabus is good, why change it?”
“In addition, textbook chapters jump from one extreme to the other so there is no sense of gradual information process for students. It’s very choppy,” said Khoo.
“I always introduce my students' exercises from old papers on top of the existing ones because everything that was considered as ‘difficult’ has been taken away.
“These are Form 5 kids, so I would tell them that I will try to teach everything because I feel they need to be as adequately equipped when they decide to pursue tertiary level,” she added.
According to the passionate educator, the little errors that she finds sad are when textbook reprints have caused a mismatch of information, confusing students (even teachers) in the process.
“You will never get this kind of experience back then, where the modules of learning are not so careless.
Going back to if online learning has an equal impact on the learning process, “seeing the body language of every child is very important for me.
“At least what motivates me as a teacher is to see how my pupils are behaving, which we don’t get good visibility over the computer.
When asked what was among the best memories of student-teacher interaction, Khoo shares, “Children during my time were truly left in our hands – the growth and development aspect. A big part of their days is spent with the teachers.
“Today, parents have become so careful with their children and engagements in development (not just academic but also social) aren’t as easy.
“I still remember one of the best experiences with my children was going on a school bus. They do make a lot of friends on their travels to school and returning from it,” she noted.
“On the school fields as well – basically outside classroom settings. But today it seems a little isolated where the pandemic isn’t really helping the situation.
“I do feel that the children are really missing out a lot but what can you do about it? Safety and health come first.
Zero exclusion
Clarifying further on how students are viewed as the magnum opus of their teachers, Khoo shared “every child has a place in society”.
“As I have found after being a teacher for so long, not everyone is born with the same academic excellence. But we were always taught by our principal(s) at the time to watch a child and notice something in him/her that we (teachers) can develop and groom further.
The former government school teacher highlighted that staff (of the time) are trained to be meticulous in their efforts to be not just focused on the academic learning experience, but also in sports, arts, music, etc.
“We had so many kids who came from different backgrounds. Some came from poor homes that their environment did not necessarily motivate them to excel in schools.
“So, we were really half-mothers to these kids where the nurturing aspect played a huge part in how they develop,” said Khoo.
She would insist on having her students recognise their individual talents.
“Usually, teachers will notice students’ unique talents especially during extra-curricular activities or during school-wide activities such as canteen day.
“For the latter, of course, it is all entrepreneurship. I remember back in LSPJ, us teachers would be in shock that boys who were not doing well academically would actually raise the most money for their class funds."
Replying to the argument of teachers being stretched thin to cater for the demand of giving undivided attention to students, and whether having to command up to 40 people in a classroom setting is adequate: “Of course, it will be better when it is less (students in one classroom) but we learn to work with what is given.”
“I don’t specifically recall any of us complaining we had too many kids in the class, but that was during my time. Right from day one, we were taught to handle such a sizable group.
“Back then, everyone was very passionate about the job. And I believe that when you are passionate about something, you make the best of it,” said Khoo. – The Vibes, October 9, 2021
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