Open Letter to the Headmaster of Confucian Private Secondary School

(要看华文版，请点击这里。）

This letter was given to Mr. Phoon on  18 July, 2011, and my parents are still waiting for his reply.  (Please read "我们会再见")

15 July 2011

The Headmaster

Mr. Phoon Wing Keong

Confucian Private Secondary School

Lorong Hang Jebat,

50150, Kuala Lumpur.

Dear Mr. Phoon,

Re: Open Letter to the Headmaster of Confucian Private Secondary School

First of all, allow us to express our congratulations on your recent appointment as Headmaster of Confucian Private Secondary School.  It is indeed a relief to see that the unfortunate state of affairs of the past few months has come to end.  As the parents of a former student of your school, we would like to politely bring to your attention certain events of the past that you may not be aware of.  We also humbly request your reply on several issues and questions that have been left unanswered, albeit our numerous efforts on obtaining a response from your school.

1.      Lack of teachers for SPM subjects

Our daughter, Ee Sun Zhe, formerly of class S2Sc in the year 2010, sat for her SPM examination in that same year.  However, there were no permanent teachers for certain subjects, including Sejarah, Biology and Physics.  Being concerned parents of our child’s education, we made enquiries about the matter.  The Head of the Academics Department, Mdm. Wong Yet Foong, told us that she was trying her very best to hire teachers for the relevant subjects (apparently, from what we’ve heard from other parents, this has been happening every year).  In the month of May, however, we saw that despite Mdm. Wong’s very best efforts, the problem remained unsolved.  Hence, we decided that it was best for our daughter to spend her Saturdays attending SPM tuition classes instead of attending extra-curricular activities at school.  Towards the end of the year, extra classes were held during the school holidays.  However, no permanent teachers had been hired even when the SPM examinations had commenced.  We also did not receive a reply to our letter that we had sent to her regarding this matter (please refer to Attachment 1). 

Let us remind you that we, and also the parents of other SPM examinees, have dutifully paid for the fees of your school’s SPM classes.  As such, we expect your school to provide the appropriate teachers for the SPM lessons, which your school did not.  Let us also remind you that had your Academic Department been able to carry out its responsibilities as it had promised, tuition classes would not have been necessary for my daughter, and the expenses paid would have gone to a better cause.  Furthermore, extra classes during the holidays would also have been unnecessary had the original SPM lessons been conducted during their original school hours. 

Our daughter also heard from this year’s SPM examinees that there is also a lack of teachers for certain SPM subjects this year.  If this is true, we urge you to look into this matter to prevent the unhappy events of the previous years from repeating.  Also, we would like to question a certain statement made by your school’s Deputy Headmistress, Mdm. Teh Kim Hong in a newspaper article (please refer to Attachments 2&3).  Her statement that we would like to make an inquiry about is as follows:

“。。。而校方依然有安排老师教导学生大马教育文凭里的科目，并以严格的教学方式教导，绝不含糊。”

According to our understanding, this statement means that “the school has arranged for teachers to coach the students in the SPM subjects, and has applied strict teaching methods, unambiguously.”  This is contrary to what our daughter has experienced in your school, and we have been utterly confused as to which version of the story is actually the truth.  Of course, there is a possibility that we have misunderstood the words of Mdm. Teh.  Therefore, it would be much appreciated if you would kindly ask Mdm. Teh to clarify what she means by (if our translations are correct) “the school has arranged for teachers to coach the students in the SPM subjects”, “strict teaching methods”, and “unambiguously”.

2.      The Senior One Jungle Camp （高一野外营）

When our daughter was in Senior One, we were told that she had to attend the camp mentioned above.  Initially, we did not allow her to attend this camp, because we felt that this was a dangerous and also unnecessary activity.  However, our daughter was informed that students who did not attend this camp would be unable to graduate from your school.  It was only after hearing this that we allowed our daughter to attend the camp against our better judgement.

