I RECENTLY had the opportunity to attend a conference on education in one of the local universities in Kuala Lumpur. Although I had learnt a lot from most of the speakers and presenters, the experience generally left me feeling disappointed.
Everything seemed to be going quite well, until it was time for the keynote speaker to come up on stage. He didn’t mention anything about education, and I personally felt that his topic of choice was irrelevant. Still, I listened because I was sure that there would be something that I could learn from him. How terribly wrong I had been indeed.
You see, he was a businessman and from what I deduced after listening to his long speech was that he was simply promoting himself and his business, and nothing more. He went as far as stating that our jobs as educators would become irrelevant and hence, cease to exist in the near future, owing to the fact that we are now in the process of having artificial intelligence run and ultimately take over practically everything in our lives.
Let me remind you that it was a huge room full of renowned academicians, most of whom have dedicated more than half their lives to education and research.
I will call a spade a spade: it was downright insulting. It was made apparent that he was there to simply promote his company, and not give us an insight on the subject matter.
To make matters worse, he used vulgar language during his 1.5 hour-long speech (almost double his time limit, if I may add). I was clearly flabbergasted, because that is definitely not how one should conduct oneself in an educational institution, while giving a speech in an education-related conference, in a room full of academicians.
The more he spoke with such offensive words and phrases, the more exasperated I became. The thing is, it wasn’t just I who felt that way. I noticed that most others who were present and listening to the speaker had that obvious look of annoyance on their faces.
Needless to say, I was incredibly relieved when he finally finished. I think we can all learn a thing or two from this experience. It is extremely important to be able to distinguish personal from professional conduct. It would be certainly within acceptable limits to use vulgarities with those who are close to you, particularly in informal settings.
However, it is a different matter altogether when you find yourself in a more formal setting, such as the workplace or educational institutions. It is most definitely not pleasing to the ears, and would only contribute to others negatively judging you.
We need to comprehend the fact that we must maintain professionalism when the situation calls for it. We have been raised fairly well by our parents, and the last thing we need is for their good name to go down with such rotten behaviour.
Sometimes, we might utter certain things that may or may not offend others around us. Some may perceive it as being blunt and straightforward, but bear in mind that there is a fine line between pure honesty and plain rudeness.
Let me put things in perspective. Say you’re in a police station, and you decide to lament how “useless” the police force is (or will be in future). Remember that you’re in a room full of people who are away from their loved ones, just so that they can be there for you in times of need. Remember that you’re in a room full of people who are willing to put their own lives in danger, just so that you remain alive. Remember that you’re in a room full of people who sacrifice their time and effort, just so that you feel safer and more protected.
In that same context, it is unquestionably upsetting to be told that what we do daily may not be of significance. It is dreadful to hear that the sacrifices we make daily would probably be of no use someday.
Let us all be better than this. I know for a fact that we are capable of being better than this.
The writer, a lecturer at Sunway College, is a Malaysian-born Eurasian with Scottish/Japanese/Indian lineage. She believes in a tomorrow where there is no racism and hatred.