An Idiotic Tuition Co-ordinator

Today, I was in the midst of giving tuition when I received a call from a lady who I assumed was from a tuition agency. My conversation with her left me feeling extremely infuriated. Below is the full verbatim of what we conversed.



(Ring....Ring....Ring)

Me: "Hello."


Lady: "Nicholas, are you still teaching tuition?"


Me: (Who the hell is this person? You didn't even introduce yourself. But since you know my name, I must have talk to you before.) "Yes, I'm still teaching tuition."


Lady: "P5 Laguna Park, you think you're free?"


Me: (What the hell are you talking about? What P5 Laguna Park? You mean you have an assignment for a P5 kid living in Laguna Park, and am I free to take it up is it? Didn't even tell me the preferred timings, duration and subject(s) to teach.) "Uh huh, P5 Laguna Park."


Lady: "Yes P5 Laguna Park, you think you can?"


Me: (What do you mean I can? You didn't tell any details yet, how do I know if I can. Duh leh! This lady.) "I'm not sure. Just to inform you, I'll be going for my reservist in 2 weeks time."


Lady: (Sounding surprised) " You're going for reservist in 2 weeks time?!!"


Me: (What's so surprising?) "Yes, I'm going for my reservist in 2 weeks time."


Lady: "You're an ex-teacher, right?"


Me: "Yes, I am an ex-teacher."


Lady: "You're an ex-teacher with?"


Me: "I'm an ex-teacher with MOE."


Lady: "So you're NIE-trained?"


Me: (Duh! Of course I'm NIE-trained! If not how can I call myself an ex-MOE teacher!) "Yes, I'm NIE-trained."


Lady: "And you teach in MOE after your NIE?"


Me: (Isn't that obvious! You idiot!) "Yes, I taught in MOE after my NIE."


Lady: "So you're an ex-MOE teacher."


Me: (Sigh......Am I talking to an idiot with the brain capacity of a bacterium. Hurray for finding out I'm an ex-MOE Teacher.) "Yes, I'm an ex-MOE teacher."

Lady: "You're the one from St Pats, right?"

Me: (Excuse me, how do I know how many Nicholas you know? Beside that, the main point is WHO ARE YOU!!!!!!!!) "Erm....Yes, I'm from St Pats."

Lady: "Aeeeee.....You got C6 for your O' level English and Science. It's that like almost fail. NIE accept you meh?"

Me: (Yo idiot! Except for aspiring Mother Tongue Teachers, NIE don't accept people with O' level cert, ok? Minimum must also be Poly diploma or A' level cert. And C6 is 50-54, it's not exactly fail, ok?) "Yes I didn't do well, I went to ITE before going to Poly. I didn't apply NIE using my O' level cert, I used my Poly diploma."

Lady: "But you didn't go in Poly straight after your O' levels, right?"

Me: (Getting annoyed with this idiot.) "Yes I didn't go in straight. I went to ITE, then serve my N.S., before I went to Poly."

Lady: "You went to ITE?"

Me: "Yes, ITE."

Lady: " What ITE?"


Me: (Oh great! This idiot don't even know what's an ITE. From which secluded cave in Singapore was she born from. I'm not going to enlighten this idiot about the founding and history of ITE, ok.) "ITE Clementi."


Lady: "Yaa.....What ITE?"


Me: (Yo idiot! Didn't I just tell you? Weren't you listening?) "ITE Clementi, I went to ITE Clementi before serving my NS. Then after my NS, I went to Poly. After Poly, I went into NIE."

Lady: "Which poly you go to?"

Me: "Ngee Ann Poly. I went ITE, serve NS, then I went Ngee Ann Poly."

Lady: "But you said you went ITE!"

Me: (Super annoyed now.) "Yes, I went to ITE, then go Poly, then enter NIE."

Lady: "But you said you go ITE! How can you enter NIE?"

Me: (Yo! Single brain-cell bacterium! Are you trying to be stereotyping?) "Why can't I? I went to Poly before I enter NIE."

Lady: "And you said you went to SIM."

Me: "Ya, after resigning from MOE, I went to SIM."

Lady: "So you didn't go to NIE with your SIM degree."

Me: (Wow! This bacterium's time-space reasoning skill is really at single cellular level!) "Isn't it obvious? I went to ITE, then Poly, then NIE. After I resigned, I went SIM."

Lady: "Oh! I can't recommend you to the parent. I don't think you have the certs. I don't want you to go there, then the parents ask for your certs. You can't produce them. Then we will get in trouble. Can't talk to you anymore. Got to go."

Me: (Is this bacterium trying to insinuate that I'm a con artist? K** N** N***!!!!! Insulted me and want to go off!) "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY??!! ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY I DON'T HAVE THE QUALIFICATIONS AND IS TRYING TO CON THE PARENTS!"

Lady: "You were very shifty when I ask you about your details. You can't provide me with the details. Plus there are many years in between."

Me: (Shifty? Me? I've been very honest so far. It's you that doesn't seems to understand human language.) "What do you mean? I went to ITE for 2 years, NS 2 years, Poly 3 years, then NIE 2 years. After NIE, I serve in MOE for 4 years, then I resigned and went to SIM for 2 years."

Lady: "Can't talk to you anymore. Got to go....."

(Line went dead)


F******g angry with this caller. She is really a single brain-cell bacterium, man! You people tell me how not to be angry.

I get very pissed off when people talk bad about ITE or hold stereotypical view about ITE graduates. I mean I'm never ashamed I went to ITE. In fact ITE is the starting point that made me what I am today. It's ITE that change my life and made me realise that I'm a late-bloomer. I just took the longer route in my academic pursuits. There's no reason to fault me for doing so. Just because I don't go around advertising that I'm an ITE graduate, it means that I'm being dishonest. I don't see the point to reveal that fact unless it's necessary and very few situations necessitate me to do that.

Just because I went to ITE so I can't enter NIE and become a teacher, is so narrow-minded on her part. The minimum education qualification for anyone applying to be a primary school teacher is A' Level or Poly diploma. The applicant must also pass a language proficiency test (if he/she got less than B3 for O' level English) and pass an interview by a panel of MOE interviewers. On top of that, the applicant will be send to a school to teach as an untrained teacher and during his/her stint there, he/she must get a recommendation by that school's principal before he can be accepted into NIE.

So her statement that I don't have the qualifications really irks me. I went for the English proficiency test, passed it. It consisted of 2 parts, each part was held at 2 different locations on the same day. Prior to that, I went for the MOE interview, got the shock of my life when I entered the room as there were 4 interviewers, must have passed it because they send me to a school the following month after the interview. Managed to get the required recommendation from that school's principal a few months into my "tour of duty". Then I entered NIE. So which part have I been making up? If she's ignorant, she should do more research before make such accusations. In fact come to think of it, during our conversation other than the time I was super annoyed, my speech was still quite grammatical correct even though it's not perfect. On the other hand, her speech was ........... you can make your own judgement but for someone who droned on my C6s for my O' level, her English can't be higher than mine. In fact, her brain power can't be higher than anyone of the ESN kids I taught before. Irony isn't it?