2013 ~ P R E S E N T |
S T I L L E V O LV I N G
LOOKING BACK
Gladwin Jiann Singh a/l Naranjan Singh
Team Monash 2011 at MAPCU 2011. ▶
128
Throughout
my three
years of
education
at MUM,
the lessons
learnt and
experiences
gained
have made
me realise
the many
potentials
I could chase.
It started on a field. Particularly, it started on the
small patch of grass in MUM where the futsal and
basketball courts stand today. This patch of grass was
the beginning of many friendships in my MUM years:
On the first week of orientation, the SASS team wore
the colour red and played “captain ball” against the
other schools. The friendships made that day lasted
throughout my MUM years. That same week, I brought
my frisbee to the field to toss with some friends, and a
few months after that, the MUM Ultimate Frisbee Club
was established with the help of a few close friends
who supported my goal to start a club at MUM.
As I write this piece, I can’t help but recall the days of
submitting an assignment. In fact, the vivid memories of
submitting assignments at the very last minute (literally)
is becoming very real now as I’m rushing to get this
piece done days before the submission deadline. Some
things never change. Taking up the Bachelor of Arts
program proved to be a life decision as I could not help
but wonder where I would wind up upon graduating.
Questions and thoughts of: “What will I work as?”
“What do I want to be?” “Where will this degree take
me?” “Shouldn’t I just take up a more practical and
straightforward course such as business?” “Am I
graduating to be unemployed?”
Throughout my three years of education at MUM, the
lessons learnt and experiences gained have made me
realise the many potentials I could chase. Taking up the
Bachelor of Arts introduced me to various concepts,
ideas and philosophies which shaped the way I see the
world. I specifically remember the concept of ‘power’
introduced by Dr Yeoh in Media, Culture and Power.
The various lectures on power, ranging from great
thinkers like Louis Althusser to Michel Foucault allowed
me to better understand how power is gained, the
circulation of power, power through discourse and the
impacts of culture on power itself. I still remembered
the activity in Dr Yeoh’s tutorial, where he made us bind
ourselves for the entire tutorial while he continued to
teach, and we blindly followed his instructions until he
revealed the purpose of the activity on exercising power
through authority. (A great idea for my classes perhaps?
Or not...)
I find that the study of power has benefited me in my
workplace. As a teacher, although power is already
given to me with the title of ‘teacher’, I work with the
idea that I must always strive to maintain this power
whereby I am not just a leader and a facilitator to the
children, but a role model who will nurture the children
to becoming better human beings. By showing them
kindness, mutual respect, patience, being strict and
tough when necessary and compassionate in a
balanced manner (still a working progress), I am able to
uphold my power as a teacher to the 300 students that
I am responsible for at Stella Maris International School.
Frankly, this course has allowed me to understand
human nature and how we operate in the world. In
some ways, I felt awakened, that my mind was being
exposed to the reality of the world. Yes, this does
sound like scenes from the Matrix film.
Being exposed to numerous film genres from different
timelines in Media Texts under Mr Fikri also served
to expand my mind on the power of the media to
promote ideology and, at the same time, allowed me
to understand the various elements and techniques
that go into film making. Luckily for me, I was given the
privilege of understanding how film is made when I was
asked by Mr Fikri to act in his short film titled Following,
in 2012. Thank you for the opportunity Mr Fikri!!! Not
to forget, taking up writing as a major allowed me to
express my thoughts and the things I’ve learned from
the other subjects into my writing whilst learning the