Educational Cliches

There are some lines, which are heard all over NIE during the first week or so of tutorials, that one can get heartily sick of by the time it gets to Wednesday.

1. "You are to buy the following texts......" [Deep groan throughout lecture theatre, followed by] "Hey, you should be able to afford this, since you're getting paid by MOE/you're paid employees."

This line [and other variations is irritating in two ways: Firstly, just because we get a salary doesn't mean that we like to see one quarter of it burn down the drain because of costly textbooks, photostating, laptops, and all those various other purchases necessary to campus life. Not to mention that the NIE canteen food is relatively higher than those of the other canteens. [though cheaper than outside food]

Secondly, it particularly urks me when a lecturer tells me that the text is compulsory reading for his module, and you notice that the text has his name somewhere on the cover. Gee, since I'm getting truckloads of money from MOE, why not be generous and contribute to my lecturer's retirement fund at the same time? After all, he probably only earns peanuts......

2. "You are NOT to be late for lectures, as you are paid employees. And if you are to be absent, you are to submit an MC to the office."

This one was mainly irritating because it was repeated by just about every tutor and lecturer we had. By Tuesday, whole classes were probably nodding wearily, and repeating the line word for word at the start of the class.

However, there was a lecturer who happened to be either particularly picky about time, or happened to wind his watch 15 mins ahead of time.

In the LT, just about 3 mins after the lecturer was able to start, stragglers were pouring into the LT as usual. Usually, this is a common thing, as people either can't find the venues, misjudged time, or simply bottlenecked at the 2 doors of the LT. [which means that even if you arrived early, you might not be able to get in because the people in front of you hadn't gotten in and found a seat yet]

Most lecturers are either sympathetic, or they would just start the lecture anyway, not caring whether the latecomers were ready or not. Not this lecturer.

He gave us a 'lecture' about punctuality, how we were supposed to know the lecture venues and timings by now, how we were supposed to be trainee teachers, no longer uni slackers, how unprofessional it was to be late, what a bad example we would set to our future students blah blah blah......

The funny thing was I looked at my watch, and saw that the lecture was only about 4-5 mins late, and already he was making more fuss than my mother on menopause. Not to mention the final irony was that by the time he'd finished making his little speech, the lecture started about 20 mins late. Huh.

[Sidenote: One thing taught in TPP is that teachers should NOT let anything interfere with the smooth flow of the lesson, and one thing recommended was to start on time, regardless of whether all the students were present, to not waste time, and also to teach the latecomers the idea of punctuality. This lecturer didn't seem to read the same course book that we did]

3. "These are the deadlines for your assignments............"

Need I elaborate more on why this is groan-inducing? I don't think so......