Stomp

Looking at my title, some of you might be wondering what stomp is all about. Before I get into specific details of my topic, I will first explain what stomp is. Stomp is a website where people write in to complain or report about any immoral actions Singaporeans are doing.

So, what has this got to do with my topic for today? Recently, some secondary four students from Hwa Chong Institution left their classroom without locking the door. Our discipline master, Mr Sung, walked around the tower block in his daily routine and he realised that the classroom was left unlocked, with the students' valuables placed on their tables everywhere around the classroom, a real temptation to many. He felt that he should teach them a lesson and went into one of the classroom and swept away all the valuables from the classroom, from laptops to ipods. For every item he took, he took a picture of it for sharing with other students on keeping their belongings well. As a result, a student felt that the teachers violated his privacy and was enraged by this and decided to post it up on STOMP to get the opinions of the general public.

I feel that this student is making too big a deal out of it. He should know that if he had not kept his valuables properly, he should have expected that his valuables would have been stolen anytime. It is his just desserts and he should have expected it all the while.

When the students realised that their valuables were lost, they thought that a real thief actually had come into the class and steal all the valuables. They were shocked and extremely frightened. Although Mr Sung had posted a message on the SMB, those people whose laptops were confiscated would not be able to check the message. Furthermore, they are secondary four students who need to use a lot of their laptops for their work. If their laptops are being taken away, how would they be able to carry on with their lessons? Moreover, their minds would be constantly thinking of their parents reprimanding them, causing them to be unable to concentrate entirely in class. When they find out that their laptops are only being confiscated instead of being stolen, obviously they will be furious and thus, posting the message out of a moment of impulse.

I think that the root cause of this incident was the lack of communication between the teachers and students. If Mr Sung had written on the whiteboard that he had confiscated their valuables and asked the student to collect it from him after school, the students might not feel that angry for thinking the entire day that their valuables were actually stolen and can only blame themselves for being so careless and accept the punishment.

However, the students should also bear part of the blame as well. They should have put their valuables away in a safer place first before leaving their classroom. Therefore, since it is their fault, they have no reason to blame the teachers for confiscating their things which were left unattended and open to the public for stealing to occur. The school provides lockers for a reason and thus the students should fully utilize them so as to prevent this incident from happening again.

I strongly disagree with the student posting the incident up onto STOMP as it not does not benefit the school but cause harm instead. It will cause the general public to think that Hwa Chong's educational system is flawed as it fails to handle this case effectively and it will affect our school’s reputation significantly. The student should have discussed and voiced out their own opinions within the confines of the school and not blow it up to the entire public, making a big hullabaloo of this incident.

In conclusion, this incident was just a small matter that should not have been made public as it would just attract a lot of attention, making it look bad on not only the school, but also on the students of Hwa Chong, as people who only know how to complain about everything and do not know how to solve things amicably with the school and not being able to realise whose fault it actually is. Thus, I feel that this student should not have acted on impulse and should have had more self-control.

Well, what are your opinions on this? Simply share with me by commenting! :)