SEPTEMBER 10 — When ‘Two wrong reasons to be a lecturer’, a column entry by Alywn Lau started circulating in several of my colleague-based group chats, it was accompanied with plenty of outrage towards the opinion expressed in the article. Upon reading it, I find that I too was “triggered” (as today’s generation would put it) by Mr Lau’s patronising and dismissive opinion about “unsustainable” motivators for lecturers. While I cannot boast the same years of experience Mr Lau does (20 years to my 5), I have worked as a lecturer long enough to feel the compulsion to rebuke some of the points he raised within his article.
Using his friend as an example to represent all lecturers-hopefuls (experienced professionals in other fields and fresh graduates), Lau identifies two key reasons motivating this job choice: “transforming the younger generation via education” and “wanting to give back to society”, before adding that these reasons will not sustain a would-be lecturer in the long run. Alright, fair enough. I am curious though — what kind of reasons does Mr Lau expect lecturers to hold in order to sustain themselves?
Money/Salary? Educators (even at tertiary levels) do not earn as much as some may think; as a fresh graduate, your entry salary is likely to be anywhere between RM2,000 to RM2,500. The average salary for a lecturer with some years of experience currently is around RM3,300. Of course, there will be those who earn more (or less) than this given scale, but let’s be blatantly honest, it’d unlikely you will earn more as a lecturer than you will in a corporate job.
Less work responsibilities? Ah, but Mr Lau himself has already identified the job scope of a full-time lecturer, and it entails a lot more than simply standing up in a classroom and teaching. Preparing and updating lesson plans, setting and moderating examination papers, filing Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) paperwork - add in grading coursework and tutorial work, and suddenly classroom teaching may seem like the least heavy of your responsibilities. Some lecturers on a research track may even have to churn out research papers to qualify for academic tenure in some universities. On top of that, lecturers may be required to promote courses and be on-hand during education fairs.
No better job options? This is an unfortunate truth: there are some who view lecturing/teaching as a fall-back option: the job one enters when you get rejected from every other career. This is a depressing misconception, especially attached to a job which primary purpose is to educate the generation forming the future society, but it exists nonetheless. However, surely you cannot be telling me this is a preferable “motivator” over the two named by Mr Lau?
Of course, these aren’t the only reasons motivating lecturers to take up their careers, but these were the few alternatives that came to my mind. As such, I am actually eager to know what exactly Mr Lau considers good enough reasons to “sustain” a lecturer intending to teach.
Mr Lau calls today’s education industry “essentially one grand cog in the machine of capitalism”,
stating multiple times that students prioritise scoring in exams over understanding taught material. He even alludes to the popular “study” method of memorising information, oftentimes word for word, simply for the sake of ace-ing exams.
He is not wrong; over the years, education has warped into simply being an achievement to clear simply for the sake of clearing it. While it has become more accessible than ever, the quality of education is such that society prioritises scoring over comprehension. As a result, grades no longer serve as an objective marker of evaluation, but just a letter of the alphabet on paper we have to get at all costs.
Yet, the same society that values these perfect grades then laments over how the next generation of workers do not think critically, lack soft skills and cannot deal with abrupt crises. Not only that, other skills — cooperative engagement, written and verbal communication skills, analytical/quantitative skills, critical evaluation, adaptability and a solid work ethic — are amongst the most sought after in the workplace.
These are all skills one usually expects to develop and refine while studying in university. The great irony we face is that these exact skills are developed by completing assignments and coursework, even in subjects some deem “useless” (such as History, Philosophy of Mathematics, Ethics and the like, which actually broadens perspectives and sharpens objective thinking).
Ultimately, it is the lecturers’ role to set work that tap into all these skills, and teach in a way that allows students to be guided into using said skills. Lecturers need to do what Google cannot, and have to challenge students to hone their cognitive skills in retaining, processing and ultimately dissecting information. If we simply feed students answers, how can we expect to produce “workers who function ‘productively”? Spoon-feeding rewards them for listening to instructions without questioning why they are so. It tells our students they are not paid to think, they are paid to obey. This type of people will struggle to find (creative) solutions to problems. Likewise, they may find it difficult to decide who is telling the truth (in advertising and politics), who is manipulating them, and in turn, how to protect themselves from such tactics. Then society turns around and blame them for ‘only moving when instructed’ without independence, innovation, or initiative.
In short, yes. Education has become a cog in the capitalism machine, with many looking more towards profit than any significant learning done on campus. That is exactly why we need lecturers who are eager and willing to make the effort to try and “transform the younger generation”, despite this status quo. These lecturers are the ones who will put in extra effort to make their classes fun enough to learn in, who will design and experiment with various types of coursework that cannot be aced via pure memorisation.
The education sector needs people who are willing to apply various techniques of active learning and engagement in their classes. It will batter most educators’ resolves, with the disillusioned either quitting or switching into Mr Lau’s kind of mind-set (which laughs at the would-be innovators). However, if lecturers do not approach teaching with the thought “I want them to learn skills that sticks with them longer than their final grades in my class”, what hope is there to break this already messed-up system?
The last point I want to address is how Mr Lau (rather derisively) addresses teaching strategies, or, as he puts it, “exploring the worlds of the students you teach”: it is important to engage students in contexts they are familiar with. However, this is not to simply seem “cool” to your class. The whole reason to connect with students is to make information more relevant and easier to learn, and show them how subjects in the classroom work in the world outside. Take macro-economics, for example. Macro-economic theories on their own may be perceived as “dull”, but when looked at in the context of Malaysian unemployment rates, it becomes real, practical, even fascinating to study. That’s how you transform the younger generation: show them their personal interests are not at odds with their learning. If Tik-Tok and online gaming can be used to resonate with one’s students, by all means, use them to improve effective learning and increase emotional engagement rates with your class.
“If you can accept the naked stupidity of this truth, only then can you laugh at it and, maybe, transform it.” Ironic, maybe, that Mr Lau writes this — without the two reasons he dismissed early on in his article, there is minimal, if any hope of transformation for this industry. Perhaps what he originally intended to convey is to not be overly-idealistic and expect to make a noticeable difference during one’s teaching tenure. However, there is a large difference between idealistic expectation and passionate ambition, and while the former might be seen as unrealistic and unsustainable, it’s the latter that is a necessary motivator to drive any sort of transformation in our education sector. Otherwise, we might as well just chuck a textbook at students and wait for technology to make us educators obsolete.
It’s a thankless job, being a lecturer. Parents expect you to give their children As, any number of students tend to complain if they cannot ace your assignments, and your paperwork is a headache and a half. At the end of the day, I’d definitely hope for more than just a ‘beam of enthusiasm’ during classes after all that hard work. If my students forget me, that’s fine. I would rather have their future colleagues express admiration for their skills and knowledge, and them saying “Oh, I learnt it while I was at university.” Transform the younger generation? Ok lah, I try.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
