How do people grow up to be geniuses but jerks? What is the relationship between intelligence and empathy or humaneness?
From the very highest rank of the social hierarchy, we observe people with immense intelligence and talent but with very little concern to the outside world. Either they are so engrossed in their expert fields so as to forget their potential to serve the human society or they intentionally abandon their “human” role in pursuit of some futile reputation which is completely alien to me.
Obviously, you should be wondering by now, “What the hell is this guy speaking about?”.
From the very highest rank of the social hierarchy, we observe people with immense intelligence and talent but with very little concern to the outside world. Either they are so engrossed in their expert fields so as to forget their potential to serve the human society or they intentionally abandon their “human” role in pursuit of some futile reputation which is completely alien to me.
Obviously, you should be wondering by now, “What the hell is this guy speaking about?”.
Knowledge: How much is too much?
Since sometime now, I have been thinking about the conduct of “some” (obviously not all) lecturers of the University I study in. It is a growing concern in my faculty that the uneasiness between certain lecturers and the students is at its peak. Sharing a common view with the rest of the student body, I observe that certain lecturers are inherently working against the students, slipping away from their responsibilities, trying to deprive the students from their basic rights, lying at most times to cover up their mistakes and basically forgetting that they were once undergraduates too. Although no explicit outbreak of dispute has taken place yet between them and the students, I feel one is very imminent.
Now I seem to realize why these people are behaved so. It’s in their nature. The perfect example for this was one of my “distant” friends from school. Exceptionally bright, but that’s all he was. As I remember him, he hardly took a shower, hardly spoke with another person, never knew that man was a gregarious animal, hardly taught anything to a fellow student but was obsessed with the academic work. He would solve mathematics problems writing on his arm during the physical training period in the middle of the playground. He would solve problems if he could find an isolated corner in a wild party. But nevertheless, he was undoubtedly one of the brightest and most talented mathematics students I knew at the time. So he achieved great results in the A/Ls, won a scholarship and now studies in America and will probably return someday with a “Dr” tag attached to his name.
As far as I see, the life stories of the lecturers (once again, not all) I mentioned above couldn’t have been any different. I would put my money on the fact that if my friend returns to be a lecturer someday, his conduct would bear great resemblance to those lecturers I mentioned. It’s just that they (both the lecturers and the student I knew) care very little about the outside world since they are so concerned about their academic excellence. It is as if they are confined to their academic world and have very little interaction with the rest of the society.
But for the misfortune of the students of the universities, they get appointed as lecturers because they are qualified (in the technical sense) and because that’s the main profession that will help them to continue their obsession for excellence. The most depressing fact is that the lecturers who actually care for the students and always stay with the students remain quiet because they realize that being the minority, their voice is of little use in situations like this.
What we need in the universities are not nerdy professors with little or no social interaction. But nice people with adequate knowledge who care about the students and act in a socially responsible manner. I just wonder whether this situation is common in other universities as well???
(PS: Those who know my identity: I’m sure you know the people I’m talking about. Those who don’t know me, well… just imagine this is a real situation faced by you and let me know what you feel)
10 Comments:
Ok. It is a bit complicated.
In university, you are also old enough to start taking responsibility for your own learning. One misconception is that a university is there to teach you work skills, entrepreneurial skills, or provide you with employment. To do that you need to go a vocational training centre, which is different to university.
Nevertheless, in an ideal situation a good lecturer will have extremely good academic and research experience, as well as good teaching and communication skils. That is a very gifted person indeed, and very difficult to find.
By the way this is a common problem all over the world!
But this isnt a problem that is inherent to the university system alone is it? Even at school you get these totally off teachers who do nothing better than terrorize kids.!
The problem is that some ppl may be brilliant at what they know, but just dont know how to get their message across to others..However, we do get really dedicated ppl who REALLY can teach, bt those r rare gems indeed!! And thats where our responsibility comes in to LEARN and not be TAUGHT. Personally, my greatest sense of achievements were felt when i researched on my own and learned stuff by myself :)
Who says all undergraduates are Genius? They are better at writing the AL exam. There are two types according to my book, one students who cram as much information and regurgitate it, second are truly geniuses and write the ALs well. It is also important to note that some geniuses are not good at writing exams, so they do not get a chance to enter varsity. The whole problem lies in our examinations, not only in SL but all over the world. By the way some undergrads are very conscious of the outside world, but some are ignorant as one could ever be.
