I feel damned terrible

I felt terribly bad today. I did something in which I regret it until now.Seriously, I didn't know it before.

There's one girl inside my class. She's small and quiet. She has this pitiful face and a very innocent smile. Her uniform is clouded with yellowish colour. From her appearance, I know that she's not from a wealthy family. But sometimes, she really pissed me off. I've been teaching her class for almost 4 months now and every time I entered her class, she's the regular face who always forgot to bring either her textbook or her exercise books. Numerous time I let her go. But today, I was really mad. She did bring her textbook but bring none of her exercise books. I put on my serious face and with thunderous voice, I went to her and asked about her book. She was colouring a picture at that moment.

"where's your book?"
"tak bawa"
"asyik tak bawa, awak tak pernah bawak kan?"- I have to speak Malay as she hardly understand anything i said before.
she looked down and gave me an innocent smile. But I couldn't let her go this time, or else I will be biased to other students.

"saya tak tahu nak cakap apa lagi. Awak tak pernah bawak buku. buku apa yang awak bawa?"
"sikik-sikit" she answered.

"keluarkan semua, I want to see".
Slowly she opened her bag and took out few books. My temperature was rising when I saw few books of other subjects
"Buku maths ada, science ada, KH ada, tapi buku BI tak de"

She looked at me and said..
"tadi dah masuk, pastu keluarkan balik"

I bombarded her back
"sapa suruh bawak keluar balik..seriously, saya dah malas nak cakap ngan awak lagi"
I left her abruptly. She ruined my mood.

*************************************************
During free time, I consulted a fellow teacher about this girl-whether she's facing the same problem like me.

"sys...budak tu memang ada masalh. Dia tinggal dengan mak tiri and ayah dia, selalu kene dera"

I was stunned.

And she continued. "Dia memang tak beli buku. Ayah dia tak nak bagi duit, buku2 dia pun cikgu subjek yg tolong belikan.. Dia dalam proses kaunseling sekarang"

Seriously, I felt very bad (still do) when I heard that. Me, a teacher, a person who supposed to help my student, instead I humiliated her in front of her friends and torture her emotionally. I feel really really bad!

Comments

sleepwalker said…
Thanks for sharing this with us, Wardah...Don't be too hard on yourself. I had a similar experience during my first teaching practice in 2004. There was this girl in my Form Four class who was always sleeping and inattentive when I was teaching. So I never liked her -- until one day, in my final week there, I found out that she had been abandoned by her parents and was living in the care of a neighbour, and had to work till 11 every night to support herself financially. Until today I haven't forgotten about her. Just thought of sharing this with you, too... :)
Anonymous said…
tu la emosi sangat
(",) strawberry said…
wardie..it's not your fault..i mean..as a student, it is her responsibility to bring all her books to school...if she couldn't afford it, she should tell you so...and who would have thought that this girl is living such a painful life...i wouldn't..not until somebody tells me...which happened in your case, rite..you only know about it when you consult other teachers...so wardie, what i'm trying to say is, now that you know, perhaps you could do something about it...but..u don't have to feel guilty..seriously..it is not your fault..yes, she is pitiful, i pity her...but, you would not humiliate her if you know about it, rite...sometimes i wonder, i mean, when people live a pitiful life, they tend to keep it to themselves, cause they do not want to trouble other people or they feel like they do not need anyone's sympathy..but hey, soemtimes they got to share their problem with people so that they won't get people being misunderstand...because when they do that, they are being selfish at the same time...it is never wrong to share your problem with anyone....so dear, cheer up...don't feel bad about it, instead do something about it..ok..take care, love you...
Unknown said…
I did buy few exercise books for her. I told her that she has no excuse to not doing my work anymore. So far, she's writing and doing her work. I hope she's not 'hangat-hangat tahi ayam je". Thanks to Jules for sharing with me. It feels good to know that there are other people who might have the same experience with me. and ANis, I couldn't help it, but I still feel guilty whenever I looked at her. Anonymous-- its teacher's thing..bukan emosi!

Popular Posts