A Modern Tale

Supposedly I have a friend who is currently part-timing as a facilitator in a polytechnic. And supposedly to protect identities, let's call him Facil.

He would share with us his experience as a first-time lecturer and his views on it over one rainy lunchtime, when all of us were trapped at a coffeeshop without any umbrella.

And it would (this is merely hypothetical) bring back memories, both good and bad of the time when I was studying in Poly myself. Looking back, I will be happy that I had a meaningful poly life. Not all was good. In fact, there might be tons of grief- causing incidents and stupid mistakes that were made, petty arguments and yes, possibly even more. But let's not dwindle on my personal past. Even if it is hypothetical.

So Facil was stating that majority of the students there were not there by choice and would rather be studying something else, not animation or games or media at all! My first (hypothetical) reaction was one of repulsion and disbelief. Why then are you tormenting yourself by choosing this course? Being a person who would fight for my own dreams, I could not understand why these youth could be wasting their time doing something that they are not happy with. It's like forcing yourself to eat something you hate.

But understandably, some are there because they just followed the trend or their friends. So being stuck in a course that they have simply no interest in, restless youths starts to hate and neglect their studies. This in turn causes some grief to Facil who sincerely was trying to teach the students what he knows. One example he stated was, during one class when the students had to hand up homework, some didn't bother to do. Some of the works are not to the mark, and barely a handful made the requirements. He asked nicely if those who didn't get a good grade would wish to redo their assignments, and the answer was a tired, half-hearted... No.

I remembered during my assignments grading sessions, we would wail or even silently weep if we fail. And beg for a chance to re-do. And a lecturer like Facil would have been like an angel sent from the different powers we've all been collectively praying to. And sleep is usually forsaken. So we can finish the homework... Or die trying.

And that's how I became so... Pampered. And I would only want to work with motivated people. I would turn nasty to lazy people. Really nasty. And here's my half-hearted shout out to some interns who worked with me before. You guys are diamonds in the rough. But your laziness make me look down on you. Go polish up and come back to me. I would then show you this warm side of me that I reserved for like-minded people.

Oh wait, THE END. Hypothetically.