We had a surgery 手术

Being the "best teacher", teaching the "most exciting" subject in town, is not easy.... i got to think of the best and the most exciting ways in maintaining my self-professed position as the "best teacher", and my subject the "most exciting" subject.....you know what i mean????

Well, i did something "brilliant" this morning. I gave my students an impromptu quiz, focusing mainly on the application of the various accounting concepts which they have (i hope) learnt and professed to have understood.

As i was walking around the classroom feeling very pleased with myself, i saw a student scratching his head. "Why? Any problem?" i asked.

"No la. Just don't know how to explain for this question....i know the answer, but don't know how to explain only."

Hmmm....very interesting remark. That is a bit of a problem there, isn't it?

At the end of the quiz and after going through the answers with my students, i asked:" How many of you have the problem of knowing something, yet finding it difficult in saying it out / expressing it?"
Quite a number of hands were raised.
"How many of you, after i have gone through and explained the answers, have this in mind: Ya lor ya lor, that is exactly what i have in mind, miss Tham you said it all!?"
Quite a number of hands were raised, accompanied with agreeing nods.
"How many of you, after i have gone through and explained the answers, have this in mind: Huh? Oh, is that why? I actually thought it was something else....."
A few hands raised again.
"How many of you, who initially thought that you understood, discovered that you actually don't after i have explained and gone through the answers with you?"
A number of hands raised again.

It is indeed an intersting observation.

Why do i asked ?

I told my students, when they find themselves having difficulty in expressing what they know, or discover at one point or another that what they thought they know, turned out not to be the case......., that is a GOOD sign.

Don't get me wrong, that's not because i derive great pleasure in "exposing" other's ignorance.

I told my students, it is a good sign because you actually discover something important about yourself! Otherwise, you would be living under that deception forever....such discovery serves as a wake-up call, an area which you must do something about.

If your problem is the difficulty in expressing what you know (which, by the way, is a SERIOUS one. What is the point of understanding something when you can't tell people about it, right? Can you imagine going to your lecturer and say: Miss, you must give me a high distinction, because i actually know all the answers one, i just don't know how to say it on the answer script only?), you got to do something to overcome that. Is it a language problem? Or is it a problem of getting the right word, and saying it the right way?

Your choice of word and the manner in which you express yourself is extremely important, and at times, may have a life-and-death kind of implication on yourself/others (if you don't get what i mean, try imagine a situation where your boss makes a wrong decision based on what you have written in the report, costing the company it's entire wealth!).

If your problem is self-deception (i.e. thinking that you know when you actually don't), you got to find out on what basis did you get that impression or belief. Is it based on your ability in regurgitating the definition of the subject matter? Or your ability in answering the exam questions which are so similar to the revision questions that you have been diligently practising? Or because everybody says you are smart?..... You get what i mean?

Why do i give them the surprise quiz? Is it for the marks?

No....in fact, i have never intended to include their marks as part of their assessment. It is intended as a "surgery", to expose the true condition of one's state of being.

So, to all my dear students, let's remove all the deadly tumours which your surgery has exposed, and go on the path of recovery! It is a matter of life and death!