Came across this site - phdcomics.com, which publishes comics regarding the life of PhD students.
Interesting. Even 1 month before I actually start my PhD, I'm already starting to 'feel' some of the comics. Here are some of my favourites.
1. On academic salaries, i.e. your salary prospect if you complete your PhD and then work in the academia.
2. On the life ambition of someone pursuing PhD.
3. On why people would pursue PhD.
4. On the vicious cycle that I'm already in right now.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Applying to grad school in US or UK
Some juniors have been asking me for advice on this matter recently.
Since I've been applying to grad school for some time now and not to mention my dreaded VISA application experience, I think it's fitting for me to write a thing or two about applying to grad school in the US or UK.
Many undergraduate have a mixed feelings of fear and enthusiasm when it comes to pursuing a research degree. It is understandable because research is after all quite different from what we do in our undergraduate days. Some people prefer research, while some prefer studying text books, working on tutorials and dislike situations where what you study do not have a definite answer.
So before you embark on the (long) journey of grad school and research, let's make sure that you really know what you are up against and that you are still interested.
For grad school, especially Masters degree, there is usually two types - Taught programmes and research programmes.
Taught programmes are very much like undergraduate courses except that the content will be a bit more advance. Students who are unsure about the research interest, or have no intention to further pursue their education into research degrees, or would like to have an open, more flexible option after completing the Masters degree should opt for the taught programme. Such programmes, of course, include popular programs such as MBA.
Here, my blog will concentrate more on the latter. Research programmes are especially useful for those students who are already sure that they want to pursue a PhD degree. There are a few things one should know about research.
1. People who like Phd and research are people who like to dig deep and try to understand the roots of the problem. It is those people in the class who keeps on asking "Why, why, why?". In the industry, people are more concerned about costs and speed. The industry wants to get the design out to the shelf ASAP with as little cost as possible. Therefore there is usually little time for one to go into the very root of the problem. If Phd candidates are those that ask, "Why, why, why?" then industry people are usually people who says, "As long as it works, I don't care how." So if you like looking into problems at a more in depth level, you may like research.
2. Research could be a lonely job. Only you would know the answers to the questions in your research because if anyone else knows about it, you are either copying from them or they have already beat you to it. Even your supervisor would only be able to give you guidance, and not answers. So, most of the time, you'll be working alone.
3. Most of the things that you work on, do not have answers. Unlike in the undergraduate days when the answers are always at the back of the book, you'll have to learn to live with it, i.e. that some things just don't have answers. For those that have, you'll have to find the answers yourself.
4. The first few months could be very tiring and scary.
- Tiring, because you would have trouble understanding any bit of the journal papers you are reading. You'll start reading the reference, and then the reference of the reference, and then the reference of the reference of the reference. You'll find yourself backtracking a lot just to understand a single journal paper. This is normal. It could be weeks before you could actually proceed beyond the first paragraph of the journal paper. And this is especially true for a physical science research degree.
- Scary, because all the idea you thought was novel has already been thought of. They are either disproved, proven or work in progress. Given that thousands of people are taking Phd degrees across the world at any one instant, this is not surprising. In the end, you realised that a novel idea can only come up when you've read sufficient journal papers and understand where the trend of the research is. This is why literature review is important.
5. Doing a research degree is obviously tough. But for some, it's an intellectual challenge. And you'll find that your peers who are doing their research degree will have similar passion as you. But if you are not sure if research is for you, try the Masters degree first. The research level at Masters degree is quite enjoyable and relaxing. All you need to do is add a little transistor here and there or make a tweak here and there for your dissertation. However, at the PhD level, there is a huge quantum jump.
If you are already sure that grad school is what you want. Then these are the steps you should take now:
1. Identify the area of your research interest. The better you can narrow this down, the better it is.
2. Identify Research Centers, Universities or professors who are renowned in your research area.
- Some lowly ranked universities could be exceptionally good a a particular research area. e.g. Univ. of Southampton is not ranked top 10 in the UK but its electrical and electronic engineering research is outstanding.
3. Understand the admission process.
- This can be particularly tough as Universities have different criteria and admission process. Some can submit application online, some can't; some requires GRE, some don't; some requires 2 referrals, some requires 3; some requires TOEFL/IELTS, some don't. So you have to make sure you understand all the requirements.
- But most important of all, take note of the admission deadline! For most top ranked UK or US universities their admission deadline is usually in December of the year prior to your admission, i.e. if you are entering in Sept 2009, the deadline would be Dec 2008.
Taking the required exams and the first 3 steps mentioned above would already usually take up months. So prepare early!
4. Preparing the documents. This can be very ANNOYING.
- Usually, you'll need to send the ORIGNAL transcript, which we obviously only have one at the point of graduation. So more needs to be requested at the university registrar. And remember, it has to be in English, otherwise a certified translation would be required.
