Teachers affect eternity

“We can only do things that are humanly possible as teachers and lecturers. But sometimes we are often expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. It’s a miracle how often we manage to accomplish this impossible task”

It’s Teacher’s Day again – 16^th May 2013. Some would say, so what? What indeed is the significance of this day? It’s the day that we reminisce about the good, strict and bad teachers we had going through school and university life … hey, remember the Professor that used to sleep during presentation in the masters classes … (sigh).

It’s with these disappointments that we faced; we hope not to do the same mistakes with our students. We don’t have to learn from our own mistakes only, we could always learn from others, that’s what I always say.

I've had a fair share of disappointed teachers as well. Not because I was lazy or not prepared for class but on a different level. It was my drama teacher during my university days. I was an English literature minor and had to take drama as one of the requirements. I didn't fancy performing in front of an audience but I had to do it to pass and I did pretty well, scoring A’s along the way. Reason being, I took up roles that no one wanted, one as an old lady having problems with her teenage daughter and another as a beggar for “The Grapes of Wrath”.

In my final year I dropped English literature to major in Journalism. My drama teacher sent out a 4 point bulletin to look for me. When I finally had some free time off my busy schedule at the campus newspaper, I went to see her. She expressed disappointment that I didn't want to be an English literature major. I told her that I was a realistic person and journalism was just the thing that dealt with facts. At that point, I had this notion that literature majors were dreamers and always had their heads in the clouds.

Broadcast Production Project class of January 2013

Seeing that she couldn't sway me, she said, “Maybe you’re not literature material” but she gave

me a parting hug nevertheless. Breaking away from her bear-hug, I said to her “I might be a realist but that won’t stop me from dreaming, you were the one who taught me to that ….” She smiled with tears in her eyes and I left… never looking back from the path I had chosen.

Henry Brooks Adams was quoted as saying, “Teachers affect eternity; they can never tell where their influence stops.” And this is so true, of how much my drama teacher has affected me, although these days my dreams are more Freudian, as my brain goes into overdrive after a long day on campus.

The Talmud says it in a different way: “When you teach a student, you also teach your student's children.”

For those who persevere in the compounded role of educator, counselor and disciplinarian, we are often kept on our toes handling a range of duties from preparing for classes, getting lecture notes together and marking tons of imperfect language to handling students’ complaints, grievances on financial issues  personal matters and the best reason thus far, the inability to focus for at least 2 hours, the normal length for any class lecture.

In class it gets worse sometimes as some lecturers have complained – short attention span, fidgety and a ‘tidak apa’ (nonchalant) attitude. On bad days, ever so often we feel we’re clutching at straws but on good days, which are scarce … getting calls from ex-students that have “actually made it in the workforce” is very satisfying, providing they still remember you… and call.

When I taught Media Ethics, which is very grey and subjective subject, the favorite question towards the end of the semester was always “How do we make decisions that are ethical?” My standard answer would normally be “it depends on your values, principles and loyalties to yourself and the organization you work for” but on one dreadful day, I was apparently going through a lot… I heard myself tell the kids, “you need your head to co-ordinate work and you need your heart to co-ordinate the other things in your life. You have to strike a balance, find equilibrium between the two, to function. Failing to do that, things would go haywire”.

In other class, this question was asked “How do you make difficult ethical decisions?” Diving deep into my industry experience I told them “To me metaphorically speaking, making difficult decisions is like losing someone you love. It’s never easy; I can’t tell you how best to do it as I’m not an expert and have never claimed to be one. I can’t exactly tell you how to handle it as different people grapple with it differently”.

The class fell silent… It’s those profound things that I normally give my students at the end of the class or semester that leave them thinking or at least I hope they do. One of the students came to my office after class and asked me if that was what I was grappling with and I just answered nonchalantly “somewhat”. Her equally thoughtful answer was “its okay Miss Lina, you’re only human”.

“You miss your deadline, you die”

Yes we are. We can only do things that are humanly possible as teachers and lecturers. But sometimes we are often expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. It’s a miracle how often we manage to accomplish this impossible task.

Now, teaching a group of kids for the diploma and degree broadcasting programmes presents a different set of challenges all together. Although the underlying tribulations might be the same, the planning of the actual delivery of knowledge, the updates from the fast moving industry and the integration of practical know-how which is essential to equip these kids for their future, is no doubt a totally different ball game.

For these kids that I teach and those who have gone through the rigor of assessments, projects and exams, I can only hope that they will take away the essential experiences it was intended to give them. It’s always exciting for me when the deadlines get closer and the students scrambled to piece their assignments together. Some passed with flying colors, while a few were casualties of my strict ruling of “You miss your deadline, you die”.

I often tell these kids to “reach for the stars and never sell yourself short … but at the same time, be as humble as the pearls on the ocean bed”. With that we also cling to the modest hope that they will turn out to be decent human beings that have a fighting chance to make it in the world. And if only they came with an aptitude that matches their attitude!

