Having come to a full circle of the school holidays, the PMR results are finally out. Kudos
to all those who did well, to all those who got the grades they wanted and to those
who can finally ask for their dream toy/gadget/car/phone/whatever. Kudos also for the teachers whose hard work and efforts have finally paid off for their students. But amidst all the cheers and celebrations; it's important, I think, that we do not place too much emphasis on the results.
As is always the case, we tend to look at the grades first, and from that alone pass remarks about the person. "Oh, straight As? You study hard,eh?"."Wow, your daughter's really smart!"."Your son's really great. My son's only got half of your son's grades, I just don't know what to do with him..(shakes head,looks disdainfully at the son.)"."So your daughter got good grades ah? Your daughter next time sure earn big bucks wan! Not like that Madam Cheng's daughter, only 2 As and one fail even! Hmph, she can get ready to sweep the streets..".When parents get together, it's undeniable that their children's grades would come into the discussion in one way or another.
I used to read this comic called Great Teacher Onizuka or GTO in short that centred on the life of a teacher. A teacher who, unlike many others, went against the socially-accepted rules and systems, and thought so much more of education than just books and papers. On the surface, the comic contains lots and lots (lots) of sexual overtones and violent themes characteristic of Japanese culture normally depicted in mangas. Most would pass it off as a guilty pleasure due to the not-so-decent subplots used by the artist. But what I really appreciate in the comic is how the artist subtly weaves in a much deeper and stronger social message of the role of teachers in society.
In the beginning, Onizuka is introduced as a trouble-maker in his student days. Violent and
perverted, he was the best example of an anti-hero. In his twenties, he fell for a girl but the
girl dumped him for an old guy. A teacher. So he sets his sights on being a teacher in the hopes that he would be able to find his true love but ends up dscovering instead what it means to be a teacher and changing the lives of his students along the way.
Among the characters explored in the comic:
-a supergenius girl who is grappling with growing up and comes from a broken family
-a president's daughter deprived of love who fell for an engaged teacher and was heartbroken
-a student whose mum is just 14 years older than him
-a student who comes from a gangster family and is feared by everyone at school, making him an introvert
-a young woman who is Onizuka's colleague and also love interest who often finds it difficult to do what she thinks
is right as a teacher
-a director of the school's PIBG who saw the shining qualities of a teacher in Onizuka and later
hired him.
-an ambitious headmistress with a skewed perspective of education because of a traumatic childhood experience
-a former rape victim who took up martial arts and joined the headmistress' secret 'Angels' team to deliver their own
brand of justice in the school.
-a petite boy who does not have the courage and confidence to grow up into manhood because of his small build
-a senior teacher who is the epitome of the average high school teacher; stressed out, earns a meagre salary,
has a so-so family and invests in all the wrong things (the dream car that he bought ended up getting smashed
enough times to get his insurance agents to go berserk)
-and so many other characters that focus on the darker sides of the Japanese society
I couldn't agree more with the comic's underlying theme that education alone guarantees nothing, in a sense that the students needed someone who could teach them the lessons of life, a teacher who can guide them and help them in their moments of need. A teacher who is not impersonal and only teaches from the textbooks, but constantly provides tutoring, friendship and support. One who is an example himself/herself for the students to look up to, that when they graduate from school they may be useful to the society. The students were lost, they all followed after their own heart and desires and made a lot of foolish decisions but Onizuka was there to help them all the way to the end. Even risking his life in the last book of the series to save the headmistress who got herself trapped in a burning building. And with style: he had just survived a major brain tumour operation when the nurses discovered that he had escaped from the hospital only to be found riding a Harley-Davidson into the burning school building and out of it unscathed. In his hospital robe.
As if to imply the superhuman qualities of Onizuka, I cannot help but feel that the whole story actually very closely mirrored the life of Jesus! Except that Jesus was the opposite of Onizuka of course :D But the story is there. The theme is there. The message is there. The lost people of Israel were the lost youths of Japan, one man had the courage to stand up against the world, and in doing so he rescued the lives of many. Just like the artist hinted how Onizuka was going to make big changes starting from just one small school where he taught, God started from Israel and offered salvation to the rest of the world. Coincidence? Maybe. But this proves that God's word trancends boundaries of nationalities and cultures.