- Writing your personal statement is probably the toughest. Many Malaysians loathe this because they feel like it's writing something to boast yourself. But he/she couldn't be more wrong on this. No matter how bad your GPA is, and how bad you feel about yourself, there are always postives in yourself that you can find. The admission officer is not looking for a perfect person, but a person who is confident in himself/herself. For example, my whole life in secondary school is nothing but Chinese debate. Although I learn a lot from this activity, I couldn't pin down what exactly I have learned. I felt inferior when I wrote my personal statement. That is until I saw a personal statement written by the Stamp Club's president (yes, you hear me right. there's actually a stamp club. a club that promotes collecting stamp. yes, those stamps that you lick and paste onto your letters). Stamp Club's president obviously had little to do or learn, but the personal statement was written as though he/she could bring stars from the heaven to earth. And you know what, he/she is now in a prestigious US University. Now, I'm not asking you to lie. But one can be truthful and yet be confident of his/her own postives. e.g. you may not be able to get a good GPA, but you are always intrigued by tough questions in the exams and you are usually the only one who is able to solve that question, then this is something worth bragging about. Or if you do not get good grades because you are actively involved in multiple student acitivies or political activities, you may still make a good political science student. In short, prepare your personal statement early and proof-read it many times.
- Gettting referrees to write you a good letter is not as easy at it sounds either. Referrence letters are the single most important documents that you could submit with your application. Your referrees may take time because they may be busy and if we try to push for it too hard, chances are that your referrees may just simply write you a letter. So inform them early, and send them a kind reminder from time to time. Also, most people you approach for writting this referrence letter would usually ask you to send them a 'draft' so that they could use it as 'reference'. I'm not sure if this is right, but this is definitely common. So it has no harm if you could prepare a 'draft', just in case your referee needs it. (Note: Some Malaysians feel 'shy' to persistently bug lecturers for a reference letter, but remember it's their duty to do so. So do not be 'shy'.)
* the funny thing about applying to Cambridge is that although they are using online application, your reference letter is still submitted in written form. And what more is that you are required to send in the reference letter 3 weeks from submitting your online application. A very short time indeed. Unlike for the US Universities, your documents can arrive anytime before the admission deadline. Furthermore, after registering your online application with Cambridge, you'll be given a 'self-service' account where you can check all your application details. Again, this portal is far from being user-friendly. I just have to say that in terms of the ease-of-use of the online application, Cambridge is still quite far behind compared to the US Universities. And I do not understand why that the US Universities could do much better job at the admission process than the UK counterpart. But to be fair, Cambridge is one of the first few Universities in UK who uses online application and it started only a few years back. Whereas US has been using online application for almost a decade.
5. Search for scholarships. There are already a multitude of websites on this. The popular scholarships available are Maxis, King's scholarship (JPA), Bank Negara, Yayasan Khazanah, Chevening, Fulbright, Sime Darby, etc. The only thing that I wish to remind the applicants is that some of these scholarships are only opened for a very short period of time, i.e. 2 weeks (and they give very short notice too). So prepare all your documents and statements beforehand and check their websites/newspaper ads regularly, particularly during the months of January to April.
6. For US you can go to MACEE for more information. For UK you can go to MABECS for more information. These two organisations are very friendly and provide a lot of information about studying in the US or UK.
Lastly, I would like to say that these are just my thoughts. They may not reflect the actual thoughts of the admission officers. After all, I still did not get into Stanford (which is my first choice) despite getting (what I reckon is a) very good score for my GRE. So, the problem probably lies with my personal statement and my reference letters.
Applying to grad school was never easy. But it may be worth the effort. To some, PhD degrees are intellectually rewarding. While some of my friends pursued a Masters degree just because they wanted a break from their everyday work, or simply they wanted to experience life in a new country.Whatever the reason may be, to all those who are applying, good luck!
Since I've been applying to grad school for some time now and not to mention my dreaded VISA application experience, I think it's fitting for me to write a thing or two about applying to grad school in the US or UK.
Many undergraduate have a mixed feelings of fear and enthusiasm when it comes to pursuing a research degree. It is understandable because research is after all quite different from what we do in our undergraduate days. Some people prefer research, while some prefer studying text books, working on tutorials and dislike situations where what you study do not have a definite answer.
So before you embark on the (long) journey of grad school and research, let's make sure that you really know what you are up against and that you are still interested.
For grad school, especially Masters degree, there is usually two types - Taught programmes and research programmes.
Taught programmes are very much like undergraduate courses except that the content will be a bit more advance. Students who are unsure about the research interest, or have no intention to further pursue their education into research degrees, or would like to have an open, more flexible option after completing the Masters degree should opt for the taught programme. Such programmes, of course, include popular programs such as MBA.
Here, my blog will concentrate more on the latter. Research programmes are especially useful for those students who are already sure that they want to pursue a PhD degree. There are a few things one should know about research.
