I have an in-law who teaches English in a secondary school, and is a discipline teacher. She recently got her car a recorder as her car was scratched (not just hers, but quite many other teachers' cars too). So this recorder is like a car CCTV that records everything including sound as long as there is battery power supply.
Yesterday a prefect approached her and told her that her car was scratched again! She went to check and decided to check the recorder when she got home. So hours were spent and my brother and she found the culprit. Although not exactly clear, it did quite convincingly suggest who did it.
It was the prefect who came to report the incident.
He is only form 2 this year. He got straight As in his UPSR. He came from a highly-educated family. He is the only child at home. He gives hands to his teachers when they need help (e.g. he helped my sister-in-law to carry bags and stuff from the car to the office).
If it wasn't the CCTV would anyone ever think that it was him who did it?
Why a so-called good student like him did this? Something wrong the boy himself? with his teacher(s)? with the parents? with the education system? with the society?
My in-law could only think of the other day where she told him off during an assembly as he was doing homework which wasn't what students meant to be doing, what say a prefect who should set as a role model.
Really? I found it quite difficult to actually believe that a 14-year-old boy was this "advance" in playing psychological trick and had this kind of mind set where (1) he intended to revenge or sent some kind of message to my in law? (2) he did it and then reported it, most likely believing that nobody would ever know it was him?!
We can imagine that how much it would hurt this boy if the video is published, so we thought about ways to protect him. I think we would rather have some really "bad students" who did it, so that they can be punished straight away knowing they wouldn't really care anyway (I mean it shouldn't bring harm to the bad students in long term). But for a "good" student like this, any minor punishment we thought it is (e.g. having him to resign from being a prefect) can lead to severe consequences, or even affecting the rest of his life... So as long as he knows he was wrong, parents would be notified and no punishment would be given. I think this is a better way, although I do think parents should now give a lot more attention (and love?) to this boy, understand him psychologically and his mental development, perhaps he really needs some proper counselling or psychological treatment.
Not until something happens to your children, always be so alert with how they are growing up. Is results everything to them? What's the most important values that we should be implementing to our next generation? What do successful and happiness stand for?
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