Very few students in my physics class dare to express their thought openly, even in the online forum. It is indeed a very curious fact that, in general, our university students are effectively dump and disappointingly obedient. One who thinks intensively will manifest their mental activities by having much to express. The muteness of our APEX university students must to a certain extent reflects the lack of brain activities going on between their ears. Even if some do have the residue intellectual resource to think, they will dare not opine either in the class room nor privately to their lecturers. Our obediently mute young generation is the spoil of our highly 'successful' education system which produces only high quantity of canned products that excel in nothing but following instructions. Bravo.
There are, however, surprises once a blue moon where some not-so-obedient rare breed turn vocal and make public (mostly via the online open forum) or private complains (usually via email and sms text) about my teaching and my style of teaching. But mostly I live a much trouble-free and peaceful life, thanks to our successful education system and the tradition of authoritarianism among the university lecturers, with approximately zero person-time making `trouble' by voicing out their opinions or querying me during lectures.
As a matter of principle I am always glad to know whenever a student dares to voice out his grumble openly against the apparently silent background. For example, at times I got stuck when performing calculation on the board or making confusing statements during the lectures. What I got as a feed back from the audience is usually indifference, despite constant reminders given to the class to raise questions. Once there was an apparently annoyed student in an online open forum complained he/she is confused by my erratic teaching style. I was made pleased by this complain as finally someone dares to stand out to tell me what they think. As a matter of appreciation for his/her bold attempt I response instantaneously on the forum that “i invite u and the whole class to contribute to our collaboration in this process of mutual learning. this would be a more constructive way to rectify the matter then merely complaining about the confusion i have aroused”. However, such occasion, in which our pampered university students voice out their thought concerning the way a lecturer conduct his lecture is so rare that I can recall it with vivid clarity. As an illustrative gestimate, my experience as a lecturer in the only APEX university in Malaysia shows that on average I hear less than ~ 0.1kB equivalent of statements or questions raised by all the students in the lecture hall per semester.
My constant observation leads me to conclude that our 'highly successful' education system has produce high quality canned-like students who can `learn' only if they get spoon fed. This is a mentally challenged generation who easily lost their way when challenged by any question slightly different from the model answers they memorised for exam. They are like some one who is used to wear only 'Bata' sport shoe daily but turns out to be too scared of making any step when the shoe is changed from Bata to Nike. They get stuck when being asked exactly the same question presented in a slightly varied way.
As it is happening in most of the cases in our university education, genuine academic learning seldom takes place, only blind memorisation. Students may score high marks by answering all those closed-ended problems from lecture notes perfectly. But seldom they have the minimum capacity to explain the simple reasoning behind them. Well, many lectures are to be blamed as well because their mentality and teaching styles are just the university version of the secondary school spoon-feeding system.
Imagine the scenario where all of the APEX university students can only answers closed-ended questions. Further imagine the scenario where all of them score full A's and graduated with first class honours because they all can answer perfectly these closed-ended questions during the exams. And they are our only 'cream' of the Malaysian society. That makes year 2012 to arrive sooner at Malaysia than the Mayans have predicted.
There are, however, surprises once a blue moon where some not-so-obedient rare breed turn vocal and make public (mostly via the online open forum) or private complains (usually via email and sms text) about my teaching and my style of teaching. But mostly I live a much trouble-free and peaceful life, thanks to our successful education system and the tradition of authoritarianism among the university lecturers, with approximately zero person-time making `trouble' by voicing out their opinions or querying me during lectures.
As a matter of principle I am always glad to know whenever a student dares to voice out his grumble openly against the apparently silent background. For example, at times I got stuck when performing calculation on the board or making confusing statements during the lectures. What I got as a feed back from the audience is usually indifference, despite constant reminders given to the class to raise questions. Once there was an apparently annoyed student in an online open forum complained he/she is confused by my erratic teaching style. I was made pleased by this complain as finally someone dares to stand out to tell me what they think. As a matter of appreciation for his/her bold attempt I response instantaneously on the forum that “i invite u and the whole class to contribute to our collaboration in this process of mutual learning. this would be a more constructive way to rectify the matter then merely complaining about the confusion i have aroused”. However, such occasion, in which our pampered university students voice out their thought concerning the way a lecturer conduct his lecture is so rare that I can recall it with vivid clarity. As an illustrative gestimate, my experience as a lecturer in the only APEX university in Malaysia shows that on average I hear less than ~ 0.1kB equivalent of statements or questions raised by all the students in the lecture hall per semester.
My constant observation leads me to conclude that our 'highly successful' education system has produce high quality canned-like students who can `learn' only if they get spoon fed. This is a mentally challenged generation who easily lost their way when challenged by any question slightly different from the model answers they memorised for exam. They are like some one who is used to wear only 'Bata' sport shoe daily but turns out to be too scared of making any step when the shoe is changed from Bata to Nike. They get stuck when being asked exactly the same question presented in a slightly varied way.
As it is happening in most of the cases in our university education, genuine academic learning seldom takes place, only blind memorisation. Students may score high marks by answering all those closed-ended problems from lecture notes perfectly. But seldom they have the minimum capacity to explain the simple reasoning behind them. Well, many lectures are to be blamed as well because their mentality and teaching styles are just the university version of the secondary school spoon-feeding system.
Imagine the scenario where all of the APEX university students can only answers closed-ended questions. Further imagine the scenario where all of them score full A's and graduated with first class honours because they all can answer perfectly these closed-ended questions during the exams. And they are our only 'cream' of the Malaysian society. That makes year 2012 to arrive sooner at Malaysia than the Mayans have predicted.
Dr Yoon, it is for this reason that I found your teaching style and online forum in my 1st year of undergraduate studies as a great and welcome relief. Therefore I was disappointed when the following year you decided to stop maintaining the online forum. I hope you realize that your online forum was a great ice-breaking avenue for us and a great stimulant for many great discussions. I still visit our old ZCA101 forum once in a while to recall the great memories.
回覆刪除I hope that you know that your efforts in the forum were appreciated and helped many students, even the "quieter" ones :)
Hmm...sounds very supportive. Will keep doing that.
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