“Education
is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”, said William Butler.
Admittedly, it was not until I took this course that I ascribed to this view.
My greatest learning points from ES2007S are conciseness
and clear writing. My writing has been rightfully subjected to scrutiny
numerous times for my choice of words, which I have painstakingly memorized as
a result of a module that I took last semester, GEK3005 / PS3260 – Politics and
the Visual. In that module, the professor conducted every lecture speaking like
this, “The perspicuity of the totalitarian regime epitomizes the political
nadir of the Soviet Union and is the raison d’etre for the vituperation of the
people, prognosticating its downfall”. Moreover, all his prescribed readings
were written in a similar vein of English. Unlike the year 3 political science students
taking this module, I understood nothing.
Like every hardworking student, I
hurriedly compiled a list and started using similar words, even managing an A-
for my mid terms but only a B for my final grade when I stopped using them. I
was left licking my wounds as the students who excelled at this module wrote
English I could never hope to comprehend.
This course however tore asunder all my lofty impressions
of a good paper. The essence of professional communication is rather Socratic
by nature. Just ask yourself “What do I want to tell the other person?” It took
a committed effort from my proposal group mates and myself to completely deface
our project proposal and rewrite it based on this one principle. I am so proud
that we were able to pen a proposal that effectively communicates our heartbeat
for the school as students, our passion for the course and a genuine desire to
improve on the problem we identified in NUS.
What I like about this course is that it is focused on
essential skills that will be prevalent at anytime everyday. While some might
argue that it is easier to read the deluge of similar literature available in
bookstores, I like it that this course emphasizes on active participation than
passive learning. I would definitely recommend this course to everyone.
P.S
"Keep away from people who try to
belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that. But the really great make
you feel that you too can become great", Mark Twain.
I would like to extend my heartfelt
gratitude to all my classmates and my teacher, Mr. Brad Blackstone for teaching
me so much. Thank you for all your constructive criticisms and encouragement.
This module has colored my semester with many positive memories and I sincerely
wish everyone all the best for your future endeavors! Keep in touch!
We part only to meet again =)
Hey Jr,
ReplyDeleteNow I can finally comprehend the reason behind your high proficiency in the English language. Seriously, why a level 3000 module in year 1?! That's SCARY. Initially, I thought it was because you were from AC (yes, stereotypes I know) or something, until I came to learn otherwise.
The transformation I see in you, from bombastic-ness to semi-bombastic-ness is indeed encouraging. I think we would both agree that being understood beats being acknowledged to have such an extreme standard of English. Well, we've all come a long way. I really hope you don't revert to pol sci. English. All the best! (esp for chemical reactors X_X!)
Snr!
DeleteI am from AJC not ACJC (otherwise I would know Jacq and she would have known me)! Ah I took that GEM because I honestly have an interest in politics and philosophy! That was, until I sat for my first lecture and read my first 52 page reading - where I understood nearly nothing from "scholastic english". By the way, I had over 40 readings on my reading list. Another reason why I took that module because there was no exam, except that I had to write 2 term papers that are 3000 words each (a rather tall order for someone who's longest essay is a 900 word GP essay). Anyway, I guess that module was a good learning experience for me too - plus I think I greatly benefited from the concepts imparted by the lecturer, after I improved my vocabulary.
Thank you for your constructive criticisms, your random "wittisms" and your encouraging smiley-isms.
I really do hope we keep in contact snr! Especially since I am going to see you around so often!
YuckTitus!! :D
ReplyDeleteI still remember the first class, when you wore your yellow engin shirt, saying "yucks" repeatedly. You look enthusiastic and sounded like a fun guy. However, when I read your blog post, you seemed to be like another person: very serious, with 'chim' vocabularies. At that time, I thought those vocabs will raise your writings from good to excellent. Through out the course, Brad made me realize that, the essence of having an excellent communication is to be able to communicate the right thing, in a right way, at the right time, to the right person. It is not okay if the reader/audience do not understand what we are trying to say, even though we use sophisticated vocabularies. You have learnt this lesson well while still maintaining your "Titusness". That's one thing I like from Brad: he allows you to be you, just a little better.
