Poor Teachers and Mean Tai Tais

Written by Mrs. Money

Gift or Earthworm?

When I first moved to C city, I turned to a local ex-CEO old tai tai for an opinion of should I give Chinese New Year gifts to my kids’ school teachers. She replied in a hiss, “No. No need. No, I never heard of such practice in C city. No, there is no such custom here. I only heard of people giving gifts to managers, like my husband when he was a CEO, many people would give him gifts during Chinese New Year, we got so much gifts that I got no place to store them! No need, no need to give gift to teachers, they are well paid these days…….” (“If you give those gifts to those teachers, you better give those gifts to me!” I thought I heard that silent hint from her)

I quietly hissed, “Hi dub! My parents were both teachers.” No wonder they didn’t receive much gifts during Chinese New Year, “poor dad and mom and poor Malaysian teachers!”

My heart just didn’t feel right, so I turned my poor dad for a different opinion, he advised, “Girl, most people used a gift as an earthworm, a hook for a bigger fish. But you shouldn’t follow those fishermen, you give gifts to teachers as your respect and token for their hard work and professional dedications.”

When I worked in Brunei for a year, for only a Christmas but I received the gifts more than 15 years I worked in Malaysia! Not many teachers would encourage their kids to become teachers, but most doctors’ kids ended up as doctors!

Cheap or Friendship?

There was once a very dedicated piano teacher, who always would give extra coaching to her students without asking for extra professional charges during exam eve, some students appreciated her silently but some really took her for granted. Many years later after her mental and physical health both got deteriorated after prolong abused due to overwork, she finally called for a quit.

She was an overseas graduated and a trained piano teacher, with rare Russian technique in hand, many pianists could play but couldn’t teach, however many local piano teachers would choose to attack her teaching and techniques innocently to show that theirs’ are much superior, let those tongue in cheek attacks, however the outstanding exam results of her students were the solid proving bass if she was really good or not; her diploma students were sole survivals under some toughest examiners or after her grade 8 exam student who got nominated by examiners to study in one of any four music institutions under ABRSM international scholarship, those rogue tongues were temporary sealed.

Border town civilians developed short memory and became realistic, visitors come and go in all seasons. Soon older and experienced teachers became passing fancies, young graduates freshly returned from overseas could demand more in their professional fees without much consideration for poorer students.

So one day this piano teacher eavesdropped such conversation, “Miss New is very expensive, but Miss Old is cheap….”

"Miss Old?" Am I really cheap? Or these parents simply never understood my extension of friendships to them thus I didn’t charge them as I should supposedly do.
“Look dub! I am not that cheap as you thought of but because I was treating you as one of my very good friends! I can command my professional fees as one of the highest in state, because I have to babysit your lazy and imperfect ear kids for like 12 to 16 hours a day before exam eve for at least two week to a month. For the whole past 11 months your kids were telling you lies actually they didn’t practise much and you expected your kids to pass with a distinction within or less than a month time practise and you all could still bargain for less practising hours from me. If I could spend my time to stay with your kids instead of partying, why you didn’t cooperate with me? Can you afford to pay me if I charge RM200 per hour for babysitting your kids?”

During music exam eve, “Miss Old” had “to beg” and “threat” some parents to send their "babies" to practise piano in her music school, many parents thought piano is easy due to lots of girls didn’t study well they all became piano teachers!

So if some of those kids were doing very well in school, some mean tai tais would hiss to “Miss Old”, “Aye, easy huh, if you are a good teacher, my kids sure would pass.”
“Dub! Piano needs coordination of dexterities from both mental and physical, it needs to develop reflect action but for school exam, students got time to ponder and recall over answers!”

In short, they would put study as No.1, school band No. 2….. but piano as No. Last importance.

So after the exam was over, mean tai tai called, “How much my kids got?”
“Everybody passed” Miss Old piano teacher hissed in a relief.
“How much my kids scored?”
“1XX and 1XD.”
“Why so low?”
“How much do you want?” (Note: The overall passing rate of this particular music exam for the whole town was less than 50%)
“How much so and so scored?”
“Oh XYZ got a Merit.”
There was a silent
“Ok. Ok”

“Miss Old” never heard a thank you from the mean tai tai.

With her ass working off and after such exam she would get sick on and off for few months due to lack of rest; instead on and off she would hear gossips of how such mean tai tai would try to say something defaming her music school. Mean tai tai would rather find faults to blame on teachers but give excuses for her kids’ laziness, she never realized her kids were both telling her lies due to her strictness and over controlled.

The latest gossip that "Miss Old" heard was one of the mean tai tai's daughters started to date a boy out of her knowledge. Once mean tai tai almost told all her friends, “I won’t let my daughters date in high school years, I told them I would follow them like a shadow if I ever discover that!”

Threat From Mean Tai Tai

This tai tai was imported from an orchid island, she was not that educated but her hubby is a highly demanded professional in our state.

Usually when a less educated girl married to a highly educated smart hubby, she got lots of stress. She is worried if her kids are stupid then her hubby or friends might say, “Hi, that’s your stupid gene.” So she would rather work her ass off and get overnervous to monitor her kids’ homework to make sure that they are No.1 in everything. When her kids couldn't get No.1 in everything she would blame the faults on others or teachers. (sounded nicer to explain to her hubby in this manner) She rather would say, “Hi, I was from a poor family thus I didn’t get a chance to further study, actually I am a very smart girl!”

What happened was this mean tai tai sent her kids to a private school, she would force them to study overnight without sleeping during eve of any school exams thus they both were top students.

One day she found out one of her kid’s subject was marked way bellowing than her other subjects. She approached and questioned the teacher who taught the particular subject, the teacher replied, “Sorry, that’s the standard, sorry I can’t mark it higher.”
“How can? All the rest of my kid’s subjects were over 90s.”
“Sorry, I can’t give it higher, that’s the standard.”

So this mean tai tai got really mad after unsuccessful bargaining, she went to see the principal, demanded him, “You change this teacher or my kids quit this school!”

Eventually the bitchy tai tai won and she could still bragging to her friends about her "wonderful" deed.

Most tai tais could act so meanly, indirectly it was caused by the silence of their hubbies but mistranslated by their wives as the green light to go ahead to treat people meanly. Many classmates of her kids hated her, once they told their piano teacher angrily, “She thinks only her kids are smart, we are all stupid!”