the hardest assignment ever
Ipan Jr was in kinder when his teacher required her students to bring fish scales.
Fish scales? As in kaliskis ng isda? So the art section in bookstores now has faux fish scales, right beside the dried flowers and colored sand?
“Hindi po, Mommy. Yung totoong kaliskis ng isda,” his teacher clarified.
And so my mind began counting the possible ways I could get fish scales. She didn’t mention the size of the scales, so I figured I could buy a kilo of bangus or tilapia, then I would scrape off the scales at home.
Now that was a problem, because, tee-hee! the first and the last time I cleaned a fish was during the first few months of married life. It was a horrible ordeal for me and the fish, but at least the fish was already dead so it must not have felt violated. Good thing grocery stores now offer fish-cleaning services, otherwise it will never appear on our dining table.
The other, more viable option was to go to the supermarket, where we would buy fish, request to have it cleaned and the scales stored in a plastic bag.
I called up my husband that afternoon, told him about our son’s assignment, and asked him to go straight to our favorite supermarket to pick us up.
“What fish are you going to buy?” he asked.
“I don’t know… tilapia maybe, or bangus. Might as well get the fish I can cook.” I said.
“That won’t do. The scales would most likely be pasted on something, and he would have a problem handling scales as small and as sticky as that.” Hmm. He was right.
“I don’t know any other fish, ” I reasoned.
“Ako nang bahala,” he replied.
When he got home later that evening, he presented me with a bag of the most awesome fish scales I have ever seen. They were as large as twenty-five centavo coins, some were as big as a one-peso coin, that turn green, then pink when light passed through them. Dry and thick enough for my son’s small hands.
Beautiful. Just perfect. I would never get such scales in our favorite supermarket.
He didn’t buy a fish. He just went to this small grocery near a class AB neigborhood and requested the guy manning the fish section for scales.
Our son would have the most beautiful artwork in class, we exclaimed. You see that grocery is quite far from where the school is. So all the other parents must have scoured a wet market or a regular supermarket for fish scales that were most likely from tilapia or bangus.
The next day, we put the bag of the now-frozen fish scales in his lunchbox. Ipan Jr went home, and the fish scales were still in his lunchbox.
The following day, we reminded Ipan Jr. where his fish scales were so he could present them to his teacher. He went home, and the fish scales remained untouched. No, teacher didn’t ask for it, Ipan Jr. said.
So the next day, as I was afraid that the scales would soon rot, I asked the teacher what to do with them.
“Hindi na lang po, mommy. Hindi po kasi makahanap yung ibang parents,” the teacher explained.
How disappointing. We were given a challenge, we spent time and effort and gas money for it, only to find out that the task was withdrawn because my husband and I were the only ones who ever did anything about it.
If only the teacher can give my son some credits on his report card for his parents’ hard work. But nah, we all know it doesn’t work that way.
jho:
ANO! kakainis naman yun! After all the effort for the fish scales yung ang sasabihin ni teacher! Mahiya naman yang teacher na iyan. Tell her na kung mag-iisip siya ng project for the kids dapat yung kaya at madaling iproduce ng parents or guardians! AWAYIN KO YANG TEACHER NA YAN!
LC: wag mo na awayin, last year pa to e
kainis nga lang kasi talagang namrublema kami dyan 
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6 August 2007, 11:27 amjho:
ginalit talag a ko niyang project ng teacher ng inaanak ko!!!!!! Kung mangyari iyan sa mga kids ko, susugurin ko ang teacher, dadalhin ko siya sa principal’s office.
LC: hahaha! wag na, last year pa to
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6 August 2007, 11:27 amKongkong622:
Ang daya naman nun. At ang tamad naman ng ibang mga magulang. Ano ba yan
LC: hahaha! actually, yan din ang comment ng nanay ko, hahaha!
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6 August 2007, 11:34 amfeng:
ah, the impossible things we can make possible for our kids’ sake. bilib ako sa inyo for moving heaven and earth just for those fish scales. sayang nga lang at the Teacher didn’t require it na. tsk. tsk.
i’m like that too, very praning when it comes to my son’s assignments in school. pag-uwi pa lang nya, I make sure to check na agad what his assignments are, so that if there are things needed to bring in school the following day, we have ample time to find those.
grabe, preschool pa lang yan. paano pa kaya pag big school na? hay…
LC: hahaha! ganyan din ako i check his assignment notebook the minute he gets home, kasi malamang we have to go elsewhere pa to get the things they need diba.
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6 August 2007, 12:03 pmTikey:
Sarap kutusan ng teacher nayun! hmmppp.. galit ako sa kanya! sayang effort ni faffy at ni Momy!
LC: hahah! oh well, at least we discovered how resourceful we could be pala.
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6 August 2007, 2:19 pmRowena:
Sayang naman efforts nyo. Dapat me additional point si Ipan kasi sya lang naka-produce ng assigned material. Nakakainis ganyan mga teachers noh. Ako pag mahirap talaga gawin ang project, I write the teacher para naman di nila alam mga parents gumagawa ng projects kasi la ng time mga students nila.
LC: bago lang si Ipan sa school last year, kaya akala ko ganon talaga. pero ngayon “veteran” preschooler mom na ako, kaya madalas tumatawag na ako sa school, hahaha!