Anyway, thank you for being my great blogging buddy. Your comments helped me a lot!
Yuckily yours,
Mercia
Hey Mercia!
DeleteYucks! I remembered saying that when you told me you're a math major! I really admire ppl who pursue a major especially in math and physics! They are the people who really listen to their torching passion unlike me!
Anyway, thank you so much for being my blog buddy. I really appreciate your honest feedback about my work. Yes I do wish that I had better mastery of the English Language to be able to better communicate my true intent, than to mask it behind a veil of bombastic words. I honestly thought it would make me sound smart. But at the end of this course, I realize that the smartest person always communicates as simplistically as possible to be more effective.
And I do agree that my exposure to this module has made me a more effective communicator while retaining my original strengths. I only lament the shortness of this course, because I honestly think that I can better improve myself with longer exposure.
Maybe as a class project, we could research for additional modules for Brad to recommend to his boss to implement? It would be fun, and easy - just go look at universities who offer a degree in communication and "borrow" their curriculum.
It was a pleasure knowing you Mercia!
Hi Titus!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I do have problems reading your writing with all those bombastic words! I need a dictionary... But it does look impressive, I wish I could write like you. From the first draft of our proposal, I can see that you've improved in the aspect of writing concisely. It must not have been easy having to delete away the quotes that you spent time and effort to search for, but you did it anyway, for the sake of conciseness and relevance=)
I enjoyed working with you=) you were always so enthusiastic in our project and in organising daily online meetings, you must have held this module with high importance. Thanks for doing a great job in leading our team=) all the best for your future too~
Hey Eileen!
DeleteYou really really flatter me! I can't write as well as you make me out to!
Thank you so much for your kind words, I relish the chance of working with you again if possible! I think that our proposal and OP were team effort-based accomplishments! So please don't elevate me! You did your job just as well if not better than I did!
Keep in touch please!
Hi Titus,
ReplyDeleteYou got to be kidding me when you described how your lecturer spoke. It is quite a good example to illustrate ineffective communication. I mean, what's the point of saying things that probably only the person himself would understand.
Like you, I like that the course emphasizes on active participation rather than passive learning. Imagine learning how to communicate effectively by studying lecture notes; the only take away point at the end of the course would be the modular credits. I'm glad you have make the effort to think about your audience when you write, this post is evidently concise and I can understand what you are saying (haha, just kidding).
Anyway, thank you for being the "class monitor" (even though the title was bestowed to you during the last lesson). The atmosphere of the class would not be the same without your team mates poking fun at you. All the best for the remaining 3 years you have in NUS!
Hey Joel!
DeleteHaha I wouldn't say that nobody understood what the lecturer was saying - the year 3 & 4 P.S students seem to completely comprehend what was going on! Although, I would agree that the lecturer did not communicate effectively to students who were taking this module as a GEM, since our command of English is indubitably lower.
Thank you so much for your kind comments! I especially appreciate your constructive criticisms on my resume! You really showed me what my resume was lacking and you left no stone unturned - commenting on my blog regarding my improved resume as well (nitpicking on it too, which is really awesome!)
Keep in touch please! All the best for your finals!
Dear Titus, you've excelled with this final reflection. You focus on language use, an area that seemed to be of great interest (and need?) to you, you've elaborated well on why your initial use of language in the various writing assignments verged on bombastic, you've described in fine detail how your emphasis through the course has moved from embellishments to clarity and economy of language, and you've used the right quotations.
ReplyDeleteThree cheers for you!
I especially like your invoking your experience in the other module---and just as much, I enjoy your use of language throughout this post. You have all the tools to be a fine writer, Titus, in both poetry (please share more of that with me, via facebook) and prose.
My last suggestion for you would be this: Read a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, just to see what is possible, and to understand even more deeply that it is not the size of the vocabulary that makes for effective writing. (But maybe you've heard that clarion already!)
