When I was younger, I used to comment on how outdated or old-fashioned my parents, teachers or even grandparents were whenever they preach about the values one should have. I would then tell myself back then that I shall never be like them when I grow older. Now that I have aged considerably, I start to evaluate the younger generation of kids unknowingly like how my parents used to. Unfortunately, my impression of the majority of the youths that I hang around is really what I would say "CMI to the CMI" in Singlish.
Like I always preach, times can change but certain attributes like discipline, humility and perseverance can never go out of style and these are what define success, ain't they?
I simply cannot understand why the youths I meet laugh and joke about quizzes about racial harmony celebration and are amused by such childish acts yet when the focal point of the celebration came about, they choose to talk among themselves, criticise and mock at the people who actually braved themselves to put up a performance in front of all their peers.
I also simply cannot tolerate them talking among themselves, falling asleep, dreaming and staring into blank space in lectures or tutorials when they are so damn poor in a subject matter. It is not wrong to sleep in lectures or drift off occasionally, who does not? I do that often when I was a student too. I used to sleep during my accounting lectures, chit chat with Linky during M&B lectures, colour my lecture notes in all the modules that I took, etc. but I pull my weight when it comes to my academics. I bother to download the slides and scroll through them if I do not understand a particular topic but students these days conveniently turn to their tutors and say I don't understand and I don't know and expect others to explain to them. Whose learning and whose responsibility are we talking about here? To be very crude when I put this across, it would simply mean "if you are smart and can perform then perhaps I could cut you some slack if you do not pay attention. But if you are already so damn lousy in your studies and you are not that bright to be able to absorb things quickly and eventually produce the results, then you jolly well pay attention during lessons and mug your ass off to get your academics right and do well eventually to squeeze yourself into the university by appeal or by scraping through your academic career."
To make things worst, they have the least bit of respect for others. They chat among themselves when they are uninterested in something, showing the least bit of respect for the speaker. Sometimes I do wonder, is this what a westernised culture or individualistic culture is about? Would it be the case that in America or Europe, when teachers teach or when people deliver a speech, the audiences are free to talk among themselves, make sarcastic remarks, fiddle with your tech gadgets etc. and the speaker or teacher is supposed to ignore them, in line with freedom of speech and free rights? So since Singapore is becoming more Westernised, our younger generation are following in their footsteps. As a lecturer, you should not be expecting the full attention of all your students and if you see them talking or playing with their mobile phones, you are supposed to ignore them. I start to lose focus on what should be the norm and what should be the right value to inculcate especially when I do not see others reinforcing the same things. I even wonder if I should just ignore them and continue with my lesson even though I know that they are not paying attention but the devil inside me always never fail to give them a piece of my mind.
Call me old fashioned if you want but I simply cannot tolerate neither do I advocate such behavior. I used to be a very rebellious student and I may have certain negative feedback or comments about some lecturers or speakers that I have come across. If I feel that someone is not making sense yet I need to be present for that event, I would simply switch off by dreaming (not talking to my friends) or turn on my critical mode and start identifying the flaws in the speakers' arguments silently. My baseline is that even though I may not agree with what you are saying, I should show basic respect and not comment openly. But I cannot understand why the youths these days cannot do so. There is an apparent lack of sense of urgency and to make things worst, when they are being told off or asked to hurry, they show a non-chalant attitude. Sometimes I really feel like giving some of these people (not just youths themselves but the people who are supposed to help educate them) a few tight slaps to make them wake up from their stupid ideas or dreamland that "Don't think that the world owes you anything and that should you disappear from this world some day, the earth is not going to stop spinning for you."
Maybe only when people age then do they start understanding the importance of these values or virtues.
I wonder if you meet people with such characteristics or behaviour in your everyday life and sometimes you really feel like slapping them but you know you cannot. But these habits are formed from a young age and if the youths these days do not see the problem with such behaviour, they are going to bring with them these behaviour into adulthood and our society is definitely going downhill.
1. Not smart but want to act smart because they assume that they are on top of the world.
My response: Please la, you think you are Einstein is it? Even Einstein also not the smartest man on earth lor. How smart can you be? One mountain higher than another mountain, you know?
2. No action, talk only
My response: Please la, why you think God give you one pair of hands but only one mouth. Cause actions speak louder than words la. Sooner or later people will know that you are NATO and congrats lor, you just shame yourself.
3. Show people attitude when they are obviously in the wrong.
My response: Please la, wrong then say sorry can? Still want to argue and show attitude.
4. Always saying I don't know or I don't understand
My response: You know something call "GOOGLE", "WIKIPEDIA" or "YOUTUBE". Go and search online la. If not, then go library read encyclopedia. When you don't know something, you are supposed to use your brain to go and understand and find out, not use your mouth and say "I don't know or I don't understand".
I would only find my own responses funny or amusing when I write it in Singlish. If I were to write it in English, it would probably sound too mild. Hope that has entertain you a little but this is me. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment