As promised.

Plenty of comments were put up on tzarina’s post on Malaysian Indians in Malaysian Universities. Since questions were put up regarding the validity of the talked about issue in private universities, I would like to regale my experiences. Furthermore, I graduated from a Indian-majority university, which was set up by an Indian-based political party. I will reserve my thoughts on the university itself for the time being, and would rather, for now, care to explain more about the student mentality there.

Entering an Indian-majority surrounding at 18 years old was a big culture shock, to say the least. Growing up as a minority in the city (so to speak), it felt kinda weird being a majority race for the first time. Since the university was still in its infancy, I got to see a bunch of colorful characters there.

Ragging sessions were done, but they cannot qualify as ragging. They were more towards being a get-to-know session. Now, you might think it is a useless session, like I did when I first had to go through it. I was wrong. At the end of the mostly laughter-filled period, my seniors were good enough to explain to us freshies about all the workings of being in a university. They identified the ones among themselves who are proficient in certain subjects and offered to help. In short, they provided us with a survival guide.

Other than a few Indians who were out there only to waste their time and their parents’ money, most of the ones that came there had a purpose. We were provided with a chance, and thanks to some individuals with proper qualities, the message was spread across. We knew we had to take care of our “name”, and that’s what we did. And the sight of a few hundred Indians under one roof having tertiary education raised our