19 The Teachers
When Shirley finally got her breath back, she looked at Aurora in consternation, "Why aren't you out of breath?"
"Because I am fit," she replied.
Shirley looked confused.
"I play a lot," Aurora said with a shrug, "My parents are very close to Ziad and Fleur's parents, and we've been hanging out doing lots of stuff together since we were babies."
Aurora thought of some excuse to cover up the fact that she, like her brother, has an exercise routine. It would sound strange to other people as it wasn't normal for kids their age to do so.
"Oh," Shirley said, then smiled, "Okay."
Alex raised an eyebrow at his sister's excuse. Since they were babies? Just what could they do, as babies?
He then looked at the smiling Shirley, who accepted it without question. Such a young, innocent, and open girl who would trust and believe anything her friend told her.
He wondered whether she would continue to be so, or would Life come in and change her?
He then felt that it would be such a waste if so, though he knew that no one could remain innocent forever. He shrugged inwardly and watched as she happily followed her mother home.
His father did say that this was the best time to form ties, but it was also the most dangerous time to do so - as people change with time. Thinking of this, and about those people around him, he began to wonder just who among the people he knew would turn out to be vastly different from what they were now.
His eyes narrowed a bit.
Perhaps studying people wasn't as useless as he thought it was.
It wasn't because he felt his father was right, but more like, he wanted to see if his father was right. Or rather, to prove him wrong.
Yes, that's it.
His father said a lot of things, so he couldn't be right all the time, right?
Remembering the numerous 'debates' he had with his father in which he often failed miserably, his lips pressed together tightly. Well, he will be patient with this one. He will continue and study, collect the proof, and then … BAM. Prove it to his father that there can be times that he is wrong.
Alex was excited just thinking about it.
✿ Author posts on WN and neovel ✿
In the Teacher's Lounge, a group of teachers sitting at the dining room table were studying a pile of completed worksheets in front of them.
The Teacher's Lounge was exclusive for the teachers, whereby one could use it to have their meals or, like in this case, to have a group discussion. The lounge had a small kitchenette that had a refrigerator, coffee machine, kettle, and a microwave to reheat food.
There was an oval dining table that could seat 8 people comfortably and a small resting area with sofas and a coffee table. The 'dining room' and the 'sitting room' were divided by a bamboo-style dividing screen.
It is not to say that the Teacher's Lounge could fit all the teachers in the school at once. It was never built to do so. It was a place that they could go to during breaktime (such as between classes). During lunchtime, there is a designated area for the teachers to eat - the 'dining' room here was for those who wanted a quick snack or a short meal.
Right now, the group of teachers that were gathered at the dining room table was those teaching 1 Van Goh. They were studying the completed worksheets of Alex, Aurora, Fleur, and Ziad.
All were silent.
Finally, Alba asked, "What should we do about this?"
Lee let out a breath as he shook his head, "Well, I knew they would be bright but I didn't think it was to this extent."
Sybil, the Science teacher, pursed her lips and said slowly, "They are still very young. I wouldn't recommend them skipping a grade."
"But wouldn't we be hindering their potential?" asked Alba, "I even gave them P2 worksheet and they could do it well."
"But they wouldn't be amongst their peers," pointed out Stanley, the English teacher, "Isn't part of primary school about having fun? Making friends?"
"But, like Sybil pointed out, they are very young," Lee said, "Kids at this age are resilient, and having some age difference wouldn't really be such a big matter, would it? And didn't Fleur's father skip a grade? He turned out fine, didn't he?"
"Are any of the teachers during that time still around?" Alba asked, "Maybe we can ask them about Mr. Johnson before we make any sort of recommendation?"
"We could ask their parents, actually," Sybil said, "What is the point of asking their former teachers?"
"So we can make a case if we want to recommend them to skip a grade," Alba said, "or two. I suspect they wouldn't have any trouble following the P3 syllabus."
Sybil shook her head in disagreement, "I do not support this move at all. Sure, they are bright. But they are also well behaved in class. I don't see this as being a problem."
"Childhood passes by quicker than you think," Sybil continued, "Isn't the best years of your life right now? When they can still play and have fun? Let them be kids. I am sure that, with their background, they are faced with greater responsibilities as compared to any of their peers. Why add on to that?"
"Who is to say that they can't have fun while skipping a grade?" Alba protested, "Isn't letting them achieve their full potential the best we can provide for them? Wouldn't we be failing them as teachers otherwise?"
"Life is more about school!" Sybil replied, raising her voice a bit in her excitement and agitation, "If they could be like this right now, it's obvious that they had prior education at home. With their money, why would they even enter school? Why not just continue their studies at home? Their parents can provide for such private tutoring, isn't it?"
"She has a point," agreed Lee, "Homeschooling is allowed and though we're a good school, nothing can beat the sort of private tutoring these children can get. So perhaps there is another reason that they are sent here?"
At this, all of them were silent again.
It was something they had not considered before.
"So how about we do this?" Alba suggested after thinking a while, "We monitor the kids further and see whether they are bored in class or not. Perhaps, it's too early to tell now as everything is still fresh and new for them."
"In the meantime, we will perhaps give them something different to continue to stimulate their interest and have something more challenging."
"And we can discuss this in two months' time," Alba said, "If they look bored and start getting restless, then we can approach their parents to recommend it to them. At the end of the day, it's still their choice but at least, we have something more concrete to show them."
Sybil shrugged, taking this compromise.
Lee and Stanley didn't really have that much of an opinion either way, really. So long as the kids weren't disruptive and could do their work, they felt that was fine.
"I'm okay with that," Lee said.
"Same here," agreed Stanley.
"What do you think of the kids, though?" Alba asked, curious.
"It's only been a couple of days," Sybil pointed out, "And other than you, we only see them for lessons. I don't think we're able to judge them properly."
"But you would have a first impression, no?" Alba insisted, "It's not like the class is so big that you don't have any thoughts at all?"
"It's different," Sybil insisted, "Seeing them for lessons and seeing them as your students to take care of. Don't tell me you don't even feel the difference?"
Alba took several deep breaths to calm herself down.
She has no idea why, but Sybil just rubbed her the wrong way. It just felt like all Sybil did was go against her. As long as she said one thing, Sybil would say the other. Was it because they just had different perspectives, or was Sybil really a pain in the *ss?
Alba was trying very hard to be objective and not let her personal feelings get in the way of how she talked to Sybil. But it was certainly getting hard to talk in a nice and pleasant voice to her, rather than one that would show her agitation and frustration.
The last thing she wanted was to create friction and unpleasantness.
Alba looked at the other two that also taught the children in her class.
Lee Majors, the Maths teacher, and Stanley Gray, the science teacher. Both were keeping quiet and did seem to look like they were a bit uncomfortable. Thinking of them, Alba decided to drop the matter and not rise to the jibe that Sybil made.
"Well, since that's the case, then we'll just monitor them for a couple of weeks," Alba said without looking at Sybil. Smiling at the two men who looked relieved, she said, "Thank you for coming and discussing it with me."
As the others left, Alba sat alone in the lounge and pursed her lips. She looked back at the worksheets in front of her.
