A Synopsis of the Movie I Not Stupid Too

It was written and directed by Jack Neo who is widely known for his films which he used to present annotations with the intention of addressing serious issues that matters and presenting it in a humorous and youthful perspective. “When was the last time someone praised you? When was the last time you praised someone? ” – These are the questions posed at the beginning of the film which made me contemplate on myself for a while and somehow gave me a glimpse of what the movie is all about.

The film is narrated and seen through the eyes of the eight year old Jerry Yeo; presenting the lives, struggles and adventures of him and his brother Tom Yeo and their friend Chengcai Lim. Jerry enjoys performing arts, while Tom excels in technological aspects and a talented writer and blogger. They come from a well heeled family with busy parents. On the other hand, Chengcai is physically active and an adept fighter. Unlike his friends, he comes from a working class background and was raised by his widowed ex-convict father.

The story started with Tom, receiving a trophy for being a champion blogger. But instead of being proud of his son, Mrs. Yeo confronted him, saying that writing nonsense is not awesome. As Jerry narrated, “Grown-ups think that, by telling us a lot, they are communicating. Actually, they are running their own shows. ” – their parents keep on blubbering too much and don’t care about their children’s feelings as long as they are able to say their pieces. At school, Jerry was chosen as the lead narrator for their school play and encouraged by his teacher to get his parents to attend.

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But he falters because he knows that his parents are very busy and view performances as just a waste of money and time. Aside from this, he got bullied by his classmates who made her kiss a girl and fallaciously made him believe that he might impregnate her as what they’ve seen from the television. This made him anxious and tried to ask from adults around him on how do babies come about but none of them bother and open enough to tell him the truth. Confuse of what to do, he bought pineapples for her based from what he heard that eating this will cause miscarriage.

As a result, the girl was brought in the school clinic and their parents were then called. Because of this, Jerry’s parents had an argument which then resulted to what he termed as “cold war. ” On Father’s day, Tom gave Mr. Yeo a razor, while Jerry gave him a drawing illustrating how he views his father absence because of being too busy with his work. Both gifts were not appreciated. During dinner, Tom’s cell phone rang and his parents reprimanded him when he got the call. But after several minutes, their cell phones rang and left the table to answer it, leaving their children eating on their own. And when Mr.

Yeo lose his important files in his laptop which he will use for a business presentation at work, Tom managed to fix it before going to school. He then delivered it to his father hoping that he’ll be praised because of what he did. But instead of thanking him, Mr. Yeo scolded him for touching his things and not being in school. Mr. Lim on the other hand, loves Chengcai very much and doesn’t want him to end up loser like him who once thought of being a good fighter but broke his leg that’s why he don’t want his son to develop his fighting skills. He has gone to great lengths to ensure that his son will turn to be good and responsible.

Alas, he doesn’t communicate well with his son and disciplined him by using physical violence and throwing verbal abuses at him. After their previous fight, he accidentally tore Chengcai’s bag when he tried to pull it. So, keeping in mind of his friend’s advice about how he should show his love to his son, he bought him a cheap bag and hesitantly gave it. Chengcai refused to accept it especially when his father failed to explain the bag’s worth and value for giving it to him. Apart from their parents, Tom and Chengcai have also problems with their teacher, Mr. Fu, who often regard them as “rotten apples. He teaches them Chinese and even bought dictionaries for them to understand his lesson aside from giving remedial classes. But he doesn’t really connect with his students through his teaching strategies and frequently focus or attack his students’ flaws and weaknesses. During a spot check of cellular phones, Tom was caught possessing a pornographic VCD. As Mr. Fu tried to confiscate it, the students passed it on each other until he was able to get it. Chengcai made an impertinent remark which provoked his teacher to hurt him and eventually leads to an exchange that intensified physical fight.

Consequently, their parents were called. They begged to the principal to forgive their children and even tried to bribe her with various offers. But the principal remained firm as what she believes, “Rules are rules! I have to go according to the law! ”. And so, Chengcai was expelled, while Tom received a public caning. After few days, video of the incident was uploaded and watched in the internet which then began to appear in the newspapers and television. The public caning and teacher’s violent action towards the students was questioned.