1. People who like Phd and research are people who like to dig deep and try to understand the roots of the problem. It is those people in the class who keeps on asking "Why, why, why?". In the industry, people are more concerned about costs and speed. The industry wants to get the design out to the shelf ASAP with as little cost as possible. Therefore there is usually little time for one to go into the very root of the problem. If Phd candidates are those that ask, "Why, why, why?" then industry people are usually people who says, "As long as it works, I don't care how." So if you like looking into problems at a more in depth level, you may like research.
2. Research could be a lonely job. Only you would know the answers to the questions in your research because if anyone else knows about it, you are either copying from them or they have already beat you to it. Even your supervisor would only be able to give you guidance, and not answers. So, most of the time, you'll be working alone.
3. Most of the things that you work on, do not have answers. Unlike in the undergraduate days when the answers are always at the back of the book, you'll have to learn to live with it, i.e. that some things just don't have answers. For those that have, you'll have to find the answers yourself.
4. The first few months could be very tiring and scary.
- Tiring, because you would have trouble understanding any bit of the journal papers you are reading. You'll start reading the reference, and then the reference of the reference, and then the reference of the reference of the reference. You'll find yourself backtracking a lot just to understand a single journal paper. This is normal. It could be weeks before you could actually proceed beyond the first paragraph of the journal paper. And this is especially true for a physical science research degree.
- Scary, because all the idea you thought was novel has already been thought of. They are either disproved, proven or work in progress. Given that thousands of people are taking Phd degrees across the world at any one instant, this is not surprising. In the end, you realised that a novel idea can only come up when you've read sufficient journal papers and understand where the trend of the research is. This is why literature review is important.
5. Doing a research degree is obviously tough. But for some, it's an intellectual challenge. And you'll find that your peers who are doing their research degree will have similar passion as you. But if you are not sure if research is for you, try the Masters degree first. The research level at Masters degree is quite enjoyable and relaxing. All you need to do is add a little transistor here and there or make a tweak here and there for your dissertation. However, at the PhD level, there is a huge quantum jump.
If you are already sure that grad school is what you want. Then these are the steps you should take now:
1. Identify the area of your research interest. The better you can narrow this down, the better it is.
2. Identify Research Centers, Universities or professors who are renowned in your research area.
- Some lowly ranked universities could be exceptionally good a a particular research area. e.g. Univ. of Southampton is not ranked top 10 in the UK but its electrical and electronic engineering research is outstanding.
3. Understand the admission process.
- This can be particularly tough as Universities have different criteria and admission process. Some can submit application online, some can't; some requires GRE, some don't; some requires 2 referrals, some requires 3; some requires TOEFL/IELTS, some don't. So you have to make sure you understand all the requirements.
- But most important of all, take note of the admission deadline! For most top ranked UK or US universities their admission deadline is usually in December of the year prior to your admission, i.e. if you are entering in Sept 2009, the deadline would be Dec 2008.
Taking the required exams and the first 3 steps mentioned above would already usually take up months. So prepare early!
4. Preparing the documents. This can be very ANNOYING.
- Usually, you'll need to send the ORIGNAL transcript, which we obviously only have one at the point of graduation. So more needs to be requested at the university registrar. And remember, it has to be in English, otherwise a certified translation would be required.
- Writing your personal statement is probably the toughest. Many Malaysians loathe this because they feel like it's writing something to boast yourself. But he/she couldn't be more wrong on this. No matter how bad your GPA is, and how bad you feel about yourself, there are always postives in yourself that you can find. The admission officer is not looking for a perfect person, but a person who is confident in himself/herself. For example, my whole life in secondary school is nothing but Chinese debate. Although I learn a lot from this activity, I couldn't pin down what exactly I have learned. I felt inferior when I wrote my personal statement. That is until I saw a personal statement written by the Stamp Club's president (yes, you hear me right. there's actually a stamp club. a club that promotes collecting stamp. yes, those stamps that you lick and paste onto your letters). Stamp Club's president obviously had little to do or learn, but the personal statement was written as though he/she could bring stars from the heaven to earth. And you know what, he/she is now in a prestigious US University. Now, I'm not asking you to lie. But one can be truthful and yet be confident of his/her own postives. e.g. you may not be able to get a good GPA, but you are always intrigued by tough questions in the exams and you are usually the only one who is able to solve that question, then this is something worth bragging about. Or if you do not get good grades because you are actively involved in multiple student acitivies or political activities, you may still make a good political science student. In short, prepare your personal statement early and proof-read it many times.
- Gettting referrees to write you a good letter is not as easy at it sounds either. Referrence letters are the single most important documents that you could submit with your application. Your referrees may take time because they may be busy and if we try to push for it too hard, chances are that your referrees may just simply write you a letter. So inform them early, and send them a kind reminder from time to time. Also, most people you approach for writting this referrence letter would usually ask you to send them a 'draft' so that they could use it as 'reference'. I'm not sure if this is right, but this is definitely common. So it has no harm if you could prepare a 'draft', just in case your referee needs it. (Note: Some Malaysians feel 'shy' to persistently bug lecturers for a reference letter, but remember it's their duty to do so. So do not be 'shy'.)
