Service; efforts, standard

thought I shared this quote by Albert Einstein,

"it's high tme the ideal of success should be replaced with the ideal of service... only a life lived in the service of others is a life worthwhile."

words from a great man. indeed, i feel tat many of us (including myself) are very often consumed by the notion of success tat somehow the ideal of serving others, putting others before self takes a back seat. is it Singaporean psyche? since we are constantly being drilled that we need to be at the top in order to survive as a nation. I feel this somehow narrows our notion and definition of success, becomes a tunneling effect. In any case, it is an ideal that I still holds dearly, and in watever I do, I strive to put others before self (maybe tat's why i am still in Education after all these years, not that I am tat old ...LOL 14 yrs lah, and a long way to go). but it is never easy to positively influence others to work towards this ideal or vision or watever you call. perhaps this is wat education is about.

I had an interesting talk with a colleague during farewell party last nite. we tend to celebrate efforts alot, let the students try, allow for mistakes, give them room to grow, don't breathe down their necks and for that matter, vice versa for colleagues. All these intent and principles are educationally sound. However, efforts do not necessarily equate to good quality and standards. One thing that both of us were discussing is that as a sch, do we know what a good quality work is? be it event, activity, or even something as simple as the choice of music, a note of thank you or an email?

no doubt we strive to put in our best efforts to everything we do, benchmarking and setting high standards are equally important. if not, we might be consumed by our own illusion tat this is the best effort we can do and so the work is of high quality. the latter might turn out otherwise, i.e. the quality of work is actually sub-standard as compared to those done by others out of the sch.

so, efforts is one thing, at the same time, maintaining and setting high standards is equally essential.

It is time to step up.