The principal stood by the school rules, policies and corporal punishments which she believes and emphasized that caning is not just about pain, but the shame that the students will feel and will then made them afraid of doing it again. After the incident that led to various school controversies, Mr. Fu submitted a resignation letter which then refused by the principal and faculty to accept. Conversely, Tom and Chengcai got recruited by a street gang. Mr. Lim again talked to the principal to plea for his son but the latter remained firm in her decision. Thus, with the help of his friend, Mr. Lim tried to look for other schools in the country but none of them agreed to accept his son. On the other side, Mr. Yeo set a dinner with Tom to spend time with him and tried to somehow make a connection through uttering his son’s generation lingo and giving him a 3G phone. But just the same, he didn’t also win his son’s heart and respect. As part of their initiation, Tom and Chengcai were forced to steal by their senior gang members. However, they were caught by conmen who pretended to be police detectives and demanded them to pay $2000 within their given days or be arrested and jailed.

Jerry on the other hand, stole a big amount of money which then found out by his parents. Mr. Yeo enraged and caned him but got embarrassed when Jerry told him the reason behind his action. He explained that he tried to save money and resorted to stealing just to earn $500 to buy an hour of his father’s time so they will be able to attend in his school presentation. This made Mr. and Mrs. Yeo depressed and blamed their selves because of what their children has gone through as a result of their failures and shortcomings as parents.

Moreover, this also brought them to reading Tom’s blogs which he uses as his outlet to vent all his hurts, frustrations and disappointments set off by his parents and teacher who always misunderstands and misjudges him. One of his blogs contains, “My mom? She oppresses me. Everything I do is never enough for her. When I was in secondary one, I took a wrong bus and got lost. I was terrified. I called Dad from a public phone. He said he was too busy to talk. It’s scary to be lost. I got home after night fall. Mom lashed at me without asking. Slowly, I came to realize that my house is just a place where I sleep.

This family seems to have it all. Actually, it feels so empty. ” Through these, Mr. & Mrs. Yeo came to realize how unappreciated and emptied their children feel as well as their deep disappointments about them. Incapable of raising the money asked from them by the conmen and being scared of being jailed, Tom and Chengcai opted to rob an old woman of her necklace. But as they ran off, they slowly realized that what they did was wrong. Being remorseful by their action, they decided to return the necklace. After learning about what they did, the people around attacked and chased them.

Tom bumped into several bystanders and dropped his cell phone. Mr. Yeo was accidentally dialed and made him saw what was happening to his son. He then left his work presentation and went to the scene together with his family. He pleads the old woman to forgive his son and explained their realizations about how he came up with it as a result of their mistakes as parents. Fortunately, the old woman listened and understood what their family was going through and told the police that she just made a prank call. On the other side, Chengcai who was also chased, slammed into gangsters and got beaten up.

Mr. Lim, who happens to be on the same area saw him and tried to help and protect his son. Unfortunately, he was accidentally pushed down the stairs and got critically injured. He was then rushed to the hospital, suffering from a serious head trauma. Mr. Lim’s friend told Chengcai about his father’s struggles and efforts just to save money for his studies, look for other school that will let him in and somehow fix their relationship. She than added, “He’s willing to give up his life for you. Your Dad loved you too much. But, he didn’t know how to show his love. ”

Being hammered by his conscience and realizing his faults as a son, he decided to go back to school and took the risk of begging the principal to accept him again. On his last agony, Mr. Lim requested to see the school principal. He openly voiced out his failures as a father and how he grew up in a violent environment where no one ever cared for him which in the long run caused him being naive on how to show and give love to others. Moreover, he told Chengcai to pursue his talent for fighting and how much he loves him. Sighting this, the principal’s heart melted and allowed Chengcai to return to school and gave him chance to prove his worth.

Chengcai developed and enhanced his talent with the school’s support and became an internationally recognized martial artist. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Yeo finally understood their children and managed to build up their communication and relationship with their children. They joyfully and proudly watched Jerry’s school concert and showed their full support to their talented son. The film ended with Jerry’s narration on how each of them found the key to win everyone’s heart by giving more encouragements and compliments. His last remarks avowed, “We learned that appreciation is a powerful force.

This powerful force may result to the simplest words that you say or an action, or a simple expression. You never know, what you have changed.