* the funny thing about applying to Cambridge is that although they are using online application, your reference letter is still submitted in written form. And what more is that you are required to send in the reference letter 3 weeks from submitting your online application. A very short time indeed. Unlike for the US Universities, your documents can arrive anytime before the admission deadline. Furthermore, after registering your online application with Cambridge, you'll be given a 'self-service' account where you can check all your application details. Again, this portal is far from being user-friendly. I just have to say that in terms of the ease-of-use of the online application, Cambridge is still quite far behind compared to the US Universities. And I do not understand why that the US Universities could do much better job at the admission process than the UK counterpart. But to be fair, Cambridge is one of the first few Universities in UK who uses online application and it started only a few years back. Whereas US has been using online application for almost a decade.
5. Search for scholarships. There are already a multitude of websites on this. The popular scholarships available are Maxis, King's scholarship (JPA), Bank Negara, Yayasan Khazanah, Chevening, Fulbright, Sime Darby, etc. The only thing that I wish to remind the applicants is that some of these scholarships are only opened for a very short period of time, i.e. 2 weeks (and they give very short notice too). So prepare all your documents and statements beforehand and check their websites/newspaper ads regularly, particularly during the months of January to April.
6. For US you can go to MACEE for more information. For UK you can go to MABECS for more information. These two organisations are very friendly and provide a lot of information about studying in the US or UK.
Lastly, I would like to say that these are just my thoughts. They may not reflect the actual thoughts of the admission officers. After all, I still did not get into Stanford (which is my first choice) despite getting (what I reckon is a) very good score for my GRE. So, the problem probably lies with my personal statement and my reference letters.
Applying to grad school was never easy. But it may be worth the effort. To some, PhD degrees are intellectually rewarding. While some of my friends pursued a Masters degree just because they wanted a break from their everyday work, or simply they wanted to experience life in a new country.Whatever the reason may be, to all those who are applying, good luck!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
On education and knowledge
Systems and processes are there to prevent our evil;
Education and knowledge are there to bring out the very best in us.
- sl, Nov 2008
**************************************
Systems, like legal systems are there only to prevent us from any wrongdoings and to maintain security. They are the fundamental, but not the pinnacle of human civilisation. Law can be made to prevent people from killing people, but only education and knowledge can make people to love other people.
Processes are there to ensure that organisations will continue to work even when there is a large flux of people coming in or going out. But education and knowledge makes us rethink our processes into better ones.
So, invest in education and knowledge. It's worthwhile.
Education and knowledge are there to bring out the very best in us.
- sl, Nov 2008
**************************************
Systems, like legal systems are there only to prevent us from any wrongdoings and to maintain security. They are the fundamental, but not the pinnacle of human civilisation. Law can be made to prevent people from killing people, but only education and knowledge can make people to love other people.
Processes are there to ensure that organisations will continue to work even when there is a large flux of people coming in or going out. But education and knowledge makes us rethink our processes into better ones.
So, invest in education and knowledge. It's worthwhile.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
A better lecturer...
Today, my junior at University of Malaya told me a grim story:
Examination is just round the corner. So after days of studying, he had a list of questions which he wanted to ask the lecturer. However, as he approached the lecturer, he was told by the lecturer, "my consultation fee is MYR500.00 an hour. Are you going to pay me?" Now, to make matters worse, that lecturer happens to be the dean of the faculty.
Funny, I had similar experiences too when I was at UM. I remember during one of the class for 1-st year students on mechanics: one of the students in the class asked, "what is moment of inertia?" The lecturer simply ask the student to push the entrance door and look at how it swung. He then claimed, "that is moment of inertia! Now, if you have vacuum in your brain, please do not ask questions!".
I believe this is not an isolated case, not only in UM, but in local government universities in general.
I am not interested in what has gone wrong, but what we can do to make it right.
We need to educate these people (who is, ironically, working in the education industry). There is need for lecturers not to confine themselves to their own academic world, but to cultivate a passion for teaching as well. To respect the students as much as the students respect you.
There are no doubt some good lecturers, dean and VCs within our local universities. And whenever, these 'good' people found out that bad attitude such as the above is present, they will try to 'educate' those 'bad' people. These 'good' people will emanate an aura that will help to reduce the occurrence of events such as the above.
However, they are the minority and they can only do so much. It is quite impossible that their aura can reach each and every staff of the university to make a significant change. And most critically, good people leave more often than they come.
The key to improvement, I believe, is in setting up a system that 'automates' such an 'education', that is self-sustaining in this sense.
Leading universities in the world like Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford and MIT relies on a strong culture for this 'automation'. Whenever a lecturer behaves out-of-place, students and lecturers alike will condemn him/her because it is just not the norm in that university. Whenever a new lecturer joins the faculty, he/she will be overwhelmed by this culture that 'forces' him/her to change attitude to fit into this group of people.
We do not have such culture here.
Therefore we need another kind of 'system'. Remember those survey forms or questionnaires that we submit at the end of every course? I always wondered what happened to them. Are they processed? What bearing do they have on the appraisal of the lecturer? What if the dean is the one getting 'hit' badly by the students?
The thing is, faculties do not put too much emphasis on those surveys. They are just supplements to 'help' lecturers improve themselves. However, more often than not, the lecturers just turn a deaf ear to them.
I would like to suggest that these surveys be published to students at the notice board, just as the students' exam results would be published. So, not only the students will be judged, so will the lecturer. Lecturers have to be accountable, play their role as educators and cannot get off scot-free for intimidating students like above.
Of course, this will generally put lecturer in an unfavorable situation because students can gang up to 'score' their lecturer unfavorably low. But if the survey forms or questionnaires are carefully constructed, it can help to develop an effective communication between the lecturers and the students. The students can voice their dissatisfaction, but so can the lecturer defend themselves. And I'm sure, that if the students disliked this lecturer merely because he/she gave the student bad grades, the students themselves will be disgraced and it would instead reinstate the lecturer's pride.
It would be difficult for the lecturer if their sole appraisal is based on the surveys alone. This is because as students, they care for nothing except for getting a pass (or good grades). Previously, even as a part-time lecturer, I received numerous e-mails and calls requesting for me to pass them for exam even though they handed in the answer sheet scribbled with all the wrong answers.
Also, in general, Malaysian students like to complain that lecturers do not spend enough time teaching. However, in other parts of the world, it is common that a more renowned professor will actually spend less time teaching. Lecturer is slightly different than a teacher. A lecturer imparts his/her experience and insights, a lecturer does not go through line-by-line of the syllabus, and it is the student's responsibility to ask question when he/she doesn't understand. However, when the students do ask a valid question, the lecturer should answer it to the best of his/her knowledge.
So there must be a balance. The student must know their responsibility too.
I believe this mechanism of revealing the outcome of the survey, and encouraging discussions between the lecturer and the students on how to improve teaching sessions is like freedom of speech in the society. It's the clashes of different views that would help both the lecturer and the students to improve themselves.
Instill freedom of information in the faculty and it shall help to instill a culture for excellence among local varsities.
Examination is just round the corner. So after days of studying, he had a list of questions which he wanted to ask the lecturer. However, as he approached the lecturer, he was told by the lecturer, "my consultation fee is MYR500.00 an hour. Are you going to pay me?" Now, to make matters worse, that lecturer happens to be the dean of the faculty.
Funny, I had similar experiences too when I was at UM. I remember during one of the class for 1-st year students on mechanics: one of the students in the class asked, "what is moment of inertia?" The lecturer simply ask the student to push the entrance door and look at how it swung. He then claimed, "that is moment of inertia! Now, if you have vacuum in your brain, please do not ask questions!".
I believe this is not an isolated case, not only in UM, but in local government universities in general.
I am not interested in what has gone wrong, but what we can do to make it right.
We need to educate these people (who is, ironically, working in the education industry). There is need for lecturers not to confine themselves to their own academic world, but to cultivate a passion for teaching as well. To respect the students as much as the students respect you.
There are no doubt some good lecturers, dean and VCs within our local universities. And whenever, these 'good' people found out that bad attitude such as the above is present, they will try to 'educate' those 'bad' people. These 'good' people will emanate an aura that will help to reduce the occurrence of events such as the above.
However, they are the minority and they can only do so much. It is quite impossible that their aura can reach each and every staff of the university to make a significant change. And most critically, good people leave more often than they come.
The key to improvement, I believe, is in setting up a system that 'automates' such an 'education', that is self-sustaining in this sense.
Leading universities in the world like Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford and MIT relies on a strong culture for this 'automation'. Whenever a lecturer behaves out-of-place, students and lecturers alike will condemn him/her because it is just not the norm in that university. Whenever a new lecturer joins the faculty, he/she will be overwhelmed by this culture that 'forces' him/her to change attitude to fit into this group of people.
We do not have such culture here.
Therefore we need another kind of 'system'. Remember those survey forms or questionnaires that we submit at the end of every course? I always wondered what happened to them. Are they processed? What bearing do they have on the appraisal of the lecturer? What if the dean is the one getting 'hit' badly by the students?
The thing is, faculties do not put too much emphasis on those surveys. They are just supplements to 'help' lecturers improve themselves. However, more often than not, the lecturers just turn a deaf ear to them.
I would like to suggest that these surveys be published to students at the notice board, just as the students' exam results would be published. So, not only the students will be judged, so will the lecturer. Lecturers have to be accountable, play their role as educators and cannot get off scot-free for intimidating students like above.
