Saturday, February 10, 2007

Critique

On comments made by anonymous in an earlier email:
thanks for the wish
if by standing and delivering you meant to ACTUALLY brought a change, I would like to know what you have delivered ..
No disucssion here. Neither you, nor I am a judge to this. Time will only tell.
i guess in order to deliver you need to stand-up and lead from the front, sorry for personal comments but ....
for how many times you were in the class ON-TIME for lectures
Zero. I was never on time. I was always late and always left earlier than the scheduled finish time.
how can you talk about bringing a change when you DID NOT EVEN CHANGE the few ROTED questions during viva
No I didnt change the questions.
talk about change, and I would like to know what changes had you made to the style of examination paper (asking for chunks from your notes)...
No, I didnt change that either.
i would like to know what you had delivered, and if you do not have the moral courage to face criticism and are eager to delete comments BECAUSE I DO NOT KNOW THE CIRCUMSTANCES , I wish you stop criticizing others as well because similar can be said for you as well
Yes, you're right. Me and my friend are both crooks. I was never on time, and didnt change anything that you mentioned. My friend is a greedy person who ceased the opportunity to earn some big bucks when he couldnt find anything to earn here in Pakistan anymore. You're right, we're both crooks who just talk about righteousness and dont practice it.
At least I changed one thing. I gave guys like you the ability and opportunity to criticize me, so yea, sure, go ahead and do it.

I would, however, like to mention a few things. Changing the examination style is beyond my control, and delivering involves doing whatever is in your power. I tried to do that. I guess a guy who got out for a duck is better than a guy who didnt show up for the games because he thought the game was lost before it was played. Sure, the ducker will be criticized, but this little ducker is happy that he did what he possibly could.
It makes me wish, though, that I should've been selfish, too. All those times when I was late to class because some ex-student was there, off from his job for an hour, to seek a recommendation letter, pleading that it had to be done right then, I should've refused then and there. And that department gardener and electrician who would catch me all the time, going to class to plead their cases of possible bonuses or other opprotunities to augment their otherwise meager salaries to support their poor families, I should've told them to shut up and talk to them later. I always thought, people dont understand when I say I have a class to take. I should've disregarded their not understanding, and been off with them nonetheless.
As for exams, there's no argument, that given the greater experience that I had than my students, I could've beaten them with challenging questions any day, just like my teachers did, for the sake of satisfaction to see them do poorly. But I dont believe that there's a point in doing that, we're not equals. It's a tricky bit, I'd get criticized if I ask tough questions, and I'd get criticized if I ask easy ones.
That said, what you've said is right, and as said earlier, I accept it all. Dont forget to write once you've brought some cool changes to your surroundings, because I will truly be pleased to see that, and not jealous, only inspired. Doesnt matter where good comes from. It should keep coming. It didnt come from me, there's an opportunity from everyone else. With that, I hope that with my confession, this discussion would be over, unless, of course, you want to deliver a sentence, too, which I'll have to serve since I have made the confession. The other entry was supposed to be from a friend to another friend. It got taken into an entirely other, unfortunate dimension.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is amazing how people can take a seemingly innocuous message and warp it to propagate their personal animosity towards other.

I dont think Saqib did a good job in answering the criticism. So here are my 2 cents.

Apparantly your criteria of delivering and contributing is confined to whether a teacher is punctual or how he asked questions in exams and vivas. (Please forgive me if I am missing some other irrelevant points you made). In my humble opinion, the questions you should have asked are these.

1. Is the teacher qualified enough (not in terms of the education he/she has but in terms of knowing the material). Dont be shy to compare with other available choices (seemingly with higher
"qualifications").
2. Was the teacher always available for you to help.
3. Is he/she there by choice or because of the inavailability of jobs outside.
4. Did he/she helped in creating a learning atmosphere in the school.
5. etc, etc.
It is easy to show up in class on time and waste your time and others and ask tough questions in exams or vivas. You can do it even if you dont know anything about the subject you are teaching. People have been done there for a long time and if you thing that is the correct way to go, I would be wasting my time arguing with you anymore.

Regards
Annonymous (Not to be confused by other anonymous)

Anonymous said...

as I had written earlier, i hate to be personal on public forums but the change always start from within one self, I had no problems with the fact that some one promotes himself as the SAVIOR but i certainly have the right to know your achievements so that i can be proud as well.

well as they say that the entire building rest on the foundations .. a person who is not willing to change the most basic unit of DOWN N DUSTED examination system, can be no more good at other fronts as well

I will start with the last point.

4. No learning atmosphere was created as you can well imagine a teacher whose main emphasis was on live streaming of already compiled notes .. yeah notes, not main points , and just to ice the cake, notes that are not even written by himself.

If you know the examination system , and the class room environment you know there isnt a concept of learning ENVIRONMENT in our universities .. and ONE was just riding with the waves as well


3. By choice it looks though but again I have my doubts as whether the person who never worked long enough as a regular employee with some industry is capable enough to do the job( as it is easy to claim that you are willing to LEVERAGE ur education experience to institutions in homeland, and sorry to say experience from a university which isnt the best(even close to be good) ITSELF)

2. NO never. never ever we had the LUXURY of having SOMEONES comments on those assignments and project we are bombarded with. (NOT A SINGLE OF US)

1. you said it yourself, knowing the material and actually able to deliver it are two different things. It also matters how you actually go n deliver that and similar stuff .........

just to cut a long story short, the main purpose of writing was to make SOMEONE realize that its always good to criticize others, especially when they are not within the debatable range .. but you must look at ur self first and decide are you really head n shoulders above all others ! did u made a difference ur self , or just criticizing for the sake of it ....

Adnan Farooq Hashmi said...

Great Saqib sahab! I never knew Amir Liaqat Hussain read your blog too. I am not sure why he chose to post as "Anonymous".

Anyway, since this Mohajir's venom was initially directed at me, I think its best that I comment on it. Here I go.

To start with, leaving Pakistan was a very painful decision, and I had to contemplate it till the last day. I want to stay and serve Pakistan, true. But I also have personal ambitions, and I certainly dont apologize for it becoz I try my best to project anywhere I go that my country is the most competitive nation on earth. THAT I can project mainly by trying to be competitive myself.

Neither Saqib sahab, nor I, are under the impression that we are SAVIORS; we never wanted to be. But we remain content that we did something good, that we helped a handful of our fellow countrymen (mainly students) with learning about new technologies etc. We can't expect to be called SAVIORS for such a small effort, but the thing is, we did it with all our heart, instead of critisizing anyone.

So dear Mohajir, I suggest you start putting efforts into whatever you are doing, instead of wasting your time in cheering when your Quaid addresses you from UK over the telephone.