Why Teach? and a trip down memory lane

I am constantly bugged by the same question
over and over again
And as if it's not enough, I had to be posed the same question
by my secondary school teacher, Mrs Chua
at NYGH's anniversary dinner today.
No explanations, no reasoning.
The following comes closest...

Hello miss Chong,
want to know my CA3 mark??? Interested a not???hahax...i let me know now.


Reg no: 28 Name: Tan Chien Han


English 65%
Chinese 80%
Mathematics 41% £¨badly done ar!!!)
Science 62%
F&N 60%
Geography 70%
Literature 33%(lowest marks in my report) hahax!
Art 63%(easy to score)
History 47%


Average : 58%
M.S.G :4.0
Class Position: 11/28
conduct: Good
remark: chien han has shown a more positive attiude towards learning.
he must continue to put in concerted effort and stay focused in class... Work hard!


This is my progress report....my result not good rite????
ok liao lor... bye bye/.....

hi miss yvonne i am glad u doing fine in NIE.......i score 58% for english.....it wasn't bad after alll..so the class is usual...noisy......but we miss your teaching.......if u become teacher will u teach in chestnut drive????.......thaths all

Priceless.
Why teach? Why not?

Staring at the piling heap of notes and assignments,
I'm gonna keep this entry short with a photo splash.

Went to Nanyang anniversary dinner today
held at the old school campus along farrer road.
It's been a long time since i've stepped foot into Nanyang, since graduating in 1996.

This is the '96 cohort.

The old woman in the middle is Cai Liang. She was the "reigning" principal during my time and she's the sweetest old lady you ever know. Btw, she's the famous philandering HK director Cai Lan's sister. Apart from looks, i can't tell the similarity.

This is our table. 4/1, coincidentally my Sec 4 class too. For $30 bucks per person, the food sucked BIG TIME. Dinner was buffet style, and as all hungry Singaporeans do, the guests devoured the food while we were catching up with our teachers. Finally we were left with remains. Few scoops of Fried Rice, some broccoli and cauliflower, pathetic pieces of Chicken Breast meat, and colder than ever octopus cold dish.
Recalling my "free" dinner at CDSS opening ceremony, I think the fact that richer people (herein schools) are stingier is proven to be true.


The reason why i went back to NY.
Friends, aren't they the reason why we go to school? I always wondered if i'd have turned out a different person if i had gone to another school. The reason why i even chose to go to NY was because I was offered SAP. RGS, Dunman High, Anglican High were too far away. RVHS was a mixed school and i hated boys at my young impressionable age. After all that elimination, I finally settled on NY. Though it hadn't been the best experience, but i'm glad it has taught me valuable lessons, inculcated the importance of tradition and certain values.

The highlight of the night was meeting my Form teacher
who i aspire to emulate.
She said the secret to staying young is to teach
Because mixing around with all those young people,
will help maintain your youth, which i think to a certain extent is true
As she does not appear to have aged a single bit since i graduated.

Memories so fond
yet bitter
paved the way
as i strode out.

I can see St Marg's in its newfound glory
and i remember Jie going to school with me every morning.
She in her green polka-dotted uniform
whilst i in my white clinical uniform
Those were the days
I remember most fondly.