Of course, this will generally put lecturer in an unfavorable situation because students can gang up to 'score' their lecturer unfavorably low. But if the survey forms or questionnaires are carefully constructed, it can help to develop an effective communication between the lecturers and the students. The students can voice their dissatisfaction, but so can the lecturer defend themselves. And I'm sure, that if the students disliked this lecturer merely because he/she gave the student bad grades, the students themselves will be disgraced and it would instead reinstate the lecturer's pride.
It would be difficult for the lecturer if their sole appraisal is based on the surveys alone. This is because as students, they care for nothing except for getting a pass (or good grades). Previously, even as a part-time lecturer, I received numerous e-mails and calls requesting for me to pass them for exam even though they handed in the answer sheet scribbled with all the wrong answers.
Also, in general, Malaysian students like to complain that lecturers do not spend enough time teaching. However, in other parts of the world, it is common that a more renowned professor will actually spend less time teaching. Lecturer is slightly different than a teacher. A lecturer imparts his/her experience and insights, a lecturer does not go through line-by-line of the syllabus, and it is the student's responsibility to ask question when he/she doesn't understand. However, when the students do ask a valid question, the lecturer should answer it to the best of his/her knowledge.
So there must be a balance. The student must know their responsibility too.
I believe this mechanism of revealing the outcome of the survey, and encouraging discussions between the lecturer and the students on how to improve teaching sessions is like freedom of speech in the society. It's the clashes of different views that would help both the lecturer and the students to improve themselves.
Instill freedom of information in the faculty and it shall help to instill a culture for excellence among local varsities.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Apex University and the demise of UM
When I was in Maxis, I was told to have S-M-A-R-T goals, where 'R' is realistic. To aim to have our Apex university within the top 50 University in the world in a little more than 10 years is a bold aim, but unrealistic.
Despite that, it's a good move by the govt. And it's a good news for USM, but a calamity for UM, my alma-mater.
I have long said that UM has very little left of its 'branding' and over the past decade or so UM has been surviving based on this empty shell of 'branding' that says UM is the oldest, well-known and well-respected university in this country. Many well-known professors join UM because of this branding, not because of the pay. Many students choose UM over other local universities because the best students go to UM - you'll need maximum distinction to study Law, Electrical Engineering, or to study medicine. But all these will not be true anymore in the next few years after the recent announcement that USM got the Apex status.
A good university doesn't take these kind of branding or its people for granted. A good university provides the environment, the means, the system and the support for the intellects within its campus to grow, mature and contribute. But for long, UM has taken its students and good professors for granted. For long, everything that is nice and good that has come out of UM is because of the sheer hardwork of the students and professors alone, and the university played very little role in promoting them.
A good university is about creating a good synergy between the school, the academics and the students. And UM has relied only on its branding to fuel the two latter factors. With the Apex status awarded to USM, UM has no such advantage anymore and its demise as the best University in Malaysia will be slow, but imminent.
Long has UM sustain its status via its empty shell of branding, and this latest announcement is definitely the final nail in the coffin and the tipping point of no return for UM.
UM is my alma-mater. While I have my fair share of critics for UM and the way it's governed when I was a student there, I am still proud to tell people that I am a UM graduate. But knowing that this demise may be forthcoming, I cannot help but feel sad. I sincerely hope that the title of this blog post will not become a reality.
Despite that, it's a good move by the govt. And it's a good news for USM, but a calamity for UM, my alma-mater.
I have long said that UM has very little left of its 'branding' and over the past decade or so UM has been surviving based on this empty shell of 'branding' that says UM is the oldest, well-known and well-respected university in this country. Many well-known professors join UM because of this branding, not because of the pay. Many students choose UM over other local universities because the best students go to UM - you'll need maximum distinction to study Law, Electrical Engineering, or to study medicine. But all these will not be true anymore in the next few years after the recent announcement that USM got the Apex status.
A good university doesn't take these kind of branding or its people for granted. A good university provides the environment, the means, the system and the support for the intellects within its campus to grow, mature and contribute. But for long, UM has taken its students and good professors for granted. For long, everything that is nice and good that has come out of UM is because of the sheer hardwork of the students and professors alone, and the university played very little role in promoting them.
A good university is about creating a good synergy between the school, the academics and the students. And UM has relied only on its branding to fuel the two latter factors. With the Apex status awarded to USM, UM has no such advantage anymore and its demise as the best University in Malaysia will be slow, but imminent.
Long has UM sustain its status via its empty shell of branding, and this latest announcement is definitely the final nail in the coffin and the tipping point of no return for UM.
UM is my alma-mater. While I have my fair share of critics for UM and the way it's governed when I was a student there, I am still proud to tell people that I am a UM graduate. But knowing that this demise may be forthcoming, I cannot help but feel sad. I sincerely hope that the title of this blog post will not become a reality.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
the functions of languages - a war...
I'm no linguist. But since posting my previous personal post regarding the Chinese and English language, I am itching to write this post on the functions of languages.
