I met Mr Thompson at the MOE Teaching Award Ceremony this afternoon, and no, I'm not going to sell my soul just to break my bond. I'd be damned three time over if I'm ever going to be a teacher, either that or it's just that I'm in dire need of a job or cash. bah~ I was there as a spectator, and sitting there and watching the overtly pompous ceremony made me even more determined that MOE is indeed a place where they get their priorities all screwed up, but I'm not going into that today. The main man of the day is Mr Thompson.
I wasn't quite surprised to see Mr Thompson as one of the invited teacher-mentors of some awardee because Mr Thompson is one dedicated, interesting, caring and kind teacher. There aren't many history teachers around in TJ, and anyone with an interest in European History would definitely love this man here. He was kind of surprised to see me there because he knows of my disinterest in teaching, and in fact he was the one on hearing that I was pursuing an education in European History shared his disencouragement to join the teaching profession. It was even more ironic that the reason why I was at the ceremony was because I was watching someone receiving a teaching award for history. Mr Thompson did raise his eyebrows regarding the choice of profession. haha~
It was comforting to know that Mr Thompson still remembers me despite me having graduated eons ago. But I think it's also because I still do see him around now and then that I can jot this memory of me. haha~ I still meet him around like once a year under various circumstances, like today's award ceremony. I once met him in NUS where he was attending a seminar while I was hanging around in school doing stuff for my then CCA. Then there was me going back to TJ with the girls for a little outing . Then there was the other instance when I went back to TJ myself to request for a favour from him because I needed a testimony to include in my SEP application stuff. I first thought of him when I needed to find to mentors to write a cover letter for me, him and Prof Farrell of course, as I said earlier, this was the teacher who awakened my deep interest in European History, and my love for Bismarck and the German History. If I ever need to invite a teacher that I admire, or helped shaped my interests, I'd also definitely be inviting this man here. But course, you can be sure that it won't be anything to do with teaching, or MOE.
I still see Mr Thompson sometimes when he's walking home from school, but those times I'd be on the bus seeing him walk by so I'm unable to say hi to him. Yup, he stays very near me, confirmed by his disclosure of his address while talking.
It's quite sad that European History has been removed from the history syllabus, so now Mr Thompson has turned to teaching Knowledge and Inquiry, whatever that is, I'm not from that era one. Yup, he's the head of that department, supposedly teaching H3 students, I don't know who they are, but Mr Thompson says that they are the smarter ones, probably those who would go on to do their studies overseas, and well, Mr Thompson is still the teacher in charge for application of overseas colleges for TJ.
It's a pity I didn't get to take a picture with him just now, erm, I'm not an awardee anyway, so take picture for what. This is a picture of that time when we went back TJ for a visit. Oh wait, I think he wore that exact same shirt and pants when I met him just now. wahaha~Good luck and all the best to Mr Thompson, and whatever's left of his history profession here in TJ, and hope that rental prices won't continue to rise. It's a pity I didn't get to talk more with him because he was rushing off to play tennis. How cool is that? haha~
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