bggb:Hi bggbTowards the end of last year, my husband and I finally gave in to our son’s persistent request on the condition that he gets above 80% for his P3. This is also to put a stop to his constant comparison as to why almost everyone in his class has a phone and he does not have one?! Why can’t he own one too?! I am sure this sounds familiar.
Prior to handling him this little gadget, we told him daddy and mummy have the right to check his phone and he agrees. This is just the beginning of the nightmare. Although the teachers do not encourage them to form WhatsApp chat group, they are unable to stop the class from creating one. These are what I have observed:
:shock: Between 2pm to 6pm, my son’s phone is usually switched off and once we turn on the phone, there are at least 200 to 300 messages! Instead of spending time doing and concentrating on their homework, the children are obviously busy with the little “toy”.
:shock: 95% of the messages are non-stop spamming and I simply classified them as “junk”. They are obviously too free. Maybe the teachers should give more school work.
:shock: Taking photos of their answers and share with the chat group. There are many copy cats in the group who simply COPY and lazy to THINK!
:shock: I was horrified by the amount of vulgarities and horrendous languages used and these kids are only P4!!! “Wa lao”, “Knn lah”, “go to hell lah”, “go and jump lah”, “u RIP”, “die better sia” etc…… the most common one is “lol” which is fine. These may just be for “fun” but it is definitely not a joke if something unfortunate really happens.
:shock: Usually boys are the ones who started the abusive languages but sooner or later, the girls will follow or argue back. There are a couple of bla-bla black sheep in the group who are very bad influence to all. A few of them, I was shocked! Really unbelievable that they are so naughty! Wolf disguised in a sheep's clothing.
:shock: Non-stop comparison of who is richer. How much money they have. Whose house or car is bigger. How many countries they have been to. Comparing how much pocket money they bring to school each day.
:shock: Every time when my son exit the group chat, someone in the class will add him back. Your child may also face similar problem but dare not tell you. I told him he can read but do not reply.
:shock: Day dreaming in class and not taking down homework in the student diary. Keep asking friends what is the homework for the day.
:shock: When parents check the phone, they only get to see their “good boy” or “good girl”. The kids are way too smart! They quickly left the chat group informing their classmates that the father/ mother is going to check the phone soon. After the parents checked the phone, they message another friend to add them back to the class chat and the nonsense continues. What you see is not what you get. They are doing something BEHIND YOUR BACK.
:shock: Making jokes and laughing at parents/ teachers who DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING!
I am a SAHM so I have been observing and following the class chat group for the past 5 to 6 months. It is really getting from bad to worse. When they are in P5 or P6, I cannot imagine how it is going to be like. For parents who are busy working, you probably need to monitor more closely. For those parents who did not give the little “toy” to your child, you are the winner as you are the spared from this headache.
If a child uses the phone appropriately, for example to contact their parents or to check with friends regarding schoolwork matters, it is perfectly fine. How many of them are mature enough to do so? Even the class so called most well-behaved prefect is frequently using vulgarities in the WhatsApp chat (really jaw-breaking!!!) and I am very sure her parents are kept in the dark. It is easy to tell other parents how well behaved their children are but when it comes to something not too good, it is very difficult to tell even though we may know each other.
I know some classes use Dojo for communication which I think may be a better platform instead of WhatsApp. PCPS is quite a good neighbourhood school and it is really disappointing that the students are behaving like little hooligans! Another A.Yee in the making?? Most are not even 10 years old! Perhaps it is due to students coming from different family background in a neighbourhood environment, some more complicated than others. If you are a parent reading this and amidst all your busy work schedule, it is time to step in and make them aware that you know EVERYTHING before it’s too late.
As a student that has graduated from Pei Chun a few years back, I am, to be very honest, not at all surprised. I got my phone around the same age as your son did, and I have had my fair share of spam messages on whatsapp.
Firstly, regarding spam messages, I used to receive around 900-1000 messages a day from my class group chat, with the majority being spam too. This would not only result in my phone hanging all the time, but also missing out on important information. And hence I tried telling the group not to spam so many messages, but many ignored me and continued what they were doing. I told my mum, who then decided to write about what was happening to her parents' group chat. (There was one which allowed us to keep track of information, since it was almost impossible to get these information from my class group chat). This was a very effective method, as in a month, the number of messages decreased to about 100-200. Perhaps, you could try doing so too. If you are unable to get the kids to stop sending spam, then try to tell them through their parents.
Secondly, I am not very surprised by the vulgarities. In P3-P4, the group chat used to comprise of a lot of vulgarities. Personally, I feel that you might be overreacting. These children are probably using these vulgarities to engage in \"friendly\" arguments. Some of them probably don't even know the meaning of these vulgarities! Others, who say things like \"go and die\", probably do not know the severity of saying such things, and you might as well close one eye when seeing such a situation. To clarify, I am not advocating vulgarities. I don't believe that it is any right for them to use vulgarities just because they are younger. I just feel that you could take their words with a pinch of salt as they have not even matured yet. However, if this (and insulting teachers) really bother you, I feel that you could screenshot these vulgarities/insulting messages and email them to the form teacher. I am sure that he/she will take the appropriate measures. (someone did that once and our whole class got severely punished by our teacher)
Thirdly, like you, I feel that insulting the teachers should not be condoned. We should respect our teachers. However, if we could look at things in another perspective, we can see why these children rant about their teachers, some even going great lengths to create group chats just to insult their teachers. As a student, you plan to spend the whole day...perhaps watching TV. However, your teacher gives you about 5 worksheets to do. As a child, you would dislike the fact that she does so as she would have taken away some of your break time. These type of situation occurs more than once and you find that you don't like this teacher after a while. Hence you want to complain about this teacher to your friends. You do so in real life, but you get even bolder and you complain more in the digital world, as you believe no one is watching. And based on my experience, it is only when they grow older that these children would stop their childish acts. (As someone who had done such actions in the past, I feel very remorseful and rather disappointed in myself when I look back on it.) Also, if you would consider this: Children may be doing it in real life too, and not just behind their screens. You never know.
Finally, regarding children flaunting their wealth. Children these days are materialistic. They believe that more money=more popular. And while we oppose to such actions, as we believe that wealth should not be the only thing determining who you are, it is hard to do anything about it. This is their mindset. This is the way they think. It is difficult to make them realise that going around flaunting their wealth won't do them much good. However, you could, again, perhaps share this information with parents. I am very sure the majority of parents would be horrified hearing their children going about flaunting their wealth and would do something about it.
Fortunately, these above actions would be less common in P5/P6 as compared to in P3/P4, as children would probably be absorbed in studying for PSLE than to be ranting about teachers, or having \"friendly banters\" with their fellow classmates. Thereby, I wish you and your family the best in your future endeavours.