Let me begin by describing my sins of the past. I used to loathe "bananas". Yes, by "bananas" I mean those English speaking Chinese who can't speak a word of Chinese (other than the few famous phrases spoken in those HK TV serials aired over RTM and ASTRO). That was more than 10 years ago. Many things happened since, and I've come to let go my prejudice. However, this doesn't mean I'm any less insistent on the education of the Chinese Language for Malaysian Chinese.
This is mainly because I see a Language as more than just a tool of communication. Language also represents a way of life, a way of thought and most importantly a cultural representation. Therefore, by foregoing your right to learn Chinese is like losing a part of you as Chinese. (Note: I'm not being racist or promoting cultural superiority here. That being a proud Chinese doesn't make you any less Malaysian because, I think, we all can agree that there's a vast difference between Malaysian Chinese and China Chinese)
Many of my English-speaking friends disagree with me. Insisting that culture and language are independent of each other. My simple answer to them is this: reading Shakespeare in Mandarin is quite different from the English version. And likewise if you are reading Sun Tzu's art of war in English, the 'feel' is very different. Moreover, terms such as 'gentleman' are difficult to translate to Chinese and likewise 君子 is not possible (or near impossible) to translate to the other.
It is not possible to describe what 君子 means in a word or two. You'll have to understand Chinese literature and history and stories to understand how the concept of 君子 is depicted. And there are many more words like that in both English and Chinese. Language is actually a bridge that connects our thoughts to the real world. But there is always a gap between what we think and what we say or write. Therefore a lot of expressions (words or phrases) in a language are beyond explanation. Only experiences can give you the true meaning of a word or phrase.
I'll give you another example. We all know what love is, in a very general way. But everyone understands love in a very different way because of the love stories we hear, the movies we watch, the way we are brought up, etc. There is nothing that would suffice in explaining what love is until you experience it. A definition of word is not given by the dictionary, but given by one's experience of the world. It is how one perceives the world. And therefore, the teaching of a language will inevitably include the teaching of how one perceives the world.
Given that, it is not surprising why Chinese-educated and English-educated folks think very much differently and view the world quite differently. Not just in the command of language, but also the way they think. And that's why I think there is a minute, but detectable polarisation among those that are Chinese-educated and English-educated. It's because language is closely tied to culture, behaviour and thinking patterns. In Chinese, 'respect' (尊敬) is closely tied to the relationship between the younger ones, and the older ones; between teachers and students. But there isn't any such ties in English version of 'respect'. This is why, in general, Chinese-educated students have a tendency not to challange teachers in the public.
In many parts of the world, there isn't any clear distinction in this function of language. The language used to communicate is the language used predominantly in their respective cultures, e.g. Germans, English, Japan, etc. That is why, I do not expect Chinese nationals (from China) to really understand this situation. In Malaysia, however, it is different. We are a multicultural (or heterogeneous) country, each race with our own preferred choice of language and hence a different set of thoughts.
As a result of this, there are many ongoing arguments in Malaysia on which language we should use for our Math and Science subjects. Some may even argue that Malaysians should use one unified language - English for our education system. There are two issues here. One, should there be only one language? Two, which language should it be if we should only have one unified language for our education system?
But first, let there be no doubt that using one single unified language as the medium of teaching helps the national unity. While learning your own mother tongue is human right, there is no denying that the nation needs to speak or understand one common language for unity to happen. And this so-called common language for unity is not just a language we learn and know per se, but also it becomes the preferred choice of language for communication among ourselves. This is something that even Dong Zong （董总）should realise. And obviously that language will not be Chinese.
Then should it be English? Or Malay?
I noticed that most Asean scholars or Singaporean-educated Malaysians, if given a choice, would prefer to use English as the sole medium of education. I guess, in giving me a choice between Malay and English, I would have chosen English too. As Tony Pua mentioned in his blog, many Chinese-educated students may find it difficult to obtain a good job at the highest level of corporates due to their inept in English language. However, one should not go to the other extreme of our neighbour too.
Decades ago, the then Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew decided to discourage the use of Mandarin in Singapore. He reckons that learning two first languages (English and Chinese) will make Singapore less competitive. Obviously, at that time, when China was just recovering from the cultural revolution and during the pinnacle of cold war, Lee Kuan Yew chose to abandon Mandarin. Just a few years back, however, he changed that. The reason is again obvious - China's back as the superpower of the world. Therefore, I reckon that Singapore is the perfect example in the World that uses the language for nothing, but merely as a communication tool. More precisely, as a business communication tool. And I think that is pathetic.
Given that a language has its cultural value, there is no doubt that I want to learn Mandarin. And I would want my sons and grandsons to learn Mandarin. This language is built up upon more than 3000 years of history. But since, also knowing the fact that Mandarin is impossible to be the 'unifying' language used in Malaysia, I admit I'm in a dilemma in this issue.
But I'm adamant, that one should not pursue a language purely as a tool of communication. It's much more than that.
