Beat Them at Their Own Game!

Years ago, when my elder daughter was studying at a government school, the Malay language teacher had often picked on her – my daughter was plump, had buck teeth and well, race was also an issue for that teacher (now deceased), I think. During Bahasa Malaysia classes, the teacher often embarrassed her in front of the class. She was in Year 6 at that time. Many a times she had returned home crying, shamed by the teacher, feeling very small. I had only one advise for her – beat the teacher at her own game. The next few months saw her put in extra hard work into her studies and when the government exam results were announced, she scored an `A’ for her Bahasa Malaysia paper. Apparently, while handing out the results transcript, the teacher had said `See, she is an Indian, but scored A in Bahasa Malaysia’ to other students in class predominantly Malays. Defeated at her own game – the teacher.

Fast forward 2017, my second daughter was studying at an international school, in the International Baccalaureate curriculum. One of the requirements to graduate middle years programme was to complete a personal project successfully. My daughter chose a subject that was heavy – children fund their own education, where she was to build a website to sell products made by underprivileged children who have no access to education. Proceeds from the sale of the products would be channelled back to the children so that they can have some access to education. It was a social enterprise.

As the project developed, she tried getting in touch with local NGOs which worked with underprivileged children in Malaysia but none were forthcoming. So, she reached out to NGOs in India and one responded – The SMILE Foundation. As part of the project, we planned a trip to New Delhi and on 17^th August 2017 we arrived there, met with SMILE officers, visited one of their projects for upgrading of livelihood and education at JJ Colony and after a few days returned home.

You see, her school was not happy that she chose that project. Her teachers were against her project from Day 1 that her final year at that school was sheer torture. I, her mother, was even called to be counselled by two of her teachers who thought I was a lousy mother for wanting to take her to India for that number of days, which was only 10!

Upon return, when my daughter submitted her first draft of her report, it was rejected, so was the second and third. In the end, the school said they would only give her a score of 2/8 - FAIL. I remember her calling me one day while I was in the office, crying, saying that her life is ruined. But I told her to beat her teachers at their own game. We sat together and re did the project write up, submitted to the school and in turn it was submitted to the IB HQ in the UK for final evaluation.

Results came three months later and she scored 5/8 for the personal project – from Fail to Pass. The very teacher who failed her three times at school level could not believe his eyes.

The recent hot news about the Civil Engineering graduate who expressed his protest during his convocation is another example of beating others at their own game. I have not read what the netizens have written over social media, I read only news reports. The report said that he was representing the view of many UM students who were not happy that their VC spoke at the Malay Dignity Congress. UM is my alma mater (and they still owe me RM650 – my December 1988 salary when I was a Research Assistant there 😊), I was surprised that a VC would actually speak at a congress that is organised based on race. To me, that day, UM lost its dignity, failed as an academic institution.

According to newspaper reports, the student had tried meeting the VC to express dissatisfaction over the speech but was ignored. So, he beat them at their own game – he voiced out his opinion at a very important event. I agree with the MCA President that one should check why it happened - the root cause and not react by taking rash decisions like withholding the degree and transcript. It makes the VC look horribly toothless (actually the original word that came to my mind was impotent, but let’s not ruffle feathers here). A wise VC would beat the boy at his own game. Try this for a suggestion – offer him a job to work with the VC to prove him wrong. Or let the boy go on with his life – let him collect his degree, apply for a job and eventually the whole thing would have fizzled out. In two weeks’ time no one would have remembered. But in his high handedness, the VC had withheld the boy’s script and degree, which brought about more fire and smoke to the whole episode and looks like the news is set to stay for longer in front pages. The news today is that UM ePay system was hacked and a message asking the VC to leave is displayed to visitors. Looks like that student is not alone in expressing his dissatisfaction. When proper channels are closed, this is what happens, folks.

If I know it right, the way things are done in Malaysia, the VC would eventually be asked to leave. Trust me, when the whole world watches, no sane person at the Senate of a reputable university is going to sit still watching the episode bring about reputational risk to the oldest university in the country, neither would the government. And it all started from one boy who had voiced his opinion at the only window he could find.

See, that is what I meant by beating one at his own game.