Meeting with my Ex-Teacher. The Library is not a study place

Today, I met up with my Secondary school teacher and my post secondary school mentor Mr Lawrence Chu for Lunch and coffee over chat. Its been a long time since I last saw him and he is not longer a school teacher anymore, just doing a lot of private tuition at the moment. We have a short phone conversation when I was still in Texas and recently he called my US number again not realizing I am already back here in Singapore for Holiday. Still looking chubby and cheerful like Pikachu (thats what his ex-student called him) except he don't live in a ball but a HDB flat and he does not have a Master name Ash. He was not just a good teacher academic wise but also a good life mentor. Not your typical kind of teacher who have trouble handling the Ah Beng or Ah Lian, more like GTO - GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA. Thanks to his life teaching, I guess he change the life of many students who went under his guidance who could have easily ended up on the street, in boys home or jail. His way of controlling the classroom is unconventional. When a teacher handle a student in a predictable way (scolding, lecturing and giving punishment), expect predictable delinquent respond... but when a teacher handle a student in an unconventional and unpredictable way...they suddenly have a lost of words and action and thats when teacher can manipulate them for the better like melted ice or butter.

Sometime you got to be fierce,
sometime you got to be cute.
All the time, you got to be unconventional

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I am at the Woodland Regional Library right now and nothing have change after 10 months. This place sound more like a kindergarten or market than a Library. The hand phone ringing, loud chatting, noisy foot step of people walking and kids running around. Finally the numerous radio announcement by the library staff instructing people to "Shut the F*** up" adds on to the noise pollution. After 10 months, this place is still swarming with homeless Singapore students who have no home to do their studies, got chase away by fast food restaurant and basically enjoy studying their notes and text book in a noise polluted environment. I thought the library is a place for the citizen to come, pick a book and sit down for some quiet personal reading time but finding an unoccupied table is already a challenge that should only occur during the peak hour Kopitiam crowd. Nowadays "chopping" (Singaporean lingo for reserving seats) is not just a pack of tissue paper on the Kopi Tiam seats, its a litter of text book, a stack of Math notes an a pencil case or water bottle on the library table and seats.

Although we should not deny a place for our country future Scholar to study but we should not deny a place for others to read library books. At less the National Library is prohibiting people from bringing notes and textbook into the library, which is a good measure to free up precious reading spaces. Ahhh.... which is more important? Citizen reading Library books or sacrificing the space for our future generation to score more distinction and straight A s while genuine readers have to make do with reading on carpet floor and chairs without tables.

There are ample study areas in Poly, University as far as I know. How about Secondary school and JC? Why do kids wanna head to Library and Burger Kings? Scratch head...

There is a serious problem we have to solve in our Library, loud mouth kids and auntie.... I think we should have a reality show right here where we take video of this people, Interview them like Ali G, and telecast it on Youtube or lagi best, the National TV. This will make people so "Malu" and the next time others will learn to speak softly in the Library.
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