BYLINE: QADEEM ZIEMAN
The term ‘peers’ refers to individuals of similar age, background, or social status who significantly influence each other’s behaviours, attitudes, and decisions
To be ‘peers’, one must have the same calibre as the other.
When this occurs, one would feel energised as opposed to feeling drained, and internally fulfilled instead of empty.
This applies to the spectrum of relationships - families, friendships, and romantically linked circles - but this is not limited to being a theme on superficial subjects.
While the old saying “Birds of the same feather flock together” goes on, this concept should not be considered as a sole reference, as there are other subjects other than professions, status, and cultural backgrounds that should be looked into that takes place - personal (NOT) religious beliefs, but the preferences, attitudes, and personalities should instead be the main key to merging people.
There could be a group of people studying for the same major, but one may be studying solely to graduate, while the other one may be learning to live.
There are four groups in which I am involved at the university - one dates back to my early days as a part-time freshman, the other is considered a family of us as fellow mentees, the other is a group of mixed programmes within the same faculty, while the other one consists of me as a senior to the juniors.
While I now spend my days as a full-time senior with my new classmates, I hardly have anything in common despite spending most of our days together.
Some may disagree when I say that I am ‘too old’ for most people my age, but I guess a compliment and an insult are both dependent on the idea of subjectivity.
I am constantly finding myself in a desperate need of searching for solace after every meeting is attended, given their insufferable traits of immaturity, insecurity, and inferiority hidden behind “jokes”.
My vision of entering a university with a fast-track programme - APEL-A - was not to boast my ‘prestigious’ background, but it was because I wanted to learn about something other than managing the scenes of the entertainment world, which was the reason why I switched to majoring in TESL from public relations. I believe that after observing through seventeen years of the flashy lifestyle, I have indeed obtained the wisdom of what it is to experience the glamorous ages, and my fifty-page portfolio of minor compiled creative and critical works at the age of twenty was the proof of that journey.
With that being said, I tend to be serious when working - whether as an artist or a student, hence I can’t seem to wrap my head around the constant mockery towards lecturers and the set subjects.
“Boo, boring!” said one. My unvoiced question to that reaction would always be why they choose this major in the first place. The only time ‘seriousness’ would come in is in a rush, and that is often when the deadline or presentation is due.
Whenever I try to explain the psychological effects of why certain subjects are being taught, it is always dismissed as though having wisdom is a low-life trait. Some even discuss among themselves to call it “annoying”, but the real discussion should be: is it annoyance or is it intimidation led by the fear of being incompetent?
If it is intimidation, which, looking the way it is, seems to be accurate, I wonder what there really is for such fear and insecurity to be targeted against me - I am not a genius, nor a straight A student.
Perhaps it is the subject of discipline that one knows could exist in their lives, yet does nothing to work towards it, while they get annoyed when seeing others grasping the much-needed wisdom, confidence, and command to know more, that result in such mockery towards the other students and even the lecturers.
However, for the deeply rooted reasoning of societal perspectives, lecturers do not really face this issue directly, given their more advanced age and known status as educators. It is the students like us who are truly eager to learn more for the primary concern of knowing who are constantly inflicted in such cases due to our ‘minor’ status as fellow students.
Two semesters ago, I got a poorly equipped lecturer who failed to teach us anything within the Counselling and Guidance lecture notes. I figured that I might as well not attend the final examination and repeat that subject since I hadn't learned anything, because, to me, I believe that the certification is just as good or as bad as what you went through towards it.
Now, sharing the same classes as those people, I tend to wonder, is becoming a teacher their only resort? And do they realise how crucial it is to have at least the slightest clue of what is being taught?
If Mass-Comm is considered as a ‘dumb’ course in public universities, then I have truly fallen for the narrative that the TESL course is the Mass-Comm of private universities, given the lack of interest, awareness, and respect that are coming from the students, where they have no idea of why they chose the course.
Studying at a private university has made me view this situation with sorrow. I believe that some of the local students need dire prayers to have the same enthusiasm as the foreign learners, and pay more concentrations to asking and learning the why and how as much as they play Mobile Legends and apply their cement-like ‘Korean’ makeup after spending at least an hour in the mirror styling their heads in the morning, and I can only wish for some to pay attention at the cause and effects as much as they pay attention to finding their potential suitors in the classrooms.
Qadeem Zieman (mrshaher.official@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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