Shortly after our daughter applied for her School Leaving Certificate at the end of last year, we met with Deputy Headmaster Mr. Teoh Hua Chai.  During this meeting, we wanted to confirm with him whether or not it was indeed compulsory for every student to attend this camp, or else they would not be able to graduate.  He said that it was the school’s policy that every student must attend this camp at least once during their senior years, and students that did not do so would be unable to graduate.

However, according to a statement in Facebook posted by your school’s Head of Co-curricular Activities Department Mdm. Chang Siang Min on 29 March 2011 (please refer to Attachment 4), the school has no such policy.  In her statement, she requested the Senior One form teachers and students to stop their false accusations against the school that the school would withhold the graduation certificates of students who did not attend the camp.

Again, we are confused as to which version is true.  Hence, we would also appreciate it if you would kindly ask Mr. Teoh and Mdm. Chang to clarify their previous statements to avoid further confusion.

3.      The requirements for a child to study at Confucian Private Secondary School

In the same conversation mentioned above with Mr. Teoh, we also asked if it was possible for the parents of a student to oppose this policy, to which he replied that parents do not have the right to do so.  He further stated that the school does not have the obligation to listen to the opinions of every parent.  Our next question was, if we had stated that our child was unable to attend this camp due to health or other such reasons, could the school have exempted her from attending the camp?  Mr. Teoh then expressed that our daughter was unsuitable to study at Confucian Private Secondary School.

We would like to stress the point that this condition was not mentioned when we enrolled our daughter at Confucian in 2006 (please refer to Attachment 5).  Also, given the fact that our daughter had always been doing well academically at your school, we were taken aback when Mr. Teoh informed us in front of our daughter that she was unfit to study at Confucian Private Secondary School.  If attendance of the jungle camp is indeed a requirement for a child to study at your school, we suggest that you make sure all parents are well-informed of this condition before their child’s enrollment.  We would also appreciate it very much if you could ask Mr. Teoh to clarify what type of student is the most suitable to be enrolled at your school.

Lastly, we would like to state that our family has had many unpleasant experiences during our daughter’s five years at Confucian Private Secondary School.  We believe that to achieve your “quality education” （“优质教育”） as mentioned at your school’s website, we suggest you listen to the public and parents’ opinions and suggestions.  Please feel free to call us (019-XXXXXXX or 019-XXXXXXX).

As Peter Drucker once said, doing the right thing is more important than doing things right.  We sincerely hope that we will be able to see Confucian Private Secondary School regain its former glory under your governance and guidance.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

………………………                                                     ………………………

Daniel Ee                                                                           Chua Choo Him

(Click picture to enlarge)

Attachment 1

Attachment 2

Attachment 3 

Attachment 4

 

Attachment 5

给尊孔独中校长的一封公开信

(For the English version of this article, please click here.)

这封公开信于2011年7月18日交了给潘校长，爸爸妈妈至今还在等他的回信。（请看“我们会再见”）

致：

潘永强校长

尊孔独立中学

Lorong Hang Jebat,

50150, Kuala Lumpur.                                                               2011年7月15日

潘校长：

给尊孔独中校长的一封公开信

首先，让我们对您最近受委任为尊孔独中校长的事宜表示我们的祝贺。看见过去几个月尊孔不幸的事态结束了，我们真是感到欣慰。身为贵校的一位校友的家长，我们想礼貌地

提请您注意某些您可能不清楚的尊孔往事。此外，我们有一些疑问，尽管已多次向贵校寻求回应，但校方至今尚未回答，所以我们希望能收到您对这些问题的答复。

1.       欠缺SPM科目老师

小女余孙治，于2010年就读高二理，也在同一年应付SPM考试。然而，贵校并没有为一些SPM科目（包括Sejarah, Biology及Physics科）聘请老师。当我们向校方查询此事时，教务处主任黄月凤老师告诉我们她正在尽全力尝试聘请有关科目的老师（据说，她每一年都必须要尽全力尝试解决这个问题）。但是，到了五月份，我们发现黄月凤主任即使尽了全力，也无法解决这个问题。因此，我们为小女安排于每逢星期六上校外的SPM补习课，不允许她到校参与联课活动。到了年底，校方于学校假期期间安排了临时的SPM补课，但是直到SPM考试开始的那一天，校方还是无法聘请某些SPM科目的老师。而我们写给黄月凤主任的公函（请参阅附件1），至今没有收到任何回复。

