Search Here ….

Tags

Academic integrity AI AI Detectors Artificial Intelligence Asia School of Business ChatGPT ChatGPT Malaysia ChatGPT Plus Education Entrepreneurs and Startups Malaysia Entrepreneurship Gardens Google GPTZero IGCSE Malaysia Malls Maps72 Microsoft Midjourney MIT MrMoney TV OpenAI Pavilion Plagiarism Plagiarism checkers Poe Quora Sam Altman Software development Technology Turnitin Udemy Writing
Uncategorized

Life as a Teacher

Victor TanPost a Comment

When I think about my life, I think about the kind of pathways that I could’ve taken pretty often. Often times, I don’t know what I might have done otherwise apart from teaching – such is the captivation that this pathway has brought for me.

Over the time that I’ve spent teaching, I’ve taught literally hundreds of students – as a result, I’ve developed some familiarity with the way that people learn and grow over the course of time, which in turn has led me to develop a strong interest in the human mind, not just as a theoretical thing, but rather as something that I have dedicated my entire life towards growing and stimulating in lots of different ways.

Somehow or another, I feel most comfortable when I am in front of groups of people, speaking and sharing, and talking about the things that I learned throughout the course of the time I’ve been on earth.

I don’t know why that’s the case.

Perhaps it’s some sort of idle wish to pass down something to the next generation?

Maybe it is, but it’s not as if I don’t benefit from it either. It’s allowed me to live a life that’s pretty comfortable, one where I can be at peace with myself… Yet along the way, though, it’s led me into many different territories of doubt.

After all, can a teacher really claim credit for the student’s successes?

It is a fact that I have trained some of the most illustrious students of Malaysia, but that’s not to say that I am the best teacher, by any means – I think that if I were to say that, it would be an example of hubris of the highest order: who in this world can really say that the are the best teacher, especially when the act of learning in itself is so dependent upon the hearts and efforts of the students who choose to take part in one’s classes?

I am not so arrogant.

As a teacher, I’ve learned to consider how to become more articulate, better at structuring my thoughts, better at inspiring the hearts of the people around me – that’s been a long process of learning, not only how to order my words, but also to want the correct things, to be able to say the right things at the right time, to obtain the qualifications that I need in order to inspire confidence, while at the same time being able to cast them away in lieu of an independent mind that can inspire people to question.

I wonder if as a person, I could have become more wealthy, had more social status, or done any number of other things that could have put me in the grand scheme of things in a battle state than that which I experience at the moment – but when I look at my life, I’ve come to realize that there is no great suffering – no particular desire to compete, or compare – just a man who is enjoying what he’s doing, and can be said to be reasonably good at it.

Is it to say that there is no room for progress? No, certainly not – if anything, the journey is just beginning. Still, I thought it would be good to get some of these things off my chest while I’m thinking about them, and evaluating where I am to go in the future, because I know that wherever that road leads, it will require me to develop a stronger, personal conviction, a stronger set of abilities – a heart that is better able to deal with the inevitable challenges of this universe.

If you are a student of mine, know that I am still growing as a teacher, and I am doing my best to become the best person to serve you, although I will inevitably fail – but know that I know you have invested with me, your time, your minds, and your hearts – and I will do you well.

If you are one of the many parents who have and trusted me with your children, and also have decided to fund the journey that I have begun as I move forward, know that my gratitude extends across borders, and that my commitment is to bring your children value that extends far beyond whatever it is that you have agreed to give me in monetary compensation. Know that I am telling you that I am not necessarily a perfect teacher, or even a perfect human being for that matter – but I will continue to aspire to be a good role model for your child so that they can learn how to do things and live life a little bit more so that they can fulfill your wish that they may exceed you in the upcoming generation, one way or another.

Thank you for supporting me and doing what I wish to do and to help grow it for the next generation – your words, your thoughts, your support from so many different places, and countries around the world has been deeply meaningful to me and continues to serve as a source of inspiration that I take to hear with each moment, and each day of my life.

I don’t particularly know what led me to write this on a Saturday night, but it felt like the most important thing for me to share at this point, as I reflect upon the journey somehow amid a brief pause of moments before one of the busiest months I’ve ever experienced in my life.

Leave A Comment

Recommended Posts

The Body is the Hardware, The Mind is the Software

The analogy was interesting when I heard it first, and it remains interesting now because it resonates with me on at least a couple of different levels. Our bodies, the physical parts of us, are basically analogous to the hardware of a computer, running along with different parts here and there – upgradable, we can improve them by increasing the quality of the resources that go into them; improvable through good maintenance, we can exercise, sleep well, and do all sorts of other things to improve the hygiene on that front. Our minds, on the other hand, are the software – the programming that decides how we interact, think, solve problems in specific situations; the algorithms and little decisions that decide how we react to different scenarios and confronting different situations, whether it comes to talking to girls, investing, selling, marketing, or doing business with others. It is nice to think that the mind is upgradeable, and that somehow you can improve yourself through an act of willpower by learning certain things. Through sitting down and unlocking the secrets of the universe one after another, through a mixture of magic and also destiny. But who’s to say exactly how that should happen? Sorry, that’s a silly question. The answer is that it’s you.