The film tackled various areas – from bad parenting, up to juvenile delinquency, misuse of technology, effects of media and most especially, the problems encountered in the educational system. It provides us tough questions and paints a grim portrait of the increasingly problems and troubles of today’s youth in the society. The key point that Jack Neo tries to set forth in this motion picture is the generation gap, communication barriers and the irony in how acts of love and care by children, parents and educators wind up peeving each other.

The love manifested by parents to children, children to parents and educators to students are undeniable and evidently viewed in the story but often disregarded by the receiving faction. These sentiments are actually true not only to Singapore, where the film was based, but also to the majority of fast paced countries – even in the developing countries similar to the Philippines. Parents’ failure to set off and build good relationship and communication with their children also of giving attention and appreciation is irrefutably the main reason of the problems facing our youths today.

The movie clearly depicts how children feel muffled by their environment and often feels pressured by the adults who don’t bother to listen, instead, frequently criticized, judged and labeled them as hopeless and doomed to failure. And with parents who are way too busy to be involved in their children’s lives, but are disgusted if they don’t live up to their expectations, those youths are left with no one else to turn to – especially if they don’t even have or feel the support system from school, particularly their teachers, being their surrogate parents.

In our country, being known and true to our values of having close family ties, the school plays a big role in developing our youths. Conflicting and inconsistent beliefs, practices, views, principles, and philosophies that fall under the discourses on educational goals and contents as well as manner of teaching are very apparent in the film. These has been one of the focal points that the movie wants to discuss and give consideration – the underlying problems both in the objective and subjective areas of the educational system.

In the film, the lead character’s school is beset with incensed teachers who are extremely dedicated in their work, yet, exceedingly inadequate in imparting knowledge and learning. Jerry’s teacher for instance, she was not able to explain her answer in a proper way when asked by his student about where babies come from. She used other words instead of the true terminologies in the process of reproduction in explaining. This just added confusion to the child and did not help him in dealing with the situation he was going through.

He did not get any clarification to what he’s been curious at or help in solving his problem both in his family and teachers. Mr. Fu, on the other hand, characterized a Chinese teacher who can’t establish connection to his students. He developed this certain barrier between him and his students making it harder for him to establish a good teacher-student relationship. He uses a teacher-centered approach as his way of teaching. Yes, this approach focuses in the student achievements but teachers are driven to meet accountability standards and often sacrifice the ndividual needs of students just to be firm and guarantee that they will be able to meet those standards. More so, this environment only places the control of learning to the hands of the teacher where he makes connections by using his expertise in content knowledge. The effort to get to know his students, processing the learning, and identifying their needs are only secondary. Mr. Fu set this atmosphere of a traditional classroom where the student’s interaction is basically just responding to teacher-directed questions and lesson flow.

He rarely gives chance to his students for them to construct their own learning. Mr. Fu has high hopes and expectations to his students. So to enhance their Chinese language skills, he bought dictionaries for each of them to be used in his class. But on the contrary, it didn’t serve its purpose because it was also written in Chinese characters, so the students were not able to understand its content. When he was called by the school principal about it, he was advised to somehow translate the Chinese words that he’s teaching and use in English sentences or examples so that the students will able to understand it.

Aside from this, he was reminded to think forward and reflect why his students don’t show interest and fail in his subject. Because of not taking his student’s needs into consideration, he was not able to use appropriate materials and teaching strategies. As a result, he was not able to attain his learning objectives and reach his expectations from them. Apart from these, he also failed to teach and inculcate values to his students. As I quoted from his argument with Chengcai, the student told him, “If we were rotten apples, as our teacher, wouldn’t you be responsible? We often say that teachers should be a role model to his students. Mr. Fu frequently makes violent comments and utterances towards his students which made them hate him and lessen their respect to him. Instead of giving them praises and encouragements so as to develop their confidence and self-esteem, he keeps on criticizing and nagging them, pointing out their flaws and mistakes. Mr. Fu came also to the extent of hurting one of his students when the latter provoked him with harsh comments. He was questioned on as to what degree teachers should do to impose discipline to their students.

This brings us to the issue of corporal punishment which was also supported by the school principal in the film. After the incident between Chengcai, Tom and Mr. Fu, she immediately decided to expel one of the students and give public caning as sanction to the other. As I’ve seen, the incident did not go through proper and deep investigation, considering that it involves a serious offense. The student’s sides and rights were not given attention. Then even right after she was able to watch the video containing the incident, she still stood to his decision.

