The title is weird. I suddenly thought of the movie "300" when I was about to write this post. "300" is a movie about the ancient Battle of Thermopylae where King Leonidas (fab abs!) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy.
This post is about 60 students (hence the title 300 - 240) of our (Baby and I) class of a particular education institution, "rising" against a lecturer, who is deemed unfit / unqualified to teach the class. The accusations against the lecturers were he doesn't know his stuff, he can't answer questions posed to him, he is ambiguous in giving answers, if any, and "targetting" students who do not participate in discussions or came late to the class. Before I even continue, let me just say that though the accusations were somewhat accurate, Baby and I were actually against the idea.
Anyway, the 60 students can no longer stand for this BS and decide to "rise" against the lecturer. Facing insurmountable odds (the class was told by many such as seniors or former students that highlighting is futile), the students led by Mr Fishy and Ms Favourite Auntie, supported by Mr Ground Wolf
[Note: Names have been changed to protect the innoncent] brought the battle to higher management. Surprisingly, the higher management got to know of this and arranged a feedback session with the class, chaired by two MDIS staff, who apparently are decision-makers.
The feedback session was scheduled at 6pm on one of the days when we had class. Ms Favourite Auntie sent an email, asking people to come early to class so as to give "valuable feedback" to the MDIS staff. Baby and I ignored the call, having our dinner before we reached the class at 6.45pm. We were quite surprised at the high turnout but nonetheless settled in our usual seats in the class. Not long after that, one of the MDIS staff began pointing at me, saying that he needs to be democratic and hear the views of other students. I was like "Walau! Why me?".
Nevertheless, I began to speak. I started with "I'm not trying to be a traitor here...". Come to think of it, it sounds a bit corny. Kind of regretted the way I opened my "speech". I then proceeded to defend the lecturer, stating that as degree students and working adults, we cannot expect lecturers to spoon-feed us. As for the answers that the "accused" did not provide, I went on to say that the "accused" did tell us on the very first day of lesson that there is no right or wrong answer, so long as your justification is sound and makes sense. Hence in a nutshell, it simply means that there might be different answers to a question and all answers could also score 'A', as long as the justification for the ansewer is correct.
The class was quiet after what I said and for a moment, the MDIS staff who asked me to voice out my views was silent for a while. After that awkward moment (in my opinion), normal service was resumed, with students lobbying for a change in lecturer. After that session, all the MDIS staff did reply was they would have a discussion with the "accused" to see what can be improved with regards to his teaching methods, while distancing themselves from making a definite commitment to change the lecturer.
Then came the most embarassing part. In spite of all the defence that I put up for the lecturer, when the petition to change the lecturer was passed around, I duly signed beside my name. What the ...? I didn't want to but what could I do? What could my one signature do? I only know that the only thing that my signature could do was getting myself ostracised by the whole class. In the end, I succumb to the "evil forces", I mean, peer pressure. In the end, I made myself look so stupid as my words of justice seem to count for nothing when I signed on the petition.
Fast forward to a few weeks later, the "accused" was pronounced guilty and promptly changed. The replacement came in and Baby gave a honest assessment during his first lesson.
"He would have been changed if he was the first lecturer that taught us." How true. As what I had feared most, the change was not for the better but for the worst. But surprisingly, the students that led the rise against the first lecturer, seems happy with the change and the lecturer. I keep thinking to myself, "Are they forcing themselves to accept the lecturer, so as not to look stupid in being the ones who forced the change?" Or is it just me?
In the end, I couldn't but help thinking, "We won the battle but did we win the war?" I guess we would know when the results for this module are revealed in four months time.
