Academic Community

 1: Becoming Aware of Learning Processes 

 Is this a place of learning, or is this my extended bedroom? The time is 7 am. I stretch myself out on 3 chairs, my head buzzing with chatter and spikes with the occasional squeal of laughter. The intercom drones out upbeat tunes, spitting static and morning salutations, while I try, unsuccessfully to categorise it as one of the many background noises. 

Is this a place of learning, or is this a place of mere tomfoolery? 1 pm curls around the corner of the clock, and I smell the pungent odour of sweat, of leftover fries and chilli wafting in the thick air. My head feels heavy again. Wait, what topics did I cover for the past year? This emptiness I feel is artificial. The dirty river within my body clogs with clumps of dirt and hair, flotsam floating down with the dross and dregs of half-drunk tea and half-chewed gum. I remember dozing off, the captain of my ship rolling her into a pillow of fog amidst a trail of unbecoming snorts and nasal wheezing. The sea never seemed to be stormy, no. It was more of a humid cloud that rises and gets into your headspace, dousing the cotton inside and further dampening the rusty wheels on my train of thought. 

Sometimes we sail through a patch with clear skies and a fresh wind. Those times do not linger, and I've accepted the fact that they do not last, not in such an environment. But it was nice, to be truly awake during those periods.

I know how much of a hypocrite I am, and weirdly enough, I do enough things (like procrastination) that make me quite certain of predestination, and that I just so happen to be made up of highly compatible ones and zeroes. 

I realise that I think like this because I want to shove the responsibility I have to a "higher being" of 'higher responsibility' beyond my control, but this life doesn't work that way. Carpe diem. Why won't I seize the day and make it mine? I should consciously make my life choices, instead of letting myself be swept into the invisible, yet the deadly undercurrent of time, ever so swift and merciless.

2: Reflection 

Being disengaged and disconnected to the study environment swamps you with a feeling of perpetual purposelessness, especially when you see everyone else scurrying about in apparent fulfilment. 

I was lost because I didn't prioritise nor invest my weight of interest in the subject. I unwittingly allowed emotions to pull me away from long term rewards. I could only see the steps in front of me and not the goal that was far away.
In this way, it became too easy to meander off the path to success. A stray butterfly and a drifting aroma were all it took to pull me away from the intended goal. 

Exercise 3: Journaling (Ongoing) 

• As you progress this semester, you may want to add to the list of functions of the study of literature, and elaborate in your ‘reflective journal’ on the reasons why you have made these additions. You can take note of your changing perceptions of yourself, and of your ideas about literature

• As you progress this semester, create a similar list for the study of linguistics and creative writing (if you are studying creative writing). List how the subject is relevant to you (or perhaps you do not find it relevant, in which case you can reflect on why this is the case in your journal), and also what its functions are.

• Make links in your ‘reflective journal’ between the study of literature, creative writing and linguistics and how they complement one another. 

Studying literature allows me to deepen my world-views and not just rely on the crutches of crude guesswork and confirmation bias. I do not want to be a person who is quick to judge and slow to understanding, for such a person would not bring benefit to a dog eat dog world. 

Creative writing allows an overall growth of my grasp on writing and influencing thought.

changing perceptions of myself

In this way, I can also effectively equip and empower those around me, with the language we share. By writing, I can hand the swords of thought and wisdom to others and allow more to understand---and fear the double-edge in words. 

Why specifically write? 

All that is gold does not glitter 

Not All who wander are lost

The old that is strong does not wither

Deep roots are not touched by the frost 

1.   Purposeful life beyond individualism. 

Spread seeds, sow thoughts creativity -Organization for children Volunteer.

Recognize love. 

2.   Share inspiring stories that shouldn't be forgotten-better outlook of life 

Through merging visual & literary media ~Inspire people who have the competency I lack. 

Work with those who build sustainable future. Community mindset

Exercise 4: Visioning

• Visualise yourself 3 years from now. Place this future self in a familiar setting and really try to see him/her as vividly as possible. How does he/she look? Stronger? Wiser? More content? How has he/she benefitted from time spent at University?

• Have a dialogue with this future self and ask him/her what will be necessary for your journey at University.

• You may use this visioning exercise to help you write your ‘learning philosophy’ for your three years at University. 

You'd want to be lucid enough to choose the system you want to integrate yourself in. 

Don't let your emotions lead you. Let logic rule. You might feel very distant and repulsed by this idea, as it gives you a picture of sterile learning and and lack of control, but the logic in itself allows a stable flow of emotions to bloom adequately in you. Face it. Your preexisting concept of logic is already flawed. You attatch negative connotations to having "proper control" over your own life. You are repellent to the keys that would unlock the very potential within you. Why? Because you're afraid of unlocking the door to your potential? Your'e afraid of what lies inside, or the lack thereof? 

• 
  You can't just know of the philosophies regarding your study growth. You must know it.
  Let your right way of thinking orient your paths and bring your best potential into practice.

24. "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

I will gather the strength to survive move away from this crumbling foundation of loose sand, clay and broken shells.

Fcking get your shit together. By neglecting the damn potential you have from all these chances and privileges you have right in your hands, you're worse than an fcking illiterate. Ignorance is bliss! Ignorance is bliss yes I get it you kiss ass why don't you piss off. Get your grip on the freaking goal. It's achievable, it's right in front of you, and you lie to yourself and give up like a fciingg loser. Idiot. Fcking idiot. Stop acting like, like nothing else matters when they obviously do. You think that you won't regret if you don't really care now? Dumbasses work and they achieve results. They take their meagre talent and fcking multiply that talent with their blood and sweat. You want to be successful? You want to make yourself proud? Then stop lying to yourself and get your sorry ass up and sweat it out.

There was a time when I overvalued the outcomes of learning and experienced excessive peer pressure. It is now clear to me that learning should have nothing to do with competition but it should be all about self-improvement. There are always people who perform better than us in one way or another but we also have our own unique edges. We just need to recognize our strengths and weaknesses and avoid giving ourselves too much pressure

0. Exercise 5: Creating your Learning Philosophy

   Create your very own learning philosophy which will act as a compass for your three years at University. This philosophy will be tweaked and deepened as you progress throughout the semester.

   A Guide for Writing your Learning Philosophy

1. • The Master said, “If students are not driven to learn, I will not open the way to further knowledge. If learners are not continually seeking the language to express new, complex ideas, I will not supply them with ready-made concepts. And if, when I show one corner of a problem, the students do not come back to me with the other three corners, I will not teach it a second time.”
It becomes apparent that academic spoon-feeding would cease to be a natural part of learning as one enters tertiary education in Malaysia. Scholars are expected to expound their beliefs while trying their hardest to engage new worldviews of learning. Ultimately, the very act of learning drives one to expunge old systems of study that are rendered irrelevant in context to the vast reservoir of information that students have to absorb and categorize. In this manner, humility becomes an asset to facilitate a smoother experience of learning, especially as it constantly pushes the learners out of their comfort zones. For example, accepting the fact that we I had to relearn the whole basics of Linguistics allows a growth to focus on the smaller details of language and life from a more mature point of view. In doing so, I discover new worldviews, that every culture has their merits, and there aren’t superior cultures that can be determined from the dissection of language itself, because the study of linguistics aims describe, not prescribe conditions to language. 


Although the lack of pride and arrogance in learning initially requires a sacrifice of self-depreciation, it helps in the long run when we integrate the habit of incessant inquiry. After all, there is always a higher standard as long as we set our sights for improvement. This is why we build mental muscles and train beyond what we can do. If the factor of humility is absent in tertiary education, we enter into a less productive state of cognition, where the Dunning-Kruger effect strikes1. As C.S. Lewis wrote, a proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” Hence, in order to counter this mistaken sense of superiority that is caustic to actual learning, I should accept the fact that my ‘myside bias’ (where we evaluate, generate, and test hypotheses in a manner biased toward our own prior opinions and attitudes)2 can be wrong. Subsequently, I should reach a step further into humility to accept the fact that others may be right in order to make knowledge change possible3. It is true that people do find themselves and affirm their identities through education. Likewise, I must remember to do the same. I will rise by overcoming the obstacles and challenges of pride and tap the resource of humility, which will equip and empower my mind to learn efficiently.  




