Then and now

Yesterday I got an unexpected e-mail from one of the lecturers.

It read

your test score for the mid-term test is xxx.

Because most of my mid-term tests are in MCQ format, I have gotten several e-mails containing nothing but my results. Maybe it's just me, but I miss the classroom situation where everyone is waiting tensely for their name to be called out to collect their papers and thereafter, compare results.

With e-mails, there is no one to share the joy with if you score well, no one for comfort if you do badly. There is no need for discussions because the solutions are already posted up in the IVLE. There is no need for comparisons because they even include the average marks scored by the students - so you know where you stand -all in one little notice.

There is no teacher telling us where most of our careless mistakes are, no one but an e-mail address to turn to if our scripts are marked wrongly. There is no mystery, no fear, no hint of life; just the brutal reality delivered with no nonsense so efficiently and effortlessly, it scares me.

I am all for efficiency. But it is another thing altogether to devoid a student body of emotions. And that is why, sometimes, I love my project group. It is the reason why, I treasure the friends that are closest to me.

And I suspect that is why, my sashimi eating friend is staying over at my house tonight.