In any case, you will ultimately find your own style, your own niche. I look forward to reading more from you in the future!
Thanks a million, too, for all your classroom contributions!
Dear Brad,
DeleteThank you so much for your absolute patience in encouraging me when I was crushed. It was a really humbling experience to have everyone sift and critique every sentence written, and objectively comment on my presentation. I guess your encouragement was one of the reasons why there was such a cosmetic defacement of our proposal, and a confidence in my presentation skills.
Hahaha I love reading! My favorite author is James Rollins (a thriller writer)! And yes, he doesn't write anywhere near the "benign" or "vituperation" stage of vocabulary, and still manages to capture the imagination and interest of his readers! (That's why most of his books are top sellers!) I will read more books though! And thank you for appreciating my poetry! I still must make things rhyme X____X
All in all, thank you so much Brad for a wonderful educational experience! Supper sometime please!!
Hi Titus my brudder,
ReplyDeleteI am going to miss you so so much brudder. Apart from Brad and his fun lessons, I truly looked forward to interacting with you in class. I was and still am awed by your command of English. That is why I also like to call you my walking dictionary.
Thank you for all the comments that you gave me to improve on myself. And our entire group owes it to you for being a good leader for this group proposal. We could not have done this well without you. Go TeamTitus! Tell me what modules you are taking next semester so I can crash and be in your group again! HAHA
Thanks for being a great friend Titus. Take care:)
Hey brudder!
DeleteGo Team Titus! HAHA! Yes I will miss you very much too! The fun that we have in class from interacting each other and goofing around, coupled with the serious and open minded perspective to education is really the highlight of my week!
Haha and please don't elevate my status! Our success is attributed to the hard and heart sweat poured into making it work! Throughout the whole process I could sense everybody's energy and enthusiasm (we met like everyday man!)!
Hmm...next semester I am taking like 5 core modules and 1 SS (goodness X_____X ). Thinking of taking the Natural Heritage in Singapore module! What about you?
Keep in touch brudder! *fist bump*
TSK, Titus! Now I understand why you've almost included the entire dictionary into our first proposal! (Okay, I'm just kidding!) Titus, you're an awesome project mate and course mate and you've never failed to bring up the atmosphere in class. You are truly the "class monitor" in our group and don't' get me wrong, it's a good thing! After working with you for a good 7 weeks or so, there's a few things that I want to tell you,
ReplyDelete1. DON'T BE TOO NICE. (Or we girls will eat you up, I mean it)
2. Don't be too critical about yourself. We all make mistakes but you're critical about yourself for things that isn't even your fault in the first place! :)
3. Don't be so sweet!
4. With the above three points, I'm just trying to say that you're really a very nice and awesome person :)
It's great knowing you and I'll see you around soon! (In YIH or cheong chin nam road or toh yi drive) :D
Hey Jacq!
DeleteHahaha when was I too nice! I only did the least I could do!
The pleasure is really mine! I think that you are a very good group mate as well! Sadly I doubt we will ever have a chance to work again, although I really wish that we could!
Thank you for your compliments! I feel really really flattered and euphoric! HAHAHA!
YES! Let's go for supper after exams please!
Hi Titus,
ReplyDeleteUnderstand that William Butler is making a point about the latter part of his statement a little more than the first, because education is both filling a pail as well as lightning a fire, as well as whatever anybody in this world can contribute. That's the way, the most objective assessment of education! Does that make sense?
John MacArthur the Christian Evangelist mentioned how easy it is for us human beings, believers and non-believers alike, to believe what the world---newspapers, journalists, so-called professors, artists, philosophers have to say over what God in the bible has to! I'm not saying William Butler speaks nonsense or that journalism, political science and philosophy are vain, but being Christians, our first and foremost objective is to *cling* to the truth of the Word, just like a baby clings to mummy! God and his word first, then you have William Butler, Socrates, or whoever. I'm saying this as brother in Christ.