让我们提醒您，我们以及其他SPM考生的家长都为子女缴交了贵校的SPM补习费。因此，校方为我们的子女提供适当的老师教导各科目也是理所当然的事，但贵校并没有做到。也让我们提醒您，要是教务处有履行它的职责，小女也就不需到校外上补习课，我们为此支付的费用也将会是不必要的。此外，如果SPM课按照原有的上课时间表顺利进行，考生也没有必要在假期期间特地到校上临时的补课。

小女也从今年的SPM考生得知，今年依然有一些SPM科目欠缺老师。如果事实确实如此，我们敦促您关注此事，以免让之前的不愉快事件重蹈。另外，我们也想对贵校的郑金凤副校长曾在报章上所发表的言论（请参阅附件2及3）提出一些疑问。有关言论如下：

“。。。而校方依然有安排老师教导学生大马教育文凭里的科目，并以严格的教学方式教导，绝不含糊。”

这与小女在贵校所经历的一切显然不同，而我们也非常混淆到底哪个版本才是真相。当然，我们有可能是误解了郑副校长那番话的意思。因此，如果您可以吩咐郑副校长对于她的那番话作出澄清，我们将感激不尽。

2.       高一野外营

小女就读贵校高一级的那一年，我们被告知她必须参与上述所提及的野外营。起初，我们决定不让她参与这个野外营，因为我们认为这是个危险且不必要的活动。然而，小女获悉，没有参与这项活动的学生将无法从贵校毕业。只有在听见这个消息后，我们才允许小女参与高一野外营。

小女于去年申请离校证后不久，我们会见了贵校的张发财副校长。当时，我们想与他确认贵校是否确实是强制每位学生参与高一野外营，否则将无法毕业。张副校长说，这确实是学校的一项政策，每位学生必须在高中阶段参与野外营至少一次，否则将无法毕业。

但是，根据贵校联课活动处主任曾湘茗老师于2011年3月29日在面子书所发表的言论（请参阅附件4），贵校并没有这项政策。她也要求高一级的班主任及学生不要再诬赖校方会扣押那些不愿意参与野外营的同学的毕业证书。

同样，我们非常混淆到底哪个版本才是真相。因此，如果您能吩咐张副校长及曾湘茗主任对于他们的言论作出澄清，我们将感激不尽。

3.       一个孩子在尊孔独立中学求学的基本条件与资格

在上文提到的与张副校长的那次对话，我们也询问了学生家长能不能反对贵校的这项政策，而他的答复是家长并没有权利这样做。他也进一步表示，校方没有义务听取每一位家长的意见。我们又问了张副校长，假如我们的孩子是因健康等类似问题无法参与野外营，校方能特准让她不需参与野外营吗？张副校长则表示，我们的孩子不适合在尊孔独立中学求学。

我们想强调一点：这项条件并没有在小女在2006年报名于贵校就读时所得到的招收新生简章提及到（请参阅附件5）。此外，鉴于小女在贵校就读期间一直以来都有很好的学术成绩，我们在张副校长告诉我们她不适合就读尊孔独中的时候非常吃惊。如果参与高一野外营确实是一个孩子就读贵校的其中一项条件，那我们建议您确保每个家长都清楚这项条件之后才让他们的孩子到贵校就读。另外，如果您能吩咐张发财副校长澄清到底哪一类型的学生才是最适合在贵校就读，我们也将不胜感激。

最后，我们想说，我们在小女于贵校就读的五年期间，与贵校有很多不愉快的经历。我们相信如果您要实现您所提及的“优质教育”，我们建议您听取大众以及各位家长的意见。您可以随时给我们打电话。

正如彼得·杜拉克曾经说过，做对的事情比把事情做对更重要。我们真诚地希望能够看到尊孔独立中学在您的治理和指导下，恢复昔日的辉煌，重振雄风。

谢谢。

…………………………                                                       …………………………  

余昌海                                                                               蔡楚鑫

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