A New Semester's Rant

It's 2.30 pm. Today is Tuesday, the second day of yet another new semester at UTP. I'm officially a 2nd year 1st semester Electrical and Electronic Engineering student now. Like every first week of new semesters, I'm busy attending new lectures, sorting out my personal timetable from the multitude of lectures, tutorials and labs from the master timetable, and again sorting it when I found out that several of them had actually been allocated to other time slots. I'm not complaining actually, or rather I couldn't, since this kind of stuff happens every time and happens to everyone, but at least I believe I can complain about one incident which just happened today.

It was during the first Signal and Systems lecture at 1 pm. The lecturer, Mr. Varun Jeoti, was there. As usual, he was explaining and showing to what the course is all about, what the reference books are, percentages of marks given to labs, tests and stuff...you know the drill.

So, at some point, he asked all of us, what does the term 'signals and systems' evoke in our thoughts. A moment or two passed. Then, trying to break the silence , I said 'wireless communications' and 'Bluetooh'. He acknowledged my answers and waited for answers from others. No takers. He repeated his question. Still no sale.

In the end, he kind of got displeased with us and told us how he lamented the students' lack of participation. He ventured about the concept of discipline and disciple, and how is a disciple different from a student(I didn't really recall this part, but I got the gist of it). He told us that there is more to learning than just reading stuff off the slide show, and stressed on the importance of participation.

This kind of situation pissed me off. I was really disappointed with my class. I mean-come on, that was just a simple question! A matter of opinion! Can't any one of them, apart from me, at least came up with an answer - and say it out aloud? The answer itself isn't of much importance here - answering it is. There is no criteria of right-wrong to what your answer should be - just your opinion on the matter. Just like the question 'what do you think of this shirt' or 'what kind of colour you like and why'. Don't you people think that it's rude to have lecturers ask you questions and not answer them? I'd say, if you people were to be in the same scenario as Mr Varun, you poeple would be angry too.

I suppose anyone of them could answer the question - it's just that they don't want to. I suppose they don't because either they weren't paying attention, too shy to say it aloud or afraid of coming up with a stupid answer. And, to a somewhat greater extent, I believe they are too shy to say it themselves.

Honestly.

What do you need to be shy of? What do you need to be afraid of? Why do you even have to be shy? The lecturer isn't going to eat you or kill you or rip your arms off the sockets if we answer either rightly or wrongly. He's not out to murder your whole family if you think your answer is a bit dumb. Come on. We've all been here for two years already. Have any one of you heard of students getting perforated with a shotgun because they erred when answering questions verbally in classes? No, right? Then, why is this fear, shyness?

Shy? F**k! Don't want to answer because you guys are too shy? Bullcrap! Why the hell must you people be shy at saying stuff out loud? Is answering a question of the kind we all have just been asked a heinous crime? Is it sinful? No, it isn't! Then, why won't you answer? Shyness
is a good thing to have. In Islam, shyness bordering on embarassment is one of the components necessary to avoid oneself or any serious acts of sin. However, there's a time and place for everything, and that includes shyness too. It's a drag when you don't want to do something as simple as answering a question posed by the lecturer in front of many people, and it's even more or a drag when you're training to be an engineer. A professional engineer.

Be more outspoken! Say it clearly, out, and aloud! Give others a piece of your mind! Don't be afraid to share your thoughts on stuff, and learn to share them! Those are the qualities that make for successful communications - and successful people too, come to think about it.

Well, I'm just hoping that this kind of stuff won't ever happen again. Cuz it shouldn't. The lecturers at UTP, like how Mr Varun himself said, have great expectations of their students every semester. If this is the kind of attitude that we're going to show to them, then we're not living up to their expectations.

EDIT: TO the rest of my course mates who are reading this now, I hope you guys can get my message from this particularly flamey post. Do forgive the harsh languange since I'm currently a bit emo.