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6 August 2007, 3:24 pmRach:
Oh my, I feel bad that all your efforts finding those perfect fish scales were wasted. The teacher should have considered that some parents might find it hard to get fish scales before making it as an assignment.
LC: yup, and sana din they informed us immediately that they were cancelling the project. Oh well…
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6 August 2007, 4:50 pmrazberry:
mga teachers talaga kung anu-ano ang pinapa-uso at kung anu-ano ang naiisip.. dapat may extra point si ipan jr jan.
Nung elementary kami may ganyang project din kami, pero hindi kaliskis ng isda, bones kase topic namin..so kelangan makapagproduce kami ng bones with joints.. hindi lahat nakapag produce, so yun mga may dala at nagbigay ng effort, may additional points…
and sana before magpa project ang teacher inisip muna nila, would the kids be able to do that or to produce that somehow.. or feasible kaya yun..? kaloka naman yang teacher na yan..
LC: at least may points naman for those who brought bones. pero come to think of it, yung mga nakapgdala ng buto, parents din ang naghagilap no?
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6 August 2007, 5:27 pmLynn:
That’s true. Most parents will do everything for a child’s project no matter how simple or how ‘weird’ it is. What bothers me lang sometimes is some art teachers have to resort to materials not readily accessible and art projects which can’t be done solely by the children. They should be drawing out the ideas of the kids.
LC: korek, lynn! i cant help feeling that teachers sometimes take advantage of over eager parents like me:D porke they know we’ll move heaven and earth..
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6 August 2007, 5:37 pmChristina:
hahaha, funny post! And how very annoying, the nerve of some teachers these days. Parang, binawi ang assignment dahil walang nakagawa. That is tooo easy for Ipan Jr. Tsk.
Question lang, anong isda ang may ganun kalaking kaliskis?
LC: hehehe! I don’t know e. I’ve seen it in a supermarket, but I don’t know what is its name. matanong nga.
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6 August 2007, 5:52 pmMitchteryosa:
Lokong teacher yun ah! Pagurin muna ba ang tao hmp!
LC: oo nga e. sayang yung kaliskis!
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6 August 2007, 8:38 pmchesca (exskindiver):
yes, that is frustrating indeed.
at the very least your son should have been given a special assignment to present to the class. more importantly, his parents should have been given the recognition they deserved!
what the heck!
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6 August 2007, 10:12 pmraqgold:
hi, it’s my first visit here. you know what, i applaud you for making sure that you son have something for his project. i say BOO to the teacher for not even acknowledging your son and your family for the effort and for stopping the project because the others cannot get those scales (they could have used those scales from your son and be creative enough to work with those limited resources). and i pity those parents who arent resourceful enough to work around the project. i dont know, i would have gone fishing myself if needed
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7 August 2007, 4:12 ammitch:
In the first place, they should have thought that it’s not very easy to acquire fish scales. E naman, effort pa lang, dapat perfect grade na!
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7 August 2007, 9:15 amsoloops:
Sana, kung may schoolage na anak na yung teacher na yun, bigyan din ng impossible assignment, like bringing a live firefly to school or something.
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7 August 2007, 10:16 amZherwin:
funny but at the same time, nakakainis hehehe. when i was still studying, i never experienced that, usually kung sino lang yung me dala, me additional pogi points! on the brighter side, considerate naman pala si teacher sa mga walang makuha, sana lang me special mention si ipan jr.
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7 August 2007, 11:42 amlazarus:
When we were in elementary, we were asked to bring dried cow dung, to be used as fertilizer in the school garden.
It was easy, coz we lived near a rice field with plenty of cows.
But when you live in a metropolis, this could be very difficult.
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7 August 2007, 4:14 pmhailey:
hay, forgive the teacher for she’s only human. but it will help to write a simple note regarding the episode!. how i wish i can be a SAHM, too!
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7 August 2007, 5:43 pmchateau:
Cess, I can relate… Patchy perfected a quiz in english, but because many failed, ginawang exercise nalang with no grade credits! Good thing she perfected again the take-2 quiz. I asked her what she got for the first quiz then, if no grade credit. A lollipop daw hehe.
Sana man lang may lollipop na binigay ka Ipan Jr. hehe
BTW, I admire your husband for being so supportive and involved. My husband is like that too.
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9 August 2007, 11:05 amAiza Bautista:
Hmm, I wonder for what project the scales were for
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17 August 2007, 10:38 pmthe housewife and the fish | occupation: SAHM:
[...] wondered what fish could have such beautiful fish scales. SM Hypermart’s fish section showed me the [...]
19 August 2007, 8:27 amTHE PROPER SYMBOL OF THE SMALL LETTER A « From Dawn Till Dusk:
[...] I am not alone. I remember reading Lady Cess had a hard time looking for fish scales to comply with Ipan Jr.’s assignment. [...]
6 September 2007, 7:12 pmauee:
oh that sucks
My sister had a similar experience. My niece’s kindergarten class was told to bring their pets for a show-and-tell. Since they didn’t have a pet, my sis bought a pair of lovebirds. When D day arrived none of the kids have pets, instead they had stuffed animals (as in soft toys)!
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8 September 2007, 5:45 am