In a contrasting perspective, the practicality of humility is fully exercised in tertiary education, as a university is a place of great unity within a myriad of diversities. I look forward to experience metamorphosis, and to give myself a chance to discover more than I've ever had the chance to discover. Whilst having this process of great input, I will also generate an output of literary works that should be potent and developed enough for me to mark them as my identity, which will then push me to greater heights in post-graduate life. Unfortunately, the aggregation for a congruence of personal style, predominantly in creative writing, can too often be premature due to the fact that the idea of ‘style’ could limit the potential for further growth. With this in mind, I should always be driven to strike a balance between unripe complacency and overshooting goals set in coursework briefs, and this is startlingly relevant in terms of managing a balance in academic and social life too.




Furthermore, while studying literature, especially the intricacies of world literature4, requires a certain level of humility as a Malaysian undergraduate majoring in English. In order to properly absorb the essence in which they were written, we have to maintain a sense of respect as we learn how to handle critical material regarding the socio-historic placements of different literary genres. It is only when we accept stepping into the shoes of other cultures that we can encounter breakthroughs beyond the scope of our own cultural lens.


I end with a quote by Mahatma Gandhi which encapsulates the ideal of humility as a learning philosophy: ‘The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after truth should so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and not till then, will he have a glimpse of truth.’






REFERENCE
1. Kruger, Justin; Dunning, David (1999). "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
2. Stanovich, K. E., West, R. F., & Toplak, M. E. (2013). Myside bias, rational thinking, and intelligence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(4), 259–264. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413480174 
3. Spiegel, J. S. (2012) ‘Open-mindedness and intellectual humility’, Theory and Research in Education, 10(1), pp27–38.
4. The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, and Civilization Martin Puchner Random House Publishing Group, 24 Oct 2017



• What made learning enjoyable and useful in my past experience?   
  A pure and healthy collective interest in the topic of discussion does help a community grow forward. Good teachers set a correct incentive and start the ball rolling for a more conducive learning experience too.

• How will my education help me to contribute to society, to the world in general?
  Education equips me with the tools I need to fit into the 21st century machine. I can be molded into the perfect catalyst for certain industries that would need expertise in specific areas of their work. Also, with education, I can learn to expand my worldview as a global citizen and can strive to bring the gifts of education to others who are more needy than I am, so that we can slowly but surely break the cycle of poverty of many as the quality and understanding of life improves.

• What must I do to fulfil my educational and personal growth goals?  
  We need to sow seeds of learning, as there will be no change nor growth of life without them. We need to sow these seeds on fertile soil, and to do this we must till the land while respecting its capabilities and potentials for the perfect kind of crop it can yield. 

Exercise 6: Group Work 

1. 1)In your groups, discuss your findings and experiences from Exercises 1, 2 and 4. What were your experiences while reflecting and introspecting in this way? What were the benefits and/or difficulties you encountered? 

2. very different from future self 

3. 2)Compare and discuss your learning philosophies. What similarities and differences do you find? Is your perception of learning and education changing or expanding?

The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) [21] was developed specifically to measure the effects of pharmacotherapy and other therapeutic intervention methods. The clinical improvement observed in the study was documented by the scale, with high scores in resilience being proportional to the global improvement experienced by the individual. According to Prince-Embury [22], these results are relevant because scores on the scale have been shown to be sensitive to real changes in subjects’ psychological well-being, thus suggesting that high resilience levels are related to an improvement that goes beyond the mere alleviation of symptoms. They are also important because they indicate that resilience is subject to change. Thus, the study helped corroborate the fact that resilience is quantifiable, modifiable and can be improved through interventions [12, 23].

One of the variables that is related to both resilience and the academic field is psychological well-being. Psychological well-being can be divided into three basic components: (a) satisfaction with life; (b) positive affect; and (c) negative affect [24]. Thus, for a person to achieve high levels of subjective well-being, they need to feel satisfied with life, have a predominantly positive affectivity and a low level of negative affect. Thus, psychological well-being is purely evaluative and subjective, the most important element being how each individual assesses his or her own life [25].