Here I am, taking another short break. I feel my eyes closing and my mind dozing off, so I thought it would be better to clear my thoughts a bit before continuing with the mugging. I think I am getting a tad too impatient, or maybe I just need to be less ill-tempered. I have no idea why I am starting to get annoyed over every trivial matter.
Or perhaps I should start enlightening people on exactly what I am studying, which I thought I have done that more than once? The thing is, anyone who has gone through tertiary studies in whatever discipline, would know that it is not easy, no matter what one is studying, is it not? How can anything be so easy like just giving definitions or re-writing the entire text again?
What is the whole meaning of education? It is to teach one how to be well-rounded, to think, analyse, remember, seeing things from different angles, to research and then come up with a good conclusion. It is not being judgmental or being too quick to jump to conclusions, and to apply whatever we have learnt to good use, in whatever aspect of our lives. Every course is the same, be it medicine or law or arts or science.
So, for instance, if the question asks about the meaning of the sonnet, it is not just how you feel the sonnet is about. It is about the analyses of the form, the rhyming words, any similes or metaphors, the message behind it, and then the full analysis of what the sonnet is about.
Or if the question is on the French Revolution, it is not just a definition of what the French Revolution was; rather it is the background, the building up of tensions amongst the peasants in those times, the propaganda created by the speeches and paintings of Jean-Jacques Rosseau, the secret meetings of the uprising, and then the analyses of whether the French Revolution was really necessary and what could be done to prevent it.
Or if we are answering a paper on criminal law, it is an analysis of the cases involved, which article of the Penal Code is applicable, which section the criminal should be charged under, are there any other aspects of law applicable in this case, any precedents of old cases.
Even if one is to answer a question on a novel, it is not so easy as to read the novel and summarise it. In fact, the question will not have anything to do with the story in the novel. Rather, the question will tap on the time the novel was written, then ask about the traditions and conventions of the times, how applicable the novel was to bring out those traditions and lifestyles.
Thus, in order to answer examination questions effectively, it is not a matter of rote learning. Rather, it is on remembering the basic information, understand the context and the time the context was set in, then analyse how and why certain things could and could not have been prevented.
I am not one who answers examination questions very well, but still, I know it is definitly not as easy as just remembering the facts and churning them out. Anyone can remember facts. What is essential is not how much you know, but how well you can understand and analyse using the facts involved to draw your own conclusion, and how convincing your argument is.
So for those who for some reason think it is so easy, they are welcome to my books and texts. The bottomline is, if you are not the one taking the course, then please do not think you know so much that it is definitely so easy. And also, even though I appreciate those who offered to help me in my assignments, please do not give me all the wrong information. I know you are trying to help, but sometimes being quiet is better than making a fool of yourselves.
Or perhaps I should start enlightening people on exactly what I am studying, which I thought I have done that more than once? The thing is, anyone who has gone through tertiary studies in whatever discipline, would know that it is not easy, no matter what one is studying, is it not? How can anything be so easy like just giving definitions or re-writing the entire text again?
What is the whole meaning of education? It is to teach one how to be well-rounded, to think, analyse, remember, seeing things from different angles, to research and then come up with a good conclusion. It is not being judgmental or being too quick to jump to conclusions, and to apply whatever we have learnt to good use, in whatever aspect of our lives. Every course is the same, be it medicine or law or arts or science.
So, for instance, if the question asks about the meaning of the sonnet, it is not just how you feel the sonnet is about. It is about the analyses of the form, the rhyming words, any similes or metaphors, the message behind it, and then the full analysis of what the sonnet is about.
Or if the question is on the French Revolution, it is not just a definition of what the French Revolution was; rather it is the background, the building up of tensions amongst the peasants in those times, the propaganda created by the speeches and paintings of Jean-Jacques Rosseau, the secret meetings of the uprising, and then the analyses of whether the French Revolution was really necessary and what could be done to prevent it.
Or if we are answering a paper on criminal law, it is an analysis of the cases involved, which article of the Penal Code is applicable, which section the criminal should be charged under, are there any other aspects of law applicable in this case, any precedents of old cases.
Even if one is to answer a question on a novel, it is not so easy as to read the novel and summarise it. In fact, the question will not have anything to do with the story in the novel. Rather, the question will tap on the time the novel was written, then ask about the traditions and conventions of the times, how applicable the novel was to bring out those traditions and lifestyles.
Thus, in order to answer examination questions effectively, it is not a matter of rote learning. Rather, it is on remembering the basic information, understand the context and the time the context was set in, then analyse how and why certain things could and could not have been prevented.
I am not one who answers examination questions very well, but still, I know it is definitly not as easy as just remembering the facts and churning them out. Anyone can remember facts. What is essential is not how much you know, but how well you can understand and analyse using the facts involved to draw your own conclusion, and how convincing your argument is.
So for those who for some reason think it is so easy, they are welcome to my books and texts. The bottomline is, if you are not the one taking the course, then please do not think you know so much that it is definitely so easy. And also, even though I appreciate those who offered to help me in my assignments, please do not give me all the wrong information. I know you are trying to help, but sometimes being quiet is better than making a fool of yourselves.
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