Of English Lit, CPC and the two teachers

copyright : thegazerofnavels.blogspot.com

by Ryn

Warning:-This is an extremely long post.

It never crossed my mind that one of my closest friends would one day become a teacher but she did and I am sure she is a pretty good one too. I could see fire in her eyes when she talks about her work.

She is a dime in a dozen because good teachers are hard to come by; at least that is what I think. Good teachers are not merely those who can turn even the dullest subjects interesting, they are great because of the impact they had on us, shaping our personality to become the person we are today.

I never really like school. To me, it was a bore and I was restless all the time. Then I turned 16 and suddenly an important decision had to be make. It was either pure science or arts and whatever my decision was will impact my career choice. I took the road less taken and gambled my future by going into the art's stream.

Afterwards, another decision had to be made. Gosh, too many decisions for a 16 year old. The choice was either Geography, Pendidikan Seni or English Literature. Geography was out because I could and cannot for the life of me understand maps. I could not draw, so the obvious was English Literature. My English was never particularly bad but it was not good either. The only reason I wanted to take the subject was I like to read.

I conveyed my intention to Mrs Wong, the most fearsome teacher in my school. Nope, she was not some dragon lady who exhaled fire every time she speaks but she was feared indeed. She was known to be a disciplinarian, demanding and meticulous. She takes great pride of her English Lit students and therefore very selective.

She did not want me to be in her class. I had to beg. Not surprise as I stammered when speaking to her because I used to be very shy of my spoken English. I hardly speak English at all (yeah, You guys think I'm lying right but its true, I was never happy with the way I speak so I decided not to speak).

She warned me that her subject is not easy and it would be better if I took Seni. But I convinced her by saying that I could not even draw a straight line. I should have believe Mrs Wong that her class was not easy. She was not lying or exagerrating at all. The subject needs lots of committment because the teacher herself is very committed.

The poems were difficult to comprehend and the assignments, oh boy the assignments. She would give us assignments for a week; one day, one essay and being the lazy person that I was, I wanted out. I told her and was told to try out for one semester, if i still did not like it, she would let me go. I was happy because I was studying to fail.

To leave the class became my motivation so lazily I studied and learned that Galloping Foxley is a person and not a horse in the short story by Roald Dahl. I was very happy when the exam came because I was going to leave the class at the end of the semester. I remember the questions being difficult so I just answered hoping that I would fail but when the results came, I got "A". Alamak!!!! I did not know what to do because that was not part of the plan, I was suppose to fail. I panicked.

Mrs Wong refused to entertain my request to leave, why leave something you are good at and capable of being better,she asked. I stayed and never regretted it since. In fact, until today I never really enjoyed any other subjects more than those two most memorable years of learning English Literature.

It was a small class and we were expected to give our opinions, whether they were right or wrong depended entirely on our arguments. I did not speak that much but I listened, I read and then I started drawing and dooling characters and incorporated them into my answers. I did not just write essays, I drew maps and trains etc to explain myself. My friends thought I was crazy but Mrs Wong was impressed. I was happy but others who did not take the subject thought all English Lit students were out of our mind because we were carrying files with stacks of paper and spending our free time in between classes reading, writing and answering English Lit questions. We all would sparkle when we talked about the subject.

I really don't know how Mrs Wong did what she did but she made me love working hard without realising that I was working hard. When I reached 17, I studied Literature not because I wanted to get A but because I love it. She would tell us our good and bad points and give suggestions on how to improve. I was very happy because my essays were always read in class.

It was in her class also that the idea of making a career in law first came about. She said I answered my questions and write like a lawyer.

I am not sure where Mrs Wong is now as the last time I heard she has quit and moved to Indonesia with her husband and family. What a loss because she gave me the best time of my life. I took English Lit again in uni but although my lecturers were an Oxford grad and an Indian Gary Sinise lookalike from a top university in India, it never felt the same.

Maybe it was my other classmates who did not love the subject as much as I did, maybe it was the teachers, I don't know. Or maybe, maybe it was because the Indian teacher loved me too much that he announced my assignment marks in front of the entire class and told me how many more I need to get A (his words were, I will count for you) and hovered and tried to peek through my answers. It was the longest exam I ever had and yes, I ended up not doing it well at all.

Another teacher that made a significant impact in my life was the later Prof Dr Mimi Kamariah. She came into my life 10 years ago when I was 19. Every student in my uni had a academic advisor and together with three others, we were assigned to her.

The first time I met her, she asked us the reason we wanted to do law. She told us that if we want to be in that faculty, we must want it. Wow!

In many ways we were lucky from the rest in our class because Prof Mimi was the only lecturer who liked to throw free lunches to her students, holidays and educational trips to prisons. She treats all her students like her own children.

I was in my second year when I started to develop a special bond with her. I needed her.

Going into first year of law school was a bit of shock to me. Matriculation did not prepare me at all for law school and seeing all the clubs and activities, I wanted to do everything. I was the Freshie Queen and I joined every single activities available. As a result my studies suffered and on top of that, I did not know how to study law effectively. I almost failed my first year miserably.

Then Prof Mimi came to the rescue . She offered help. When I came to her panicking because my results were really bad, she told me to relax and promised that she would help me. We would sit for hours in her office and adviced me on the subjects, what should I take, how to study etc etc. I had no other adults who could give me advice on studying law except her. It was the advice from her that I decided to make a lifestyle change during my second year.

I moved out from my college and rented a room nearer to the faculty so that I didn't have to get up so early and walked for so long only to sleep in class. The new place was just 7 minutes away. I stopped all activities and only joined those that I like. I asked my friends how to study effectively and realised that I have been doing things the wrong way.

Prof was happy at my progress and she gave me one of the greatest honour of being her student, which is whether I would like to do an academic project and have her as my supervisor.

Writing an academic project was almost like writing a book. It was difficult and exhausting especially when yours truly decided to write about subject never been written before. I wanted to write about the Child Act and since it was still being table at the Parliament, there were no books, no cases etc on that matter. I did not know how to do it.

I kept getting it wrong and went off tangent and Prof was a very tough supervisor. I cringed every time I saw my name on the notice board, everywhere was my name, Jumpa Dekan, Jumpa Dekan.

Drafts after drafts and she was not happy until I could not take it anymore. I went home for a week just to think. I was so frustrated that I really hated her. Then a kind soul told how lucky I was to be the Dean's favourite student. hm mm.. I never thought about it like that.

I came back and saw her again. We had a long chat when she told me that she knew that writing is tough and she could see that I was suffering. She regretted suggesting the idea to me. It would have been much easier if I took the normal exam based subjects but at that time, it was almost too late to quit so she urged me to finish what I started.

That was the point when ideas suddenly came in abundance on ways to improve my project. How do I improve and justify my arguments when there were no reported case around, where do I get the information. All I had were hansards, acts and newspaper cuttings. The she hinted by asking me how close I was with my policemen classmates. I decided to interview the policemen in my class and suddenly everyting started to make sense why the Child Act was introduced as a replacement to the Juvenile Courts Act.

The whole project was tiring, I learned about the criminal procedure code a year before my friends and since I had difficulties understanding the subject just by reading alone, Prof Mimi spent many hours tutoring me on the law. She did that willingly without asking for any compensation and recognition, in fact she was happier than me when the project finished.

I was the last undergrad she supervised in an academic project. She died from cancer soon after.

Both Mrs Wong and the late Prof Mimi meant a lot to me and to this day, I really don't know how to thank them enough. I wish for more teachers to be like them. A teacher does not only teach, she advices, encourages, criticises and inspires. Mrs Wong and Prof Mimi were all that and so much more. I will never forget them.