Shengliver’s Note: What will you the teacher do if conflicts happen between you and your student? Anything can happen these days in a classroom. A teacher has to be mentally prepared for what drama will be playing out.

The Chinese language instructor, Mr King, is a harsh man. A lot of teens dread him. First thing in each Chinese period, he checks if the students have done the work he assigned.

The other day, Mr King was doing the inspection as usual. Most teens had done their work. When he came to a boy called Mr Zhang Jilong, to his displeasure, he found the teen had done next to nothing on the paper except for some ridiculous scribbles. Mr King demanded an explanation. The boy said that doing Chinese work was of no use because it was irrelevant to his marks in the exam. According to him, it made no difference to his Chinese exam performance whether he did his Chinese homework or not. Bloody angry and very much offended, Mr King commanded the boy to ‘roll’ out of the classroom.

No sooner had Mr King finished the sentence than Mr Zhang stood up and started for the exit. He slammed the poor door as he was going out. It was thunderous, man. Bang! The next moment witnessed Mr King the Chinese master storming out of the room and bawling at the teen in the corridor. He was as loud as if the entire building were shaking.

Since the confrontation, Jilong has taken no Chinese lessons in the classroom. It is entirely of his own making. When it is time for a Chinese lesson, he either stands outside or moves his desk out of the room and sits in the corridor. He vows he is to learn Chinese on his own. So far, Mr King the instructor has not forgiven the adolescent for his misdemeanour.