She even uttered that corporal punishment, particularly the public caning, does not only involves pain, but also the shame that the students will feel. And because of this, the child and other students will be reminded not to do offenses like those. The school principal depicted a common characteristic of officials who relies on the typical phrase, “according to the law,” to avoid responsibility, thorough analyzation of the situations or problems at hand and giving of common sense solutions. Furthermore, the school principal was also questioned of not speaking in Chinese, while Mr.

Fu was pushing his students to become excellent in that language. The film somehow wants to imply the importance of learning and using their own language. At least, the principal managed to explain why she has poor skills in speaking Chinese and that she’s willing to learn and improve. Aside from these, I also observed that the teachers don’t communicate with the parents in various matters about the student. For instance, Jerry’s teacher did not make it a pint to at least help the child in reminding and encouraging the student to make his parents attend the concert.

Knowing that she always reminds Jerry about the concert tickers for his parents, she should have thought that there’s a problem and she could make a way to communicate them, explain the importance of the performance to their child and encourage them to come. On the other side, Mr. Fu was not also able to communicate especially to those students who he observed to have difficulties and failing in his class. In this event, he could make an inquiry to the parents if the child has personal problems which hinder him n participating in the class or somehow suggest how he could help with the parents to work out on the child’s improvement. Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. ” William Butler Yeats. ” Formal education aims to cultivate the intellect, develop reasoning, inculcate moral and sound judgment, develop values and spirituality, and assist individuals towards attaining full potential growth. All individuals can be taught, it’s how the teachers teach them. When we teach, we do not just teach the content, we teach students the content. Effective teaching involves organizing the learning objectives, assessments and instructional activities focusing on the student’s overall development.

There are two contrasting viewpoints on how to properly instruct children in the classroom. In teacher-centered approach, the role of the teacher is to dispense knowledge and student’s role is to listen and memorize. While in student-centered or constructivist approach, the children are more in control of their learning. Is a teacher simply the dispenser of information or a facilitator of learning? Both approaches works best if we will blend it together. With these, teachers can promote higher order thinking skills and develop students holistically.

If teachers will apply both of these methods, they will be able to achieve their learning objectives with the help of providing proper teaching strategies, techniques and materials. Moreover, teacher-student communication should also be developed because it will lead to good learning relationship and improvement. Making connection with the students will greatly help the teachers in identifying their individual and specific needs so as to be able to supply and provide appropriate teaching methods and approaches.

Through this, educators will not only develop the child’s intellect but also inculcate values which will then complete their totality as a person. Student’s rights as learners and as person should be recognized and take into consideration. Using reinforcements will help in motivating and encouraging them to focus and develop interest in their studies. More so, they should be given proper guidance and counseling to help them in mental, emotional, social and spiritual adjustments and development as they go through the path towards becoming a productive and worthy individual.

There’s an idiom that says, “the exception proves the rule. ” This implies that the presence of an exemption applying to a specific case establishes that a general rule existed and that there’s always an exemption to the rule. Even if we have this rules like giving corporal punishment, as what the film showed, school officials should consider the specific consequences that it may resulted. Children cannot only be taught by scolding and hurting them. There are various ways that educators can do to impose and develop discipline among students.

As part of the academe, we should be sensitive enough in molding the future generation. We should make decisions not only from the basis of the rules or laws but also taking into concern the responsible, moral and fair judgments, foreseeing its consequences and outcomes especially when our children’s future is at hand. An effective teaching and educational objective should include the following ABCD approach: Audience, Behavior, Condition and Degree. The main focus of teaching is the audience which includes the learners.

Identifying their needs and skills are the key of knowing what kind of methods or techniques that teachers can apply. Next is the behavior which involves the three learning domains – cognitive, affective and psychomotor. It should focus on developing student’s behavior in understanding, value clarification and performance. Meanwhile, condition connotes the learning environment and atmosphere that the teacher imposed which may motivate and encourage students to learn and improve oneself. Lastly, the degree which suggests the rocess of evaluating the student’s outcome and standard or criterion for judging the academic and behavioral performance of the learners. Teaching students is not an easy job to do. It should not end in the classroom. Teachers are considered as one of the most important agents of constructive change in society. With the proper knowledge, understanding, techniques, strategies and experiences in handling learners, we can be able to mold the hearts and minds of the youth who will become the future leaders and citizens of the country.

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