Let me begin by describing my sins of the past. I used to loathe "bananas". Yes, by "bananas" I mean those English speaking Chinese who can't speak a word of Chinese (other than the few famous phrases spoken in those HK TV serials aired over RTM and ASTRO). That was more than 10 years ago. Many things happened since, and I've come to let go my prejudice. However, this doesn't mean I'm any less insistent on the education of the Chinese Language for Malaysian Chinese.
This is mainly because I see a Language as more than just a tool of communication. Language also represents a way of life, a way of thought and most importantly a cultural representation. Therefore, by foregoing your right to learn Chinese is like losing a part of you as Chinese. (Note: I'm not being racist or promoting cultural superiority here. That being a proud Chinese doesn't make you any less Malaysian because, I think, we all can agree that there's a vast difference between Malaysian Chinese and China Chinese)
Many of my English-speaking friends disagree with me. Insisting that culture and language are independent of each other. My simple answer to them is this: reading Shakespeare in Mandarin is quite different from the English version. And likewise if you are reading Sun Tzu's art of war in English, the 'feel' is very different. Moreover, terms such as 'gentleman' are difficult to translate to Chinese and likewise 君子 is not possible (or near impossible) to translate to the other.
It is not possible to describe what 君子 means in a word or two. You'll have to understand Chinese literature and history and stories to understand how the concept of 君子 is depicted. And there are many more words like that in both English and Chinese. Language is actually a bridge that connects our thoughts to the real world. But there is always a gap between what we think and what we say or write. Therefore a lot of expressions (words or phrases) in a language are beyond explanation. Only experiences can give you the true meaning of a word or phrase.
I'll give you another example. We all know what love is, in a very general way. But everyone understands love in a very different way because of the love stories we hear, the movies we watch, the way we are brought up, etc. There is nothing that would suffice in explaining what love is until you experience it. A definition of word is not given by the dictionary, but given by one's experience of the world. It is how one perceives the world. And therefore, the teaching of a language will inevitably include the teaching of how one perceives the world.
Given that, it is not surprising why Chinese-educated and English-educated folks think very much differently and view the world quite differently. Not just in the command of language, but also the way they think. And that's why I think there is a minute, but detectable polarisation among those that are Chinese-educated and English-educated. It's because language is closely tied to culture, behaviour and thinking patterns. In Chinese, 'respect' (尊敬) is closely tied to the relationship between the younger ones, and the older ones; between teachers and students. But there isn't any such ties in English version of 'respect'. This is why, in general, Chinese-educated students have a tendency not to challange teachers in the public.
In many parts of the world, there isn't any clear distinction in this function of language. The language used to communicate is the language used predominantly in their respective cultures, e.g. Germans, English, Japan, etc. That is why, I do not expect Chinese nationals (from China) to really understand this situation. In Malaysia, however, it is different. We are a multicultural (or heterogeneous) country, each race with our own preferred choice of language and hence a different set of thoughts.
As a result of this, there are many ongoing arguments in Malaysia on which language we should use for our Math and Science subjects. Some may even argue that Malaysians should use one unified language - English for our education system. There are two issues here. One, should there be only one language? Two, which language should it be if we should only have one unified language for our education system?
But first, let there be no doubt that using one single unified language as the medium of teaching helps the national unity. While learning your own mother tongue is human right, there is no denying that the nation needs to speak or understand one common language for unity to happen. And this so-called common language for unity is not just a language we learn and know per se, but also it becomes the preferred choice of language for communication among ourselves. This is something that even Dong Zong （董总）should realise. And obviously that language will not be Chinese.
Then should it be English? Or Malay?
I noticed that most Asean scholars or Singaporean-educated Malaysians, if given a choice, would prefer to use English as the sole medium of education. I guess, in giving me a choice between Malay and English, I would have chosen English too. As Tony Pua mentioned in his blog, many Chinese-educated students may find it difficult to obtain a good job at the highest level of corporates due to their inept in English language. However, one should not go to the other extreme of our neighbour too.
Decades ago, the then Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew decided to discourage the use of Mandarin in Singapore. He reckons that learning two first languages (English and Chinese) will make Singapore less competitive. Obviously, at that time, when China was just recovering from the cultural revolution and during the pinnacle of cold war, Lee Kuan Yew chose to abandon Mandarin. Just a few years back, however, he changed that. The reason is again obvious - China's back as the superpower of the world. Therefore, I reckon that Singapore is the perfect example in the World that uses the language for nothing, but merely as a communication tool. More precisely, as a business communication tool. And I think that is pathetic.
Given that a language has its cultural value, there is no doubt that I want to learn Mandarin. And I would want my sons and grandsons to learn Mandarin. This language is built up upon more than 3000 years of history. But since, also knowing the fact that Mandarin is impossible to be the 'unifying' language used in Malaysia, I admit I'm in a dilemma in this issue.
But I'm adamant, that one should not pursue a language purely as a tool of communication. It's much more than that.
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