real 'lecture'

my 3-hour classes this morning turned out to be half an hour of normal lecture with another half real 'lecture', if you get what i mean. the first two hours' classes were cancelled cuz both lecturers are away on separate conferences, and this last class was mostly on the poor results in our spot test last wednesday.

out of 64, 32 of them failed the paper. only 2 got A. the lecturer was so darn mad with the outcome of the results, he couldn't stop complaining. and considering the fact that around 16-17% cheated in the test (still wondering how he got that figure), it was so disappointing to see half the class failed. then he went on ranting about our attendance (students enjoy signing coursemates' attendance here), our responsibility, etc.

i can't agree more with the things he said (probably for the first time). i mean, we're already a bunch of 20-odd years old young adults, it's so sad to see so many of us still have the mentality thinking that cheating in exams is fine. we thought we should be better than this. we are better than this. whatever happened to trustworthy? being undergraduates, we should be able to decide what's wrong and what's right, and start shouldering heavier responsibilities. so what's with the cheating in exams and copying seniors' lab reports? is our nation's youth so darn pathetic now that they can't think on their own, that we need to be spoonfed at all times? why ask your friends to sign your attendance if you're not planning to come for classes? will it make you feel better if you 'turn up' for every lecture? turns out that our lecturer knows about this all these while, he was making headcounts in every lecture. we got over the top this time and he blew off, for good. i noticed an 'erased name' in the attendance sheet, guess at least one grew up and learnt a lesson today (assuming that person signed for his/her friend and then decided to erase it). well, it is indeed a lesson to be learned, honestly.

by the end of the class, the lecturer made us promise to change our attitude and mentality. there was a whiny 'yes' echoed from some of the students, so at least there's somewhere we can start.

i didn't say anything but i don't think i did anything wrong up until now, so there's no need for change. i believe that there's no shortcut to success, you get what you give. somehow in the back of my mind, i know i'll come out from the university a whole lot better man compared to these bunch of coursemates of mine even if my grades don't reflect it.

after the lecture, i walked up to the front and have a look at the results' sheet. after searching for a while, i found my name right underneath the 'A' students. 72/100, an A minus and a lesson in my pocket today. not too bad, huh? ; )