In case you've lost me from where I started, I just wanna point this out: the A's don't matter as much as having a Godly life. You don't impact the world with the 3 dozen or so As that you mighthave, you impact the world with your life. And just how you would impact the world, would depend on whether God is present in your life. Well, at least I feel that way :D
to all those who did well, to all those who got the grades they wanted and to those
who can finally ask for their dream toy/gadget/car/phone/whatever. Kudos also for the teachers whose hard work and efforts have finally paid off for their students. But amidst all the cheers and celebrations; it's important, I think, that we do not place too much emphasis on the results.
As is always the case, we tend to look at the grades first, and from that alone pass remarks about the person. "Oh, straight As? You study hard,eh?"."Wow, your daughter's really smart!"."Your son's really great. My son's only got half of your son's grades, I just don't know what to do with him..(shakes head,looks disdainfully at the son.)"."So your daughter got good grades ah? Your daughter next time sure earn big bucks wan! Not like that Madam Cheng's daughter, only 2 As and one fail even! Hmph, she can get ready to sweep the streets..".When parents get together, it's undeniable that their children's grades would come into the discussion in one way or another.
I used to read this comic called Great Teacher Onizuka or GTO in short that centred on the life of a teacher. A teacher who, unlike many others, went against the socially-accepted rules and systems, and thought so much more of education than just books and papers. On the surface, the comic contains lots and lots (lots) of sexual overtones and violent themes characteristic of Japanese culture normally depicted in mangas. Most would pass it off as a guilty pleasure due to the not-so-decent subplots used by the artist. But what I really appreciate in the comic is how the artist subtly weaves in a much deeper and stronger social message of the role of teachers in society.
In the beginning, Onizuka is introduced as a trouble-maker in his student days. Violent and
perverted, he was the best example of an anti-hero. In his twenties, he fell for a girl but the
girl dumped him for an old guy. A teacher. So he sets his sights on being a teacher in the hopes that he would be able to find his true love but ends up dscovering instead what it means to be a teacher and changing the lives of his students along the way.
Among the characters explored in the comic:
-a supergenius girl who is grappling with growing up and comes from a broken family
-a president's daughter deprived of love who fell for an engaged teacher and was heartbroken
-a student whose mum is just 14 years older than him
-a student who comes from a gangster family and is feared by everyone at school, making him an introvert
-a young woman who is Onizuka's colleague and also love interest who often finds it difficult to do what she thinks
is right as a teacher
-a director of the school's PIBG who saw the shining qualities of a teacher in Onizuka and later
hired him.
-an ambitious headmistress with a skewed perspective of education because of a traumatic childhood experience
-a former rape victim who took up martial arts and joined the headmistress' secret 'Angels' team to deliver their own
brand of justice in the school.
-a petite boy who does not have the courage and confidence to grow up into manhood because of his small build
-a senior teacher who is the epitome of the average high school teacher; stressed out, earns a meagre salary,
has a so-so family and invests in all the wrong things (the dream car that he bought ended up getting smashed
enough times to get his insurance agents to go berserk)
-and so many other characters that focus on the darker sides of the Japanese society
I couldn't agree more with the comic's underlying theme that education alone guarantees nothing, in a sense that the students needed someone who could teach them the lessons of life, a teacher who can guide them and help them in their moments of need. A teacher who is not impersonal and only teaches from the textbooks, but constantly provides tutoring, friendship and support. One who is an example himself/herself for the students to look up to, that when they graduate from school they may be useful to the society. The students were lost, they all followed after their own heart and desires and made a lot of foolish decisions but Onizuka was there to help them all the way to the end. Even risking his life in the last book of the series to save the headmistress who got herself trapped in a burning building. And with style: he had just survived a major brain tumour operation when the nurses discovered that he had escaped from the hospital only to be found riding a Harley-Davidson into the burning school building and out of it unscathed. In his hospital robe.
As if to imply the superhuman qualities of Onizuka, I cannot help but feel that the whole story actually very closely mirrored the life of Jesus! Except that Jesus was the opposite of Onizuka of course :D But the story is there. The theme is there. The message is there. The lost people of Israel were the lost youths of Japan, one man had the courage to stand up against the world, and in doing so he rescued the lives of many. Just like the artist hinted how Onizuka was going to make big changes starting from just one small school where he taught, God started from Israel and offered salvation to the rest of the world. Coincidence? Maybe. But this proves that God's word trancends boundaries of nationalities and cultures.
In case you've lost me from where I started, I just wanna point this out: the A's don't matter as much as having a Godly life. You don't impact the world with the 3 dozen or so As that you mighthave, you impact the world with your life. And just how you would impact the world, would depend on whether God is present in your life. Well, at least I feel that way :D
