Time really flies! I'm into the final 2 weeks of the Master program in NUS. The past one month had been one of the craziest month for the past 16 months of graduate studies.
Was this stint in NUS worthwhile? Have I made the right decision to pursue this Master, at the cost of giving up two jobs - a glamorous one and a high-paying one?
Well, as I reflect on the decision to give up the jobs, I do not have such a great regrets about it. Perhaps missed the money a little but the worthiness to come to NUS is ambiguous.
The 16-month had been generally demoralising and demotivating. I have encountered more of the negatives than the positives. Met more unpleasant characters rather than pleasant individuals. It's getting too negative! I guess no point going into the details about negativity but rather look into the positives.
On the positive side, I have benefited from several dedicated academicians, AB, SY, LBT and RCKS. They truly performed to the best of their abilities to be a dedicated teacher, despite their busyness with research and publication, unlike the general phenomenon, "Research is the priority, publication is everything, but teaching is a distraction and waste of time".
However to be fair, the lecturers that I encountered in modules I took outside of my department have been superb. They - PB, ET, RW and AR - are worthy to be called a teacher as they have done their teaching duties excellently. Therefore I would conclude that my bad experiences with "researchers hiding behind the mask of educators" as more a problem of the department rather than NUS as a whole. In reflecting this, I realized the teachers that I have respected very much - since primary, secondary, undergraduate and master level - have always been those who are dedicated and committed to teach, share, mentor and guide their students, rather than those with superb knowledge or high intellectual level.
Talking about the peers, I have benefited less than I expected. The general objective of fellow classmates were more towards securing a degree with A's and head off into the job market. Few were truly there to learn and expand their intellectual capabilities. For those of you who fall into the later category, I would like to let you know that your willingness to share, debate and argue on many different issues has certainly impacted me positively. I hope I had also done the same to you!
One more positive thing about this graduate program, the scholarship. I really have to thank NUS for this. No doubt, excellent!
In general, this 16-month has been a good eye-opener to many different things. It has been a good learning opportunity to me, but if given a choice again, I bet I would have chosen differently.
Was this stint in NUS worthwhile? Have I made the right decision to pursue this Master, at the cost of giving up two jobs - a glamorous one and a high-paying one?
Well, as I reflect on the decision to give up the jobs, I do not have such a great regrets about it. Perhaps missed the money a little but the worthiness to come to NUS is ambiguous.
The 16-month had been generally demoralising and demotivating. I have encountered more of the negatives than the positives. Met more unpleasant characters rather than pleasant individuals. It's getting too negative! I guess no point going into the details about negativity but rather look into the positives.
On the positive side, I have benefited from several dedicated academicians, AB, SY, LBT and RCKS. They truly performed to the best of their abilities to be a dedicated teacher, despite their busyness with research and publication, unlike the general phenomenon, "Research is the priority, publication is everything, but teaching is a distraction and waste of time".
However to be fair, the lecturers that I encountered in modules I took outside of my department have been superb. They - PB, ET, RW and AR - are worthy to be called a teacher as they have done their teaching duties excellently. Therefore I would conclude that my bad experiences with "researchers hiding behind the mask of educators" as more a problem of the department rather than NUS as a whole. In reflecting this, I realized the teachers that I have respected very much - since primary, secondary, undergraduate and master level - have always been those who are dedicated and committed to teach, share, mentor and guide their students, rather than those with superb knowledge or high intellectual level.
Talking about the peers, I have benefited less than I expected. The general objective of fellow classmates were more towards securing a degree with A's and head off into the job market. Few were truly there to learn and expand their intellectual capabilities. For those of you who fall into the later category, I would like to let you know that your willingness to share, debate and argue on many different issues has certainly impacted me positively. I hope I had also done the same to you!
One more positive thing about this graduate program, the scholarship. I really have to thank NUS for this. No doubt, excellent!
In general, this 16-month has been a good eye-opener to many different things. It has been a good learning opportunity to me, but if given a choice again, I bet I would have chosen differently.
