German schools and kindergartens have a Parents Committee which is formed by parents. The work of the committee is to facilitate smooth and right functioning of the school body and to help solve problems for school, parents or students.
Last year's parents meeting was a total fire affair when a lot of parents were present and they had cornered the school management rather like a pack of wolves hunting down a poor rabbit. We all know what happened to the committee after 6 months...
Now the time for a new parents meeting! It sounded as exciting as a breadth stopping cricket match between India and Pakistan but no..!
Stf had done everything in her powers to make it as frigid as the Antarcticas! As if the unfortunate dissolution of the parents committee, arbitrary cancellations of the contracts if anyone dared to speak against the school management and immediate rustication of the innocent children wasn't enough, she even sent out two separate mails to all the parents telling them that Parents committee is "nothing important and it is only a procedure which need not be taken seriously and the parents are not supposed to work in the committee at all. The formation of the committee is just a formality...."
So all the parents, at least all the old ones, knew that a committee, in this school, means NOTHING. Most of the parents hadn't even bothered to come. For about 70-80 students in our school, there were only about 25 people present as parents. From our previous group only Clt's mother, Bhv's mother and Fr's mother had come. From this year's group only Jr's both parents, On's mother and Mrn's mother had come. I noticed Mtn come in and take his seat in the group.
Stf started by introducing all the teachers. I was happily surprised that she addressed me rather dearly as "This is our xxx, the English teacher for xxx group. She is a very good teacher."
The introductions over, she repeated again that the school committee is not an important thing, and invited them to nominate names for the members. Nobody wanted to be a member. Mtn stood up and announced that he wanted to offer his name this time too. I truly appreciated this act of his and probably the others did too because we all clapped hard for him.
Then we left them alone to do the voting. When we came back the committee members had been chosen and Mtn had again become a committee member. There were others too but none from my group or Mk's group.
Only two three random questions were asked which Stf answered smoothly without getting the least bit ruffled and then the parents were told to go their respective classrooms to talk to their child's teacher about any thing they wanted to.
So I and Cl walked into our classroom with Mrn's mother, Fr's mother, On's mother and Jr's both parents at our heels where we talked to them for nearly one hour and then the meeting was over. It was really a cold affair.
While we were talking to the parents, Mtn came in. I was so happy to see him. I got up and congratulated him warmly and told him how happy I was to see him again in the committee member role. This is what we need and the school needs though it won't admit it. He was happy too. He had merely come to ask if we needed help with the mailing system which he had created last year.
I am deeply respectful of Mtn because he displays a different sort of courage, a different sort of fighting spirit, a different sort of practical optimism.
I fully understand the incense and the bruise which the others felt for being insulted due to which they quit. But Mtn not only was telling them not to quit but he himself didn't quit. They all had wanted to help the school, the parents and the children but it is ultimately Mtn's sticking even at the risk of some loss of ego, that is actually helping the school and all of us. This is real act of nobleness. He is undoubtedly a noble man!
Sometimes, an inch lost is a mile gained...!
Now, he will spend his next few days and personal time in intensively collecting new email ids to create the mailing system for parents and teachers of this school which we all need and nobody will even thank him and what's more, he looks like he doesn't even expect them to...!
Great work, Mtn! Keep it up..!!!
Last year's parents meeting was a total fire affair when a lot of parents were present and they had cornered the school management rather like a pack of wolves hunting down a poor rabbit. We all know what happened to the committee after 6 months...
Now the time for a new parents meeting! It sounded as exciting as a breadth stopping cricket match between India and Pakistan but no..!
Stf had done everything in her powers to make it as frigid as the Antarcticas! As if the unfortunate dissolution of the parents committee, arbitrary cancellations of the contracts if anyone dared to speak against the school management and immediate rustication of the innocent children wasn't enough, she even sent out two separate mails to all the parents telling them that Parents committee is "nothing important and it is only a procedure which need not be taken seriously and the parents are not supposed to work in the committee at all. The formation of the committee is just a formality...."
So all the parents, at least all the old ones, knew that a committee, in this school, means NOTHING. Most of the parents hadn't even bothered to come. For about 70-80 students in our school, there were only about 25 people present as parents. From our previous group only Clt's mother, Bhv's mother and Fr's mother had come. From this year's group only Jr's both parents, On's mother and Mrn's mother had come. I noticed Mtn come in and take his seat in the group.
Stf started by introducing all the teachers. I was happily surprised that she addressed me rather dearly as "This is our xxx, the English teacher for xxx group. She is a very good teacher."
The introductions over, she repeated again that the school committee is not an important thing, and invited them to nominate names for the members. Nobody wanted to be a member. Mtn stood up and announced that he wanted to offer his name this time too. I truly appreciated this act of his and probably the others did too because we all clapped hard for him.
Then we left them alone to do the voting. When we came back the committee members had been chosen and Mtn had again become a committee member. There were others too but none from my group or Mk's group.
Only two three random questions were asked which Stf answered smoothly without getting the least bit ruffled and then the parents were told to go their respective classrooms to talk to their child's teacher about any thing they wanted to.
So I and Cl walked into our classroom with Mrn's mother, Fr's mother, On's mother and Jr's both parents at our heels where we talked to them for nearly one hour and then the meeting was over. It was really a cold affair.
While we were talking to the parents, Mtn came in. I was so happy to see him. I got up and congratulated him warmly and told him how happy I was to see him again in the committee member role. This is what we need and the school needs though it won't admit it. He was happy too. He had merely come to ask if we needed help with the mailing system which he had created last year.
I am deeply respectful of Mtn because he displays a different sort of courage, a different sort of fighting spirit, a different sort of practical optimism.
I fully understand the incense and the bruise which the others felt for being insulted due to which they quit. But Mtn not only was telling them not to quit but he himself didn't quit. They all had wanted to help the school, the parents and the children but it is ultimately Mtn's sticking even at the risk of some loss of ego, that is actually helping the school and all of us. This is real act of nobleness. He is undoubtedly a noble man!
Sometimes, an inch lost is a mile gained...!
Now, he will spend his next few days and personal time in intensively collecting new email ids to create the mailing system for parents and teachers of this school which we all need and nobody will even thank him and what's more, he looks like he doesn't even expect them to...!
Great work, Mtn! Keep it up..!!!
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