Yvonne Foong: Fighting NF

A friend who plans to study Psychology asked whether it is hard. I got to know her when she supported my cause recently. Not wanting to be rude, I explained what studying Psychology involves. But in truth, I felt extremely sorry for this girl.

Nothing in the world is hard to learn. The question to ask is, am I creative enough to pick up a new kind of study? Am I flexible enough to adapt to this new learning experience? If you are, then there will be no problem in learning Psychology.

It’s called study skills. You need the skills.

I suppose we all know deep down, the national education system is to be blamed. If you don’t get the grades, you can’t do science. If you got bad grades, you are inferior and you study the arts. If your scores drop, you’re last on the list. Fail an exam? You’re doomed.

So students learn to think that if they had not been doing well, they just aren’t smart enough.

That’s not true!

When I came to Segi College in early 2007, the school of graduate studies‘ American Degree Program was led by Dr. Chin. The school was forthcoming in wanting to provide me with learning aids. But Dr. Chin was old and very forgetful. He would sit me down in his office and cordially asked what I needed. Then we‘d talk for ages about possibilities. Before I left, Dr, Chin always promised to follow up with my case. So I gave him time. When no news came, I went back to Dr. Chin. He sat me down and asked what I needed – all over again. Even so, I never got the heart to be furious at him. Although Dr. Chin was forgetful, he was kind.

I did poorly in my first two semesters. Unable to hear well enough, I had no knowledge of what was happening in class and was left to my own device. The situation was made worse with Malaysian lecturers who, although teaching in an American program, taught in ways akin to spood-feeding, encouraging students to memorize.

So in Spring 2007, my grades were B-C-C with one failure. Come think about it, maybe I should protest and insist they nullify my scores. Hah!

In Summer 2007, I got B-C-D.
The B was Expository Writing taught by a lecturer who tried to accommodate me in her own ways. It wasn’t that effective, but still better than before.

In Fall 2007, I got B-B-B.
My grades improved this semester because we – a few students – came up with our own plan. Reuben, Shaun, and Kenrick started typing conversations for me real-time. But still, I needed to adapt afresh.

In Spring 2008, I got A-A-B and one fail.
The As were owed to two lecturers – Leighton and Arivom – who taught in ways that encouraged students to think for themselves. The subject I failed was taught by a new lecturer from the U.K. Although I enjoyed her lessons, I was not used to her style and must adapt – again. Among all of our lecturers, Ms. Marian encourages the most independence. Not to mention she’s always very encouraging. Marian’s also our senior lecturer now.

In Summer 2008, I got A-A-B that puts my GPA at 3.67. The lecturer who granted me these two As was the same lecturer who granted me two Bs in Fall 2007. But I didn’t get smarter, and the lecturer has been the same old lecturer. We just learned to adapt.

So please don‘t say you‘re stupid. No subject is too hard to learn. .