Teachers' Day is not around the corner, it's here on your doorstep waiting for Sept 1 to come so it can shout "HELLO!". That is why this week, we decide to pay homage to some of our favourite authoritarian characters while growing up with The Learning Issue. As if it's not already glaringly obvious, learning makes you smart. If you have been paying attention in class, you should be smarter today due to no small contribution on their part.

We'll be realistic here. Not all lessons we learn are consciously taught, nor from textbooks. Take, for instance, how my primary school English teacher used to gush about me in class — I made no trouble and knew how to differentiate between past, present and future tense. Her praise got so out of hand that she'd tell the boys in class: "When you grow up, you must find a wife like Lai Chow..." No surprises, then, that I was quickly deemed the teacher's pet and routinely laughed at. Today, this incident dogs me. Not only am I unmarried, I've also, because I was the (reluctant) "teacher's pet", uncannily taken to identifying animal likeness in everyone I meet... I mean, because of this experience, I learnt equally quickly on in life to strive to be fair and just. I learnt that favouritism is bad for morale (the subject gets embarrassed while the non-subjects get no recognition). So thank you, teacher, for teaching me English and other life lessons.

By the way, the Speak Good English Movement is on the lookout for a worthy recipient for the Inspiring Teacher of English Award. Nominate your teacher here! ... and what was I saying again? Learn all you can, from every possible avenue, in every possible way. Not that you can help it, of course. Darwin would approve. LCL