A Small Change of Perception

I began this morning with the headline “How Kamala Harris Burned Through $1.5 Billion in 15 Weeks”, on NYT. It was an interesting head to a week of what was for me listening to, understanding, and better reckoning the world after Donald Trump was elected 47th President of the United States, and the first of many headlines I’d seen about this on New York Times. Some might view this as evidence that the media is cleaving towards the Trump administration as the chickens fall in line and loyalty becomes a Sine Qua Non in the era of an evil empire – but I think a little differently, because I feel like it’s teaching me something about reality. Look in the comments, and you will see how people have responded – people saying that the presidency is “deeply unserious”, highlighting any number of things that they disagree with even as they say that NYT’s “focus” is wrong, that Kamala “tried to save democracy”, and everything in between. If I really think about it, all of these seem about as valid as saying that Trump is secretly a genetically modified orange with a toupee made of cheese.  The entire idea of NYT is that it’s one of the most respected voices in journalism, that alongside publications like the Washington Post, it defines the Overton Window – the space of ideas that are acceptable to the public at any given point of time.  To the extent therefore that NYT’s function is valid for this purpose, I’m more likely to say that these critics are the ones who don’t make sense – That the calls against that validity are the true measure of what doesn’t make sense. I’ve often heard this idea that in fact a Trump presidency might be a situation where the inmates are running the asylum, but upon further inspection, I’m no […]

Perfectionism to eliminate

…And another has come. We are progressively moving towards the end of the year with each new beginning. This is I believe the 46th week of the year out of 52, and it’s leading towards the end of the year; Donald Trump is now president, filling up his cabinet with appointee after appointee as people contemplate things; you might believe that we’re at the start of something HUGE, as Donald might call it, world-shaking, incredible. But I think while that’s good, it’s good to look at something that I’ve wanted to get rid of for quite a while: Perfectionism. I am a victim of it, and I can’t deny that it follows me everywhere, making me question myself and whether what I’m putting out into the internet is either good or worth it – I second guess myself frequently, taking down blog posts that I think aren’t great or that aren’t well worded, thinking that perhaps I should rewrite or otherwise. I think that this is a very negative behavior, because frankly I don’t really care too much about what people think and secondly, it doesn’t really matter what they think – at least in relation to how I think about myself. So I would like to eliminate, therefore, the perfectionism that makes me rewrite things, redraft things, take wayyy too much time to release things. This is the next thing to change, and it’s a good thing to shift it in this year of 2024 – even if it is the only lesson that I will have learned by the end of this year, I think that it will have been a worthwhile one. Here’s to the next!

Creation

On an empty page, the pencil traces the dotted line, the circle, the shape.  From the movement of the pencil, a million universes appear, timelines splitting into their multiple component parts in a universe of endless possibility as millions more appear, each one a multiverse of possibilities as the pencil moves, tracing by movement, through which, across billions of possible environments, worlds, universes, colors, shapes, and relations. Look up from the page and perhaps you may see the created universe – Breathe in and you may appreciate its harmonies, the unity of physical constraints, of physical laws interweaving to make existence possible.  But is that universe truly greater?  Look down at the once empty page, no longer so empty. I claim that if you look further, there you will see it: Here lies the immortal beginning of every endeavor, the step not taken – a journey not yet made of a thousand miles as yet untraveled that you can begin, where you are, with a single stroke of your pen. Here, then, is the possibility of a universe even greater and even more intricate than you may have ever known — Whether you can reach that universe or not? That is a separate question — and none but experience can teach you its answer.

Your Teacher’s Thoughts towards the person he likes (but he doesn’t know?)

The feeling of love for someone is not something that you just go right ahead and deny. I don’t think it’s something that you should be shy about: That you like a person. Somehow after the years have come to pass it becomes true that somehow or another your ego doesn’t really take that much occupancy. You can admit honestly that you like a person even if you realize that there is no expectation of a return. On my part, I don’t know; even as a teacher, I really like a couple of different people here and there, but I realize clearly that there might not be really an expectation of a return, and that’s okay, that’s just how I am – it might be strange to think about, but even your teacher might have emotions, and so too might the rest of the world. It is a little unconventional to reveal your emotions, especially in a world like this, but to the person I do like, I like you, but I realize that I should not put you down, I should not bind you, I should not stop you from being who you want to be. If we come together, it is because somehow or another, through the millions of possible pathways, and somehow through the conversations, we liked each other, and that is enough for me and is an act of fortune, not of planning or otherwise. In the past, I would’ve been afraid of saying that I like a person or I wouldn’t have been so honest with my emotions. Nowadays, I don’t know if it’s because I’m old now, but I think it’s okay to say that I like people and I’m not too afraid of saying that I do because that’s just what it really is – an expression of emotion and a reality that I […]

The things we like but are not good at.

In this world, as we pass through, we may realize that there are some activities that we deeply and truly love – little skills, hobbies, and occupations that pique our minds, hearts, and souls when we participate in them as an act of pleasure.  As we pass through the tides of time, though, almost inevitably we come to realize that simply because someone we enjoy something, that doesn’t mean that we are going to be good at it. In fact, that’s an understatement.  Why are we talking about good when actually we can be horribly, devastatingly, and world-changingly catastrophic at it?  Here the realization inevitably comes, almost as if it were the common heritage of humanity: Just because you like something, that does not mean that you will be good at it.  One might argue that a true passion is such that even if one isn’t good at something, that the passion should stay.  Even if you are a horrible dancer, that does not mean that you should despise dancing.  The words of an eternal Malay proverb come to mind, “Tidak tahu menari, memarahkan lantai.” They resonate through the core of our beings and remind us:  If you dance horribly, that does not mean that you should blame the floor.  In other words, our lack of skill is no justification for our preferences, which are shown superficial if being bad at them is our grounds for casting them away.  After all, are we not like the fox, that declared the grapes sour, purely because we could not reach them?  In a way, this may be true, but a reality is that in this world, skills are not necessarily their own reward, and imagining that they are is to neglect the realities of our universe in lieu of something all too idealistic, rarefied, and divorced from both the world and the way […]