For a number of times, lil' one has been wanting to be either a Class Monitress or Prefect. Every new school year gives her a ray of hope for that short moment (she'll behave extremely well) ,then after that she'll be downcasted for not getting to be one. Seeing her so disappointed 😔 somehow made me sad too. So the question is "WHY?" I know teachers are looking for that certain qualities in a child who is required to lead the class.
Lil' one certainly do not lack in some qualities. She is responsible; over-enthusiastic; helpful and perhaps... BOSSY? Over the years, she's volunteered to help teachers this and that and she's really happy doing so. Needless to say, she's the one in the house who would help when asked. I asked her if she wanted to help teachers coz she wanted to skip the next lesson? She said no and she runs back to class, so she won't miss anything. Eh.... did I mention that she's kiasu/kiasi too?
However I did say she "do not lack in some qualities. I also believe there's something lacking in her.
Getting votes :
Last year, she and 2 other girls were asked to step out of the class while the teacher counts the votes. Sad to say she was the only one voted out. (so can you imagine how she looked when she stepped into the car and she slumped back into the seat.) Nobody likes her? Nobody votes for her? Does mummy and daddy and all the family members' hands count?
Unfair? Perhaps yes. But she also needs to be well-liked by her friends for them to vote for her right? So this kind of monitor chosen by class may not neccessarily mean that they'll be prefects next time.
I know it's bad of me but I always like to tell her that coz of the feedbacks from previous teachers that she isn't behaving well in class so the new teacher will not select her. That was a mood damper and perhaps some counsellors would feel that I've spoke in negative ways on my child. However I was hoping it's the other way; encourage her to behave herself coz she needs to know that teachers are watching.
This year, the same thing happened. Five girls out of the class but in the end only two girls got the job.
Feedback : Talking too much, running around in class. Over the years I get the same complaints from teachers. She finishes her work quickly and then goes to another table to talk to her friends. Other than that she's alright, so I think this was taken into consideration.
Yet again, I feel that a few girls during che-che's time were chosen to be monitor wrongly. There were (1) cases of favoritism, (2) case of just coz the teacher was lazy to choose so she told the class she'll get the first girl on the class register, (3) case of randomly choosing one without understanding the child. In the end, those girls were promoted to Prefects. We got a school bully and she was the first case of a Prefect almost getting her tie removed from her. Her parents had to come to school to vouch for her proper behaviour from henceforth. Two heck-care prefects who can't be bothered to come to school early for Prefect duties; who don't attend any leadership camps. HUH! Notice my sniggerish remark. How all these girls wasted the space of other potential leaders. Obviously these people don't even stand a chance to be in the Committee or be the Head / Vice-Head.
During that time, every monitress were made prefects the following year. They changed that (apparently) after 2 years? Only those observed to have carried out their work well deserves to be a prefect. Which explains why some girls in lil' one's years are always monitor but never made a prefect
This year :
Out of the 3 girls who were not voted, if the teacher deem the girl/s suitable she may choose either 1 or 2 girls from this 'group'. In the end, she chose none of the girls and chose another 2 girls because they were monitor the year before in their form class. She explained after consideration she wanted someone with experience. 😏
And apparently the teacher explained to lil' one the reason that she had wanted to choose her but eventually why she didn't. She explained that she had asked her BU4 classmates for feedback & they said that she sometimes don't hand up her school homework. I thought I heard her wrongly and asked her to repeat the last sentence again. IMPOSSIBLE!! She is a very responsible girl, infact she reminded many teachers over the years about handing up homework. It's more likely that the girls hate her for reminding teachers about homeworks rather than she not handing up her homeworks. Anyway, her reports have indicated that she has been religiously handing up homeworks on time. 不公平！ I felt the injustice here. How can the teacher get feedback from the girls? She should have checked with the previous year form teacher who will give unbiased feedback. Lil' one didn't even dare to tell her current form teacher that she's been maligned. As explained to her, if she didn't speak up for herself and (confidently) mentioned previous form teacher name to double-check, I'm sure the teacher will know that she's innocent.
Oh well, I'm ranting away just because I didn't want my child to feel ...what's that word ...worse than being disappointed.
Perhaps I should just make her a badge and make her be a Head Prefect at home. Will that appease her?
