Tribute to My Beatty Teachers

on Teachers Day 2023

“Beatty teachers did not just teach. They inspired me and others. Our Beatty school experience resulted in the creation of fresh perspectives and life options. In Beatty, we were transformed to become better versions of ourselves. And to never give up even when faced with seemingly impossible challenges and odds. I left Beatty for National Service and the world with greater wisdom, better understanding, and life options.”

In The Beginning

One cool morning on 2 January 1968, a little boy traveled more than 90 minutes by bus to a Secondary School on Serangoon Road where he was allocated after completion of the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exams). It was not even on my list of school choices. In the reflections on this Teachers Day 2023, I have not an iota of regret. My years in Beatty Secondary School (1968–1973) were the best defining years of my youth and my life. I left Beatty for National Service and the world with greater wisdom, better understanding, and life options. The Beatty experience emboldened and empowered me to see the world and my future with new eyes.

My Holistic Beatty Experience

“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones” - Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (Act3:Scene2)

During a Literature class by Mr Matthieu, I played Mark Anthony in a Shakespearean enactment and uttered the above words. They emboldened in me the power of words and public speaking. They referred to his friend Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was killed in a murder conspiracy in broad daylight led by his best friend Brutus whom he had years earlier provided safe sanctuary after the latter defected from Caesar’s archenemy Pompey Magnus. Apparently, Caesar’s “crime” was being too ambitious. My takeaway then was that ambition could lead to an early death, but I was neither faded nor discouraged.

Another Literature teacher, Mr Doraisamy introduced me, at the tender age of 14 years, to the books “The Godfather” about the lawlessly exciting New York Mafia underworld, and “Uhuru” about the Kenyan freedom war that led me to the evils of South African and then-Rhodesian Apartheid systems. The books triggered a troubling but lingering sense of social consciousness and community responsibility inside me.

I also joined Ms Bella's (Literature) class to study another Shakespeare play “Othello” to prepare for the English Literature ‘A’-Level exams. I was however not allowed to take the subject because I was in the Science Stream, even though I had excelled at the School Preliminary Exams for the subject.

My profound gratitude also to Ms Fong and Mrs Heng, both Form Teachers, for their patience in teaching and equipping proficiency in the English Language, and that core skill combined powerfully to embolden written and oral expressions to earn me a Distinction in Literature at the ‘O’-Level examinations.

STEM teachers Ms Tian (Maths), Ms Ma (Physics), Ms Lee (Chemistry), and Mr Chong (Maths) empowered me with the tools of logic and Science, that I later took to the dark sides of Economics and Sociology in the University years, and remained faithful to the vigour of data and scientific research.

It was the subject of Literature that planted the seeds of social activism and community building, leading to a lifetime of voluntary community service and international humanitarian mission work over the past 55+ years.

My life journey of service began in Beatty Interact Club where I joined to meet new friends and have the opportunities to participate in fun, meaningful service projects while developing leadership skills. We committed to a regime of regular weekly Friday visits to the School of the Blind @ Toa Payoh to tutor Mathematics to visually-impaired peers. The initial feelings of pity and sympathy were soon replaced by friendship bonds and a growing appreciation of diversity, of our natural interdependence and differential physical conditions.

The Beatty legacy essentially developed holistic leadership and personality character through the various teachers and activities both in and outside the classroom.

Ms Tian was also the Teacher-in-Charge of the Red Cross Youth. Over the 6 years in Beatty, under her guidance, motivation and empowering support, I grew to become a commissioned student Assistant Cadet Officer in 4 years, with more opportunities abounded to learn vital life-saving skills as well as visit various social and charitable organizations to gain important insights and invaluable up-close and personal experiences with the handicapped, spastic, paraplegic, aged, and sick, which would otherwise have been a real impediment to a more complete understanding of society. The weak and vulnerable in the community became a mainstay anchor of a sense of social responsibility driving community service and activism.

Leadership opportunities were plentiful in Beatty, in the uniformed groups, sports, debate clubs, societies, and music bands, as well as appointments such as Prefects, Class Monitors, and many event organisations, and responsibilities eg PA Systems, Flag Raising … etc.

As a School Prefect led first by Prefect Masters, Mr Chua, and later Mr Chong, the values of discipline, fairness, and justice were gradually embedded unconsciously to develop ethical and moral character standards of behavior.

