So this teacher told his, her, gender doesn't matter here although some may argue it does since only a woman would come up with such a dumb idea and others say that only men would do something as stupid, etc etc etc. But, that's beside the point. The point is, this teacher told the class that if they could answer a question they could go home.

It was Friday afternoon. The following Monday was a holiday. If you were a student tired to the core of school and you were offered an extra half-day off, naturally you'd jump at it. I know I would.

The first question was "Who founded Australia?" And right in the front row a small hand shot up and black-eyed Amy Liu in her quiet little way gave the perfect answer, name, date, everything. So the teacher said, "Very well, Amy, you may go."

But Amy answered in her accented English, "Oh no, teacher. You see, my ambition is to be a lawyer. Therefore, I have to work hard in school in order to get my grades and not miss any lessons. So, teacher, I chose to stay." And naturally, as teachers come, this one was impressed and let Amy stay.

The second question was "Who founded America?" Another hand shot up from the other end of the room. Tommy Cheng, bright and eager as usual, quipped good ol' Chris Columbus, the year (leave me alone, I don't take American history =P) and the ship. The teacher offered to dismiss him, to which Tommy replied, "I want to learn everything I can and become a great man, teacher, I don't want to miss anything in school." So he stayed.

Now, this kind of behaviour isn't the best classroom protocol if you wished to secure a good position among your peers. It's not racist or sexist; I'm disgusted at the people in my classes who pull these sort of lousy stunts and believe me, we're all Asian to the marrow. Yet, undeniably, the whole "race" thing is a convenient outlet and from the back of the room, someone yelled "F**king Asian bastards!"

The teacher was not amused and strode to the back of the room, demanding a confession from the prime suspect. No results. He (she, hell, we've been through this before) then turned to the class, turning an interesting shade of purple because if that comment gets out it was his (her) hide on the line, growled "Who said that!"

Near the door, Johnny Lewis put up his hand. "Kevin Parker, Friday **th May 199*. See you Tuesday, teach!" And out the door.

Moral of the story: We know the world belong to opportunists. We're told that all the time. What they never say is true opportunists don't jump at chances; they create their own.

Look, Angey, you expected this,
You know it.
So quit whining =P