After my studies I applied for a teaching post to the
Ministry of Education Malaysia and was posted to Anderson School, Ipoh, as a
science teacher. I would have preferred a posting to one of the schools in my
home state, Johore. On making enquiries I was encouraged to accept this
posting. I drove all the way to Ipoh with mixed feelings. As I drove into Ipoh
I noticed that the streets were clean and the town had a prosperous look. In
fact it was the cleanest town in the peninsula then. Ipoh was a rich town due
to the high demand for tin at that time. It became clear that this was good
place to be in.
Anderson School Ipoh, was one of the established education institutions in the country. Its then principal, Mr. Martin Ogle M.A.Oxon welcomed me warmly. There were a few other British expatriate teachers as well. Set in spacious grounds the school provided excellent study facilities for students. Most of the students did well in their studies and moved on to higher education in various subjects and became distinguished personalities in their respective fields.
But I noticed there were some students who did not seem to be able to
cope. As a teacher I felt that all students should benefit from their education
and took a special interest in such students. How could I help these students? This question kept hounding me. What I
noticed about them was that they lacked self-confidence and generally tended to
withdraw from activities. I reasoned that if they were able to do well and gain
confidence in one activity then they would be able to transfer that confidence
to another field, with the teacher’s help. Using games and sports as a starting
point, my students were made to run a fixed distance and were timed by a stop
watch. Their timings were recorded. With repeated runs they began to improve on
their timings. It was explained that they were not doing this to become
champion runners but to improve upon their own performance.
This is what exactly happened. They began to gain confidence
as their timings improved. My assumption was that if they gained this
confidence it could be transferred to the learning of academic subjects. But
this needed the help of the teacher who has to be a friend and help to the
student. The role of the teacher was so important to achieve this transfer. It
was one of my greatest pleasures to see my students making progress in this
way. It also opened my eyes to the role of the teacher. Self- confidence first,
followed by knowledge is called for here.
Anderson School gave me this start in my career. An
assumption became a reality. A second initiative that I looked into was to
improve students` critical thinking. My subjects, biology, botany and zoology
demanded some deep thinking by the students. Identifying specimen and slides
with reasons gave the students a firsthand experience in such thinking. It provided
a good foundation for higher level thinking and thinking out of the box. Self-
confidence combined with thinking skills provided formidable tools for mastery
and progress.
This was almost a spiritual experience for me as a new teacher. The teacher was the magic maker. Not everyone agreed with my assumptions at first until it was proven. I was put in charge of a House for extracurricular activities. Through gaining self –confidence Whitfield House became champion house in that year.
These insights I was able to use later as a
headmaster at SMSS. I had briefing sessions with my teachers to impress upon them the
connection between self- confidence and success. Indeed the school put this to
practice by having a rugby team that reached great heights under guidance of a
British expatriate rugby coach, Ian Gordon. The rugby team was an inspiration
to all the students in the school and I saw my students excel in their studies.
Sports games and studies went together with the help of teachers.