It is with this responsibility and compassion that we stay on our course and forge on … but only those who teach would understand these collocations, empathize with the heartaches and jubilate when we manage to get at least one students to turn over a new leaf.

So for the dedicated teachers and lecturers the student-teacher bond can be laden with despair, tears and disappointments but for those who persevere to the end, the rewards truly far outweigh the sacrifices.

So Happy Teacher’s Day dear colleagues to each and every one of you, you deserved it!!!

Instigating change in the media world

VIDEO JOURNALISM: Let people tell their own stories

IN the ever fast-moving world of the media, changes and developments happen at a supersonic speed given the technology and know-how.

These vicissitudes also provoke ideas and thoughts on how best to use the media in a positive way. Although there are missing links here and there in the tapestry of the bigger picture, it is interesting to see how they can be addressed.

What better way than a meeting among academics, researchers and practitioners in the communication and media fields?

This exciting global get-together happened recently in Penang at a conference organised by the Communication Department of Universiti Utara Malaysia.

With the theme Revisiting Communication For Organisational And Social Change: Exploring The Missing Link, it inspired creative ideas and promised countless opportunities for these professionals to share their opinions.

When I found out that the 3rd International Conference On Communication And Media was being held in Penang, I was determined to be part of it as the body of knowledge would be massive.

Firstly, it would enhance my academic portfolio; secondly, there is the experience of making a presentation to a different crowd of academics and researchers; and thirdly, I love the island, so rustic with good food and friendly people.

My co-writer Badrul Hassan and I produced a paper on how a single person -- a woman -- could instigate change through the media. For a shift to happen, you must be prepared for the consequences.

And if you use the social networking sites to highlight ideas, they can go viral very wide and fast.

On the second day of the conference, I presented our paper Indrani Kopal: A Case Study Of Video Journalism As Women Leadership. Indrani is a Malaysian journalist, without a high position or abbreviations in front of her name but she is instigating change to help the disenfranchised subjectives.

I figured if I couldn't attract the attention of the audience with the title, at least my Prezi slides would.

The conference committee slotted the paper under the sub-theme of Political Economy Of Media And Change. It was spot on. To a certain degree, narratives of gendered leadership in a post-colonial nation such as Malaysia have not always been accessible to the members of this multi-ethnic society.

If a leadership quality may be signified by the breaking of one's silence in the face of injustice, we contend that Indrani's leadership lies in her praxis of agency.

The praxis of agency is an important political action or informed resistance by the subject to subvert the forces that construct and define their subjectivity in the first place.

It is not a coincidence that Indrani decided to cast her net rather wide.

During one interview, she made the important assertion of connecting people with politics, arguing that "politics shouldn't belong to a certain group of people and activists shouldn't own politics".

Being a video journalist, she is aware of her capacity to exercise or stretch her agency to maximise the discursive impact of her coverage on communal and national issues.

However, she insists that she is more comfortable as "a storyteller", which requires her to make adjustments to how she approaches the subjects of her stories without losing the impact factor.

Storytelling is indeed a critical form of articulation through strategic narrative acts into which Indrani deftly embeds her sense of agency, with full self-realisation of her position and what she can do.

Her optimistic sense of agency has increased her opportunity as a video journalist with a mission to engage the establishment in the disenchanted affairs of the disenfranchised.

In her works, she has captured various periods of transition, which were fracturing the already desperate lives of the ethnic Indian-Hindu community for the last two decades on sensitive issues such as land rights.

Certain contemporary social issues have also attracted her attention, including psychologically and sexually deviant manifestations by certain members of the society such as suicide, trans-sexuality or even a rare case of "mistaken identity".

Indrani is also sensitive to the media subjectivity of the Penan indigenous community in Sarawak, which is no longer a local issue but one that is well-exposed and discussed nationally and internationally.

She has arguably built her leadership talent by immersing herself in these spaces of conflicts, armed with strong professional principles, techniques and an insight into what her subjects really want say to the authorities. Indeed, her central and ethical practice as a video journalist is always to "let people tell their own story".

"Speak to them and let them tell their own story, in their own voice." This, she has learnt, is a practical and persuasive strategy over the years.

All in all, the three-day event offered an array of topics, including communication for social and organisational change, international communication and culture, cultural sensitivities, sustainable development communication, communication policy, new media and culture.

These topics stimulated minds and provoked continuous dialogues which, hopefully, will eventually generate understanding as well as scholarly and insightful findings for academicians and media practitioners alike. 

The writer is a Broadcasting and Journalism senior lecturer at Taylor’s University

Read more: PERSPECTIVE: Instigating change in the media world - Sunday Life & Times - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/perspective-instigating-change-in-the-media-world-1.276954#ixzz2TDpu8IvD