Give praise

Thought of writing this entry after recalling a newspaper article a few months back. A school in Singapore decide to reward student for doing good doing instead of punishing student for doing wrong doing. I give this school two thumbs up.

I remember in secondary school, the teachers and principal always punish student when they did something wrong. Well, I don't have any objection with that but why weren't we rewarded for doing something good. For say we found $10 and we return it to the General Office, what happens to the $10 remains a mystery. There is even a 1% chance your name will be mentioned during the next school assembly.

So, the teachers will just say "you should not ask for reward for doing something you should do". The "something you should do" refers to all the good things that you did during your school that you think is right but the school think it's "normal".

Is it so hard to give praise? Yeah, I know that Jack Neo's movie, I Not Stupid Too, talked about this issue. The movie encourage parents and teaching staff to praise student for their work instead of looking at the bad side everytime. A 10 marks improvement from 30 to 40 is still considered as a fail but it's an improvement of 10 marks and 1 grade.

Well, people just like the end result. They don't like the process. That's why there is alot of test cheater in secondary school. What they want is the score on their result slip, not the fact that whether they really study to deserve it or not. After all, not many would remember the details of the textbook 10 years later. How is pressure formed?

Sorry that I always give example of schooling life because I'm still a student. I wonder if the working life is the same as schooling life. Does the boss praise their worker for good work?

Okay, even me myself don't have the habit of praising people when they do something good. Guess I got to start learning the skill too.

Now, praise me for my wonderful entry.