Mdm Liew (Chinese Teacher) made me the inaugural Chairman of the Chinese Language Society, and that opportunity also improved my Mandarin language competency. Mr Chin (Art Teacher) tried with limited success in bringing out the artistic nature in me; alas, I remained very much just a painter to this day but he did unlock a creative and innovative part of me. Mr Seah (Senior Teacher) taught me the martial arts of Judo and some Aikido, which I later continued into Chinese martial arts.

In sports and games, Mr Morais (PE Teacher) introduced us to the games of hockey, cricket, soccer, and rugby. I also developed a love for badminton under Mr Lim (Badminton Master) and represented Beatty in the City District Inter-School Badminton Tournaments. He made me Captain of the Badminton Team and encouraged me to organise the first Open Badminton Championship, where my buddy and I won the Doubles Champions trophy.

Beatty Secondary School was a hotbed of student activities on Saturdays and before/after school hours. The importance of extracurricular activities (ECA) — now renamed as Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) — was ingrained as integral to a holistic educational, learning, and personal development effort to build well-rounded students useful to society. In 1973, I was awarded School Colours for leadership and active participation over the past 6 years.

Albert Einstein said: “It is the supreme art of the teacher to waken joy in creative expression and knowledge”. This is so true of Beatty teachers.

My Beatty legacy, and that of my various teachers, were however not the subject contents that they imparted with such vigour, enthusiasm, dedication, and fervour. Their love, patience, and teaching pedagogy inspired me to become a teacher, and I spent the best part of my life as a University Professor, as well as a Human Resource Developer/Trainer. Their indelible marks on my DNA were tattooed and branded into deep yearnings for the rest of my life as a writer, management strategist, and talent expert.

Driven by the ambition to reach out beyond my grasp, my passion was to become the best of the best. But I never did become the best of the best. There was always something or someone better. I think I became pretty good at what I do. And I continue to believe that I can do what I do better than anyone else. Always mindful and guided by the Beatty Motto “Not with Force but with Skills”.

We live the legacies of others. Legacies refer to the transformational impact of what you do in people’s lives. They are never about what you accumulated, possessed, or gave away financially in fleeting philanthropic acts when we give often from our abundance, not scarcity. You are not defined by your status, wealth, medals, awards, physical beauty, or titles.

I have lived my life by conscious choice, shaped by many whose paths had crossed mine, especially inspirations imprinted by my Beatty teachers and Universities Professors, together with my colleagues, clients, loved ones, and friends.

One of my University students, now one of the youngest ever senior managers of a large global IT company, attributed to me his “best career advice”: To “always do something new”. In words reminiscent of my own Beatty and Universities experiences, he said in an interview that the advice had:

“…. equipped me a mindset to continually sustain a learning environment throughout my professional life. It has also helped me maintain an entrepreneurial spirit in order to rise to new challenges. Moreover, ‘doing something new’ and getting out of my comfort zone regularly has ensured that I am seldom bored or I am not stagnated with my work”.

Other students have also said:

“The lectures were more like a thinking journey than educational, making me actually think a step ahead about the matters discussed. It was more to challenge the comfortable thought and opinion on how we run our daily life. The flow of the arguments was there because we were prepared and felt confident.”

“This will be one of the subjects that I will remember for my whole life because HRM gives me the attitude and courage to walk out of the comfort zone. It trained me in strategic thinking. These will benefit me forever.”

“After all, aren’t all lectures in university ought to be liked that? So provoking, so unimaginable and breathless! From the start, the course has made me see, feel, sense, taste and hear and do things in a different perspective in a different light.”

Beatty teachers did not just teach. They inspired me and others. Our Beatty school experience resulted in the creation of fresh perspectives and life options. Some chose a teaching career, whilst others became successful entrepreneurs and business executives.

In Beatty, we were transformed to become better versions of ourselves. And to never give up even when faced with seemingly impossible challenges and odds. Not surprising therefore that Beatty has many distinguished alumni that include international and local businessmen, an Anglican Bishop, lawyers, doctors, management executives, teachers, school principals, University Professors, politicians, and then some.

Living the Beatty legacy on Teachers Day 2023, and forever grateful in no small measure to Beatty Teachers and School experience, my purpose in life was to be perpetually useful to the community and those around me, and the world. The things I did were always intended to inspire and create happiness in people so as to obtain their happiness energy to drive my own happiness. Modeling the Beatty legacy, my legacy is to contribute however and whatever as much as I can while alive, to assist, facilitate, and inspire as many as possible, through any media, to live better lives. Only in this manner, would the impact of my legacies last beyond my life. It all began in Beatty.

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