:: Interesting insights ::

It's always refreshing to gain new insights from the respective modules that we are currently undertaking.
On my favorite list thus far (being such a sucker for sociology) are the Multicultural Studies: Appreciating and Valuing differences, Readings in the Malay language education as well as Islam and the Malay society.

All these modules are new modules which indirectly makes all of us guinea pigs since there will be no such thing as past exam papers or such but I felt its an appropriate time for us to explore another realm of the Malay world.
While most of us had pretty much engaged in heated discussions on canonical literary texts last semester, this time round its a totally different ballgame.
And call me bias or sexist, having male lecturers also mean we are given more room to express our thoughts though it can lead to an uphill task of coming up with a research paper of personal topic choice and having to present it to the class.

Granted, at one point, all of us had gone through the real teaching experience. And though the experience remained etched in our memory, we do realize come next year as we stand in front of our class - our new students with all their idiosyncrasies will punctuate our lessons with endless questions which most of the time has got nothing to do with the syllabus.

While we are aware of this fact - how nanosecond search engines has replaced much of kids' learning. How then can we remain prepared to have all the responses to our students' curiosity at our fingertips?

Language teachers, for example, may have to face a new challenge.
Cultivating interest in the mother tongue language and making them understand its importance.
There's no such thing as forcing now. Kids are brought up to speak their mind and to ask what they don't comprehend.
And while back then, our parents could shut us up quite easily and smartly dodging our questions which they could not answer, kids now find that there should be a reason to everything & if you can't provide one, you lose your credibility in their eyes.

This semester. I am foreseeing a lot of 'eye opening' sessions with my lecturers as they delve into issues close to us yet we are simply ignorant about it.

Our first lecture on Islam and the Malay society. And the lecturer (as always) posed an interesting thought - Take for example, a student asked you 'Why can't we keep dogs?' or 'Why can't we eat Chinese food?'
Could we get away with replies like 'Because God say No.' or 'If you do such things, you will go to hell.'
As probably they can easily give a counter response 'Where is God?'

And while we are at it, it will be no longer a surprise to have teenage students coming up to you and claimed they are no longer virgins - how would you react to that?

I guess its time we understand that social conditioning pretty much influenced our community's perception on current issues. And how our generation may be handicapped if the voice of our intelligentsias are silenced or dismissed.

With new knowledge, comes greater responsibility.
And that's another challenge we will face one day.