With regards to your writing, I think they were not too untidy. They were reasonably clear and words used, at least to me, don't seem as bombastic as the rest might think, perhaps because I've become accustomed to that. Bombastic according to me would be exactly like the way your political science lecturer spoke or wrote, but that is absolutely normal in normal academic writing, as long as the words used are accurate and truly reflect the impression the author is trying to convey. You find such writing in the social sciences like sociology, psychology and anthropology as well. I applaud you for trying to be like that, because I was once like that, when I was younger. I thought just like you did, feeling big words make big ideas and marks, which is true, but NOT TOO TRUE! When Brad says that it is not the size vocabulary that makes for effective writing, I think he means, more completely, that it is not COMPLETELY the size of the vocabulary that makes for effective writing.
Continue Below
There are other aspects of the articulation to support a good and complete piece of writing, such as content---this is NUMBER ONE, the core ingredient. Then you have language expression---the way you form sentences and convey ideas, or style, and also grammar. Accurate grammar completes a good writing because it allows your ideas to be understood by people with high command of the language, whereas perhaps writing to your friend to tell him about your school life doesn't require that because we are so used, in Singapore to read ungrammatical writing and still know with nearly complete confidence what was conveyed. That's part of our bread and butter culture. When perhaps Brad would be doing a double take to see if it was actually meant that way, because he couldn't believed his eyes, and that is a result of another educational upbringing and language culture.
ReplyDeleteWhat you want, ultimately, is to use bombastic vocabulary, if you really want to, at the strongest places in your sentence expression, and not everywhere.
You use vocabulary to primarily encapsulate surprise, contrast, irony, metaphors, similes, then you can also interchange nouns and use them as adjectives and vice versa.
Writing and expressing is an art, even in professional communication, and there are so many ways to do that I can't even begin to explain further because more explanation will destroy ironically what I want to say good writing is all about. Good writing can only be seen, cannot be so much explained! Good writing should make sense to your readers, adult readers with good command of English, because asking a 13 year old to read a treatise of Justice by Plato or Prose by Mark Twain would likely not make much sense because of his lesser command of the language. And sometimes ideas might not make sense on its own but taken as a whole with other ideas will make sense. Therefore good writing might not even make sense in the way we think it should, because there is so much room for creative expression in language and writing. You either know it or don't, and you gain that knowledge of how only through reading the books of all kinds, and then getting yourself to writing frequently because reading only don't cause you to become a good writer!
But fret not, you are on your way up! I'd also think you read more than just fiction or non-fiction books, and include Christian literature in your stash. As Christians, you must remember your number duty is to glorify and worship your God. Every living and breathing moment is an opportunity for worship. Sleeping is a time for worship, eating is, playing is, studying, and so on, everything! That includes what and why you read them! Reading only to improve your language powers for the sake of language powers is vanity! Doesn't glorify or worship your God! So be careful. Unless you really need the language powers to minister to a non-christian political science professor over in America through emails, then you have need to think that better language powers will help you achieve your goal or glorifying and worshiping your God through ministering. But of course in general, it is always good to raise your language ability, I agree, because even if you don't need to use them, it aids in your making sense and understanding of reality around you.
In any case, I'm glad you were the darling of the class, perhaps too much at times as put by your classmates. I imagined that to many pleasant friendship memories all around me, so best of luck after in all that you do.
Cheers
Hi Titus!
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, let me say what an absolute pleasure it has been to know you! Haha I think we've gotten to know each other in a couple of rather funny ways. From screaming in Ximin's ear to distract her, to having an extremely scarring interview-interviewee relationship (haha just kidding!), to having ayam penyet the other day, it's been real fun getting to know you!
As for your final reflections, I think you made an extremely good point about language use. Using big, bombastic words can make one seem pretentious and arrogant. What I too like about ES2007S is that Brad made us strip the proposal down to a simple question: What am I trying to sell?
As the saying goes, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication!
Thank you Titus, for being a vibrant and energetic member of the class. All the best for the upcoming exams and your future endeavors!
Tanisha