Learning from students

Teachers usually think that they are the ones moulding students, not realising that very often it is the students who are “educating” the teachers in their own way. 

About 25 years ago, fresh after graduation, I was posted to an all-boys’ school. Among my classes was the last class in Form Five. Out of the 30-odd boys in the class, only four were minimally interested in studying while the rest were oblivious to what was happening in class, sleeping complacently (even drooling) or just plain day-dreaming. This was already bad enough, but worse was yet to come.