Valentine's Day

Today I was remined of the many Valentine's Days I had put up with as a teacher and I must say the memories make me smile :)

When I was teaching in ACJC, V Days were a frenzy of activity. The Students' Council had its major fund raising drive then and used to collect orders for roses which the Councillors would buy from wholesale suppliers and then re-sell to the students at a hiked up price. January and the weeks preceding the 14th of Feb were marked by a frenzy to meet someone - preferably during Orientation - so that come V Day, there would be a Someone to court and be courted by!

School was a bedlam on 14 Feb and only the most morose and fiercest of teachers could claim to have conducted a lesson successfully. I coped by having the same lesson I conducted every 14 Feb if I had a Lit class - a critique of what were the best love poems of English. Some years it worked; some years the kids groaned and begged me to let them off.

Then there would be the shy knocks on the door with the plea "Madam, may I see..." and the class would erupt with wolf whistles and oohs and ahhhs. Stalks and bouquets (depending on the finances of the suitor) would lie casually on desks and balloons with hearts would float lazily. My best times were when suitors came bearing chocolate boxes because I would then let them in only if the object of desire agreed to share the chocolates with me :)

Jurong Institute was a complete contrast. I was taken by surprise my first year there because I had readied myself for the insanity of puppy love only to discover that I seemed to have landed on a planet where the 14th of Feb was just the day that came between the 13th and the 15th. Well, this V-Day ennui didn't last very long and by the time I left JI, the madness had descended there too, but in 1992, it was a different story. Yes, there were couples, but unlike ACJC where most kids who came in the first 3 months stayed long enough to start dating, most of those who came to JI in Jan couldn't wait to leave after they received their 'O' level results, so Orientation held no promise for them and V Day was meant to be spent outside school as fast as their legs could sprint. I must say I missed the madness of Valentine's in JI.

And now, the day matters even less. Restaurants have expensive menus, movie tickets are sold out, florists claim to make 60% of their annual takings on this day alone and the mass media are doing their part to make everyone wish they were in love :) I am amused. I remember I used to scold my students for hanging around my classroom waiting for their special person, for the extravagance of their gifts and (when I'm feeling really mean) the grammatical errors in their love notes :) Yes I was a meanie :) Looking back, I think, maybe I should have been nicer, more indulgent, for after all, it was just for one day ... Happy Valentine's Day and may you feel loved today and every day of your life :)