Murfett Malcolm, u are one inspiring history professor.. seriously, just by lecturing on Stalin, and Roosevelt and the Cold War, u’ve inspired this tudung-ed to reconsider her firm decision (one that she’s conveyed to so many ppl, including 2 taxi drivers) of not taking teaching as a career path.. why Murfett ( ya, like he’s my best friend like that, to be on first name basis)? well, to answer that question, let me just rewind back my historical path back to the JC days when i took the same module of European History, specifically on Cold War..

two years ago (*gasp! are we that old?) i hated history, especially European history.. in JC, history was hell, thanks to the piles of readings we had to do, the dull contents of the lectures, the stress of the examinations, and the horrendously large amount of facts that i never understood but had to learn by heart mechanically.. i admit, i did score for the subject in A Levels but it was never inspiring to the point of something that i saw myself doing in Uni (surprise, surprise, guess what i’m majoring in..)..

fast forward to today, after a cacophony of confusions and indecisions and fickleness, i decided to not pursue lit and decided to go for History instead, after seeing a new side to this commonly known as dull subject in lectures conducted by really interesting ppl like Mark Emmanuel, Kelly (ooh lala) and Farrell..

anw, as an aside, i’ve also always told myself that i would never have the level of tolerance or passion to teach.. especially teaching the Humanities section, as highly demanded as the professors can be by the Ministry of Education (one wonders why).. i wanted to do something that i like, that i’m interested in, and a list of professions came to mind, one by one being struck off the list though due to one complication or the other.. at the end of the day, whenever i discuss with my friends about what i can do with my History Major, i can never give a firm answer.. i can never give a definitive answer as to what kind of career i would want ( and its not helped by some highly ‘motivational’ beings who suggested me being a museum curator JUST because of the historical aspect.. sheesh.) but, whatever the decision or indecision might have been, i told myself to never settle for teaching cos 1) its the most common career path for Arts and Soc students 2) being the bitch that i am, i dun trust myself to educate..

BUT BUT BUT.. listening to Prof Malcolm’s lecture today about Cold War (the same contents that i’ve been taught two to three years ago), i kinda thought “hmm, u noe what, maybe being a history teacher is not so bad”… agggh i hate to admit it, but i began to imagine myself lecturing the very same contents Malcolm was teaching, only in the setting of another school, SAJC.. i know, kental.. why this sudden revelation? well, its not really bcos of anything the Prof consciously did, but it really struck me during lecture, how Prof Malcolm was able to lecture about the same contents i learnt a few years ago, but YET, able to make it sound really different, more interesting and more inspiring (yes, history can be inspiring too, if u had listened properly in class) just by using another teaching method: telling it like a story, and at the same time, injecting emotions in us, so that the history lecture becomes not just a content lecture, but a look into the past to see the pain, the suffering, the mistakes, and the tumults the peoples of the past had to go through, and the siginificant consequences their every decision effected.. he was able, through relating about the sacrifices of the Polish soldiers during WW2, the dilemmas of the European powers, and the devilry of Hitler, to convey to us what i feel, JC history teachers have not been able to do (not their fault anw, since they were pressed for time to pursue the syllabus): inspiration… the inspiration that all THESE boring historical facts we see in readings and ugly fonts and incomprehensible vocab actually conceal.. the inspirational stories of certain human beings that through their actions, their decisions, their sacrifices, helped to shape the world into what we know of it today.. the past is really for us to understand the present, and for us to learn from so that we may shape a better future..

so, what if i can do the same thing? what if i can tell the story, that has been told countless of times in books and internet, another way? then maybe, JC history wont be so boring and uninspiring to students.. all it took for me was a few good lecturers to convert me from a Historical sceptic to a Historical fanatic (as u can see from my blog), so if i can teach like that, be just as inspiring a lecturer, then hopefully students will take their subjects (not just history) as not just something they have to hurdle to get through the A’s, but as lessons that they are genuinely interested to know more about, because their attention has been piqued in class, because they have been inspired to know more, and because, they realised, that lessons, all lessons, are REALLY LESSONS.. not lessons to earn a certificate, but lessons to real life..

still, that doesnt mean, i’ve turned 180 degrees to pursuing teaching now.. im just saying, its probably not that bad an idea after all.. besides, if i become a Humanities teacher, my salary will be pretty juicy.. i’m still undecided on what career path i want to take.. i think all it takes is one window of opportunity for me to carve out my future properly.. hmm… still gotta tackle the stress level, the imbecilic students, the workload, the possibility of moroseness, though..

p.s if this entry seems a little long-winded to u, well, im a history major, what do u want from me?