YOURSAY | Lecturer’s 'tough love' should not cross the class line

YOURSAY | ‘Would she have ranted and ridiculed a VIP's child the same way?’

UiTM to take action against lecturer who berated B40 student

UiTM puts lecturer who berated B40 student on leave

Guglu: Contractually, the lecturer who berated a B40 (bottom 40 percent) student for having no laptop while attending her lecture didn’t do anything wrong.

She did not upload the video to tarnish Universiti Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) image. She didn’t abuse the student. She only suggested that the student’s sister sell her gold bracelets so that she could buy a computer for him. Which is good advice.

The worst part is that when she said she could not sit with the B40. Is it wrong if I said I could not sit with the T20 (top 20 percent)? Is there a law where you could prosecute rude people?

When she said B40 people tend to prioritise other things than education, that is her personal observation.

I am saying those things not because I support her. I do think she was a bit coarse and over-enthusiastic to improve the student.

My advice to all professors - it is better to have a fistful of manners than a mountain of knowledge. Without good manners, no matter how intelligent you are, and how many certificates you have, people will still look down upon you.

MerdekaMerdekaMerdeka: “... these people (the B40) only think more about other things than education,” the lecturer said in the clip. And she is absolutely right, yet clueless at the same time.

Not every rakyat is fortunate to be well provided like her - “they think more about other things” like how to put food on the table for their families, and how to get critical yet expensive medicine for their aged and ailing family members.

Education, let alone a laptop, becomes a sinful, selfish and much lower priority on their wish of ‘luxuries’.

HangTuahPJ: I watched the video. I heard the student is into his fifth semester. His parents are not working.

I am sure the student received PTPTN (National Education Fund) loan. PTPTN gives out the money in advance before a student starts the first semester. The money is enough to buy a second-hand laptop.

If his parents are not working, he would have received a full loan. He should be able to buy a new laptop if he is thrifty by the third semester.

I know of many UITM students and from other public universities as well who will buy costly handphones first and sometimes spend the PTPTN loans on expensive clothes and shoes. It usually happens to the kampung children who have not had expensive things before.

I can understand the exasperation of the lecturer. They see too many of these types of students and the lecturers feel that their efforts are being wasted on students who cannot see the difference between the essential and frivolous (need and want). She was just trying to make the student see sense.

LimeTuna0563: @HangTuahPJ, yes, maybe the issue was blown out of proportion. But the words used by the lecturer were harsh and I do not agree with them.

In the old days when I was a final-year student, some of my professors were very strict and if they thought our work was lousy, they would throw our thesis draft on the floor in front of other students in the lab.

Also, in working life in the real world, I've seen bosses who were much nastier than this in multinational corporations.

Coward: Dear UiTM vice-chancellor, is it really necessary to ask the question about the intention of the video uploader? Did you consider maybe he/she was trying to get your attention but your system prevented him/her from doing so? Stop blaming the uploader.

The lecturer clearly let her emotion and prejudice take the better of her since correcting action is needed to make sure this does not happen again.

However, here is a valid question: why didn't the student acquire a laptop after five semesters? How did that happen? Did the university do enough to catch and help students like him?

These are all questions we expect you to ask and get us an answer, instead of questioning the uploader's motive or coming up with an unnecessary defence of the lecturer.

Pink: @Coward, the lecturer has been in UiTM for nearly four decades. She retired recently and was given a two-year contract because of her excellent performance and she has a few PhD students under her who are about to complete their research.

All universities extend the contract of their lecturers if they find them ‘indispensable’. The contracts are not given willy-nilly and have to go through the university’s senate and the board of directors.

From what I know she treated many of her PhD students like her own children. But it was one of those days when she blew her top.

She taught students only in the fifth semester. The lecturers who taught the student in the first to fourth semester should have checked that all students have a laptop, which is so essential in university education. Without a laptop, it is like going to class without a pen and paper.

I would have blown my top too if I found out my students do not have a laptop in the fifth semester. What happened to the PTPTN and zakat money?

It is not unusual for lecturers in UiTM to even collect money among themselves if they found out a student is poor. The student has ways and means to get a laptop. He needs to answer why he did not have one.

WhiteLlama4337: The lecturer was put on leave with pay? I'm curious whether the investigation will take seriously the verbal abuse by someone in a position of authority against a student.

Would she have ranted and ridiculed a VIP's child the same way? The video is evidence enough of verbal abuse.

It is also sickening to see people justify this woman's abusive behaviour. We are really on a downward spiral as a society in Malaysia.

Retired Teacher: As a retired teacher and lecturer, I appeal to the government to seriously look into the academic ‘pandemic’.

There are hundreds if not thousands of such people who are educating our young to be selfish, inward-looking, biased, discriminatory and racist by the way they teach and the things they say in their lectures.

I left lecturing to return to school because of all these. No one cares!

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