Quadrivium - What Makes Liberal Arts Even More Liberal

It is a hackneyed theme repeated time and time again in most Chinese movies. Men fall for beautiful women. They kill one another over her . Eventually only one claws his way out of death to capture her heart and they fly off to the burning sunset.

Please MR PRODUCER! We have had enough. Why don't you do one on TWO GAY GUYS clasping each other in flames of immolation as they chant war cries of licensing GAY CIVIL UNIONS in their backward Third World? That would clinch you the "MR DERRING-DO" and "NEVER BEFORE SEEN" Golden Adonis cinematic awards of the century.

Back to the topic on schools. I do not want to upset the apple cart. However if heads had to roll and it takes someone in higher authority to be gullotined to get things rolling (double speaking, of course) , so be it.

I say we relook all the "rules and regulations" and see if any still hold enough rationale for us not to chuck them away like we would clutter in our house.

I recalled being a substitute teacher for a fortnight. I was summoned to the principal's office. It seems all new substitute teachers do. He sat me down and told me to motivate the students. Christ! I am like there for two weeks and you are telling me this! This sounds more like a job for your resident teachers who are paid handsomely especially at the higher levels.

It is like I run a 5-day in-house program and everyone wants an assessment of my trainers but the teachers do a year-long stint and they are not? Anyway I will gladly oblige with my motivational programs if he can fork out the money like they do for water themed koi ponds in the school or hyped up, almost evangelical to the point of brainwashing, scream from the pulpits stuff they call "motivational programs".

There are more inane encounters with educators at every quarter. Others want to assess us based on word-of-mouth. Everyone has bad-hair days. If we are struck off the rolls on the few days we conduct the training programs, are the educationalists telling us they got their act right every single 365 days of the year?

Frankly some are not even up-to-date with current affairs. It is still East Timor when it is now Timor Leste. That tells all. I am not sure if some are even aware of what they are talking about. The women are only good at using their high-strung voices and the men are all rodeo cowboys.

This Chinese student crossed my path in an international school. He is smart academically. He made it to a Special Assistance Plan school and then on to Raffles Junior College. M/s Wicked Stepmother (from an earlier blog) dissuaded him at every turn. I cannot fathom her intentions except for wishing him ill.

But sincerely, this boy is only all academics. He isn't so savvy in other areas but good at computers. I am not very sure if he has a good heart and the knowledge he has will be for the general good or to add on to our miseries. This is something for think-tanks to chew on.

I do not have to be anywhere but everywhere to double-check what my eyes are telling me they are seeing. The running thread of conversations usually centres on money and gossips for adults. For kids, it is about the latest low-down on their friends, school or the gadgets they got. We will rarely, if ever, find tete-a-tete on local current affairs, let alone international ones.

We should be glad if Britney Spears is ever broached as a conversation topic. That is about as international as we will get. If we are lucky, we may get the occasional Microsoft Xbox thrown in for good measure.

That would be what an economy has churned out. There are no more ideals. It is consumerism, materialism, parochialism, myopism, elitism and copulism.

As for the Raffles boys I observe, they do look like nerds and bookworms. Some walk with their heads hung down. Others seem buried in their thoughts. Yet others exude the "blur" look. You could have swiped their underwear in the loo for all they know, and they wouldn't have batted an eyelid.

They were fastidious too with their cleanliness and tidiness. I feel sorry for them. Like for myself. This must be a habit ingrained in them at a very young age in their homes. To be clean, sterile, hygienic and tidy at all times.

BUT I LOVE THEM! They would make for easy targets for dartboard practice. The kind of darts you pierce in nice warm places - like their hearts for instance. One was wearing an ear-stud and was as tanned as a cow's hide but he looked marvellously hunky and "blur".

It was with genuine sincerity that I adjourned to a nearby chapel, first genuflecting, then kneeling on the hassocks and finally prostrate, reciting my "Lord's Prayer":

Lord - I do pray to you today
For the years
Of abstinence and romanticism
That I will, if your will be done
Catch one hunky, cute, sensitive, loving , intelligent and wise
**** soon as a trophy
For me to cherish, love and ****

Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Or I could fuck my sorry ass from this little red dot who thinks the world of itself. Remember this - you are just all image and there is not a shred of substance in you! From the schools right down to everyone else. You are only a "retail commercial hub". That we all know.