Life: New/Old job
Some of you might already know that I had recently graduated from NUS. Unlike most of the other graduates out there, I am not looking for a job. I actually decided to go into private tuition full-time and also freelance for my makeup.
This decision has been met by not one but many objections and critics by people around me. As I prefer to do private tuition which means that I have to go to my tutee's place, this resulted in a lower income than if I take in group tuition. Though group tuition is not a bad idea, I find it rather hard to find a proper place and also the right people. Nowadays, parents tend to want to pay the tutor more so that he/she would go to their house where they can supervise them. I understand that. They're just being protective.
So either way, I'm not earning like a lot of money now but I am able to survive and live quite comfortably. Just that I've been getting sick of people telling me what to do like finding a job with CPF and work 9 - 5. That wasn't the life that I was looking for. I look at my mom, my friends and relatives spending all their time working in the office. Often, they are just staring into the computers and carrying out mundane/routine work. Yes, you get the health benefits, you get your CPF (people see it like it's given extra by the employer. how would you know that they didn't already take it into account when they hired you?) and you get a hell lot of stress as well.
I'm not saying that I don't get stressed out when I'm tutoring but I know what I want to teach and I'm not "stuck in the system". I'm not those who needs that much money to feel happy. I am happy where I am now minus the part where people keep telling/suggesting that I find a job with CPF. Come on, it's all the you-know-who's fault. I don't see the need of me parking my money somewhere I can't even touch. I'd rather save it myself which I know I am capable of. I want to be able to touch my money as and when I want to. I want to be able to just take all the money out and tour around the world. I don't want to have some assets stuck somewhere and have the feel to stay at certain places because I have money there. Crap.
Then there's this person who keeps reminding me that I'm not operating the right way because I am not maximising my time and reaping the most monetary gain out of what I'm doing. Of course I can charge a sky high fee but sometimes I just feel like not everyone can afford that kind of money. Even if I'm going to go into group tuition where I take in probably max 3-5 students per class, I'm also not going to charge them like $100 per hour. That is just insane.
There's the very poor students who can't afford tuition but they qualify for CDAC/Mendaki/SINDA's tuition scheme which I just saw the Ad for CDAC's......I think it was $8 per subject for primary school and $12 per subject for secondary school. I believe these are for those who are really poor. But, think about it, how many of you are excluded from these welfare because your family earn maybe just 1 to 200 more than the stipulated amount? That extra 1 to 200 dollars woud not be able to help you afford tuitions for all your subjects.
Yes, I know the government has already rolled out new plans and policies and asking people not to make their children go for tuitions. They advise people to place less emphasis on academic achievements but NO! People like me who couldn't afford to have tuitions from the start (since primary school) did not have a firm foundation. We are barely surviving in this system. Do you think the teachers in school can have the luxury of time to place focus on every single child? I doubt so. I'm not saying the teachers in school are not good, it's just that the classes are too big.
When I was in Secondary 4, my class had about 44 students. Do you think the teachers can help all 44 of us?
I was lucky to make it through University. I have relatives who were not able to achieve decent results (no tuition/help) dropping out of school and starting work early. These are the people the system missed out. Those who couldn't survive through because of money.
I just asked my Secondary 1 student recently how many of his friends are having tuition now, he told me almost all of his friends are having tuitions. Either in tuition centres or having private tuitions. It is only January......So, how can you lose out right? Especially in a "Kiasu" society like ours. I also read from one of my other student's essay on Education and he wrote something along the lines of No Qualification = Incapable. Is it really true?
Ok, I side-tracked.
All I want to say is I am happy doing what I'm doing now. Regardless of all the crazy travelling time which isn't that crazy actually if I were to compare to people who have to travel across the country or fly to other countries, I feel an immense sense of satisfaction and fulfillment when my students do well in school. I feel like I've helped them which I know I did. (haha, self-praise is no praise) I love talking to them, getting to know them and provide them with some of my own experiences. I've been taking in new EL students from secondary school and I've been loving the new syllabus! It's more alive and interesting than what I had when I was in secondary school. I found a new love for the subject and I hope my students can feel what I'm feeling now as well. I want them to be as excited as I am when I go for EL tuitions. I don't mind spending the extra time looking through articles and good reads online just so I can share with them. It's really wonderful.
I think I'm starting to ramble and thus, I shall stop here. I'm so going to blog about my tuition experiences like what I'm doing for my makeup. Great joy!
See you!
There's the very poor students who can't afford tuition but they qualify for CDAC/Mendaki/SINDA's tuition scheme which I just saw the Ad for CDAC's......I think it was $8 per subject for primary school and $12 per subject for secondary school. I believe these are for those who are really poor. But, think about it, how many of you are excluded from these welfare because your family earn maybe just 1 to 200 more than the stipulated amount? That extra 1 to 200 dollars woud not be able to help you afford tuitions for all your subjects.
Yes, I know the government has already rolled out new plans and policies and asking people not to make their children go for tuitions. They advise people to place less emphasis on academic achievements but NO! People like me who couldn't afford to have tuitions from the start (since primary school) did not have a firm foundation. We are barely surviving in this system. Do you think the teachers in school can have the luxury of time to place focus on every single child? I doubt so. I'm not saying the teachers in school are not good, it's just that the classes are too big.
When I was in Secondary 4, my class had about 44 students. Do you think the teachers can help all 44 of us?
I was lucky to make it through University. I have relatives who were not able to achieve decent results (no tuition/help) dropping out of school and starting work early. These are the people the system missed out. Those who couldn't survive through because of money.
I just asked my Secondary 1 student recently how many of his friends are having tuition now, he told me almost all of his friends are having tuitions. Either in tuition centres or having private tuitions. It is only January......So, how can you lose out right? Especially in a "Kiasu" society like ours. I also read from one of my other student's essay on Education and he wrote something along the lines of No Qualification = Incapable. Is it really true?
Ok, I side-tracked.
All I want to say is I am happy doing what I'm doing now. Regardless of all the crazy travelling time which isn't that crazy actually if I were to compare to people who have to travel across the country or fly to other countries, I feel an immense sense of satisfaction and fulfillment when my students do well in school. I feel like I've helped them which I know I did. (haha, self-praise is no praise) I love talking to them, getting to know them and provide them with some of my own experiences. I've been taking in new EL students from secondary school and I've been loving the new syllabus! It's more alive and interesting than what I had when I was in secondary school. I found a new love for the subject and I hope my students can feel what I'm feeling now as well. I want them to be as excited as I am when I go for EL tuitions. I don't mind spending the extra time looking through articles and good reads online just so I can share with them. It's really wonderful.
I think I'm starting to ramble and thus, I shall stop here. I'm so going to blog about my tuition experiences like what I'm doing for my makeup. Great joy!
See you!
Comments