I agree 100% with niro, there is a big difference in learning and being thought and also how learning is assessed.
Niro, you might be concerned that some of their behaviour might be unethical?
I think there are two issues to consider:
1. ethical conduct
2. teaching ability
For me the first is the most important and easiest to implement. Regarding teaching, I have had less than a handful of brilliant teachers. As Niro says they are rare gems. The rest, well, I'm grateful at least they made an effort to facilitate my learing. I have had my share of sociopaths/psychopaths but fortunatly they are in the minority.
Hakim, I think the important points you made are addressed by a developmental psychologist called Howard Gardner in his research study on "multiple intelligences" in Harvard. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/HG.htm
I agree with Niro, the most rewarding learning is when you learn by yourself, given the proper resources, a little bit of guidance and some encouragement.
Ok first things first. I've got to clear up a few things here. The "niro" who has commented above is not me. I'm the "niro" who own this blog and the person above is an undergrad from my university. (You can visit her blog through her link and i encourage you to do so.) Although her thoughts, i would say have a fair share of resemblence to mine, we are still not the same. Anyway, now everyone should be clear on who is whom.
niroshinie:
Dear sis, though i so much appreciate you commenting on my posts, i'd really like you to use a different name when you do so. It's sheer coincidence that you happen to choose the same blogger name as me but it's also true that it might confuse the readers. I'm sure you will take this in a good manner, the way i intended it to be. If it's not too much trouble, plz use "niroshinie" when you comment again. Thanx in advance.
Now for the content. I totally agree with niroshinie in that i too share the happiness of finding out something by myself, in other words learning by oneself. I always thought this attributed to the different methods people prefered to have or used to have their education. Some learn by listening, some by reading, some by seeing and some by other means. That doesn't mean that this is the only explicit way but i think one of these ways becomes the prominant method of a person's education. In my case, i like reading and finding out things for myself. (In a totally not-blowing-my-own-trumpet-way, i did my CIMA exams all by myself without attending any classes: So you get my point :))I wouldn't go to a lecture unless it's conducted by a really invigorating lecturer and that i really feel i can extract the best out of him/her. But this method of education differs from person to person.
But this is not the point of discussion here. The real problem is (as niroshinie must be well aware of, being in the same premises) the conduct of certain lecturers, even out of the class room, is pretty much antogonizing for the students. Surely, they are pros in their respective fields and i would hardly doubt their teaching ability. But as L said, it's their ethical conduct that is more vital. It's the demeanor of a lecturer that keeps a good image on the minds of his/her students and that's what will earn them the due respect. Unfortunately, some of the lecturers in my university are so the opposite to this and what's even more depressing is that they are not the minority as L experienced.
The real situation is that those who do have a good ethical conduct don't take any measures against this is since they have their own interests at stakes. There's nothing more disheartning than seeing the able people keeping quiet in the face of injustice.
Thanx everyone for your interesting thoughts :)
There..!:)
I totally agree on this comment:
"those who do have a good ethical conduct don't take any measures against this"..
There are several ppl whose purpose I cant imagine, since they never teach properly AND are total morons! I have long wondered why anyone doesn't take any action against them.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Quote
If a lecturer is not good at teaching the undergrads, that can be excused, for the students should take the responsibility of educating themsleves than expecting to be spoon fed.
However there are lecturers irrespective of their teaching ability and irrespective of their expertise in the subject are so narrow minded and so out of human touch.
There are a lot of back stabbing and throat cuttin going on behind Uni walls that it kind of gives me second thoughts on doing a phd. I definetly don;t want to be in that category.
When I was leaving the country for my studies one of my undergrad lecturers (a nice fellow) told me stayin abroad (for ever) might be a better idea than to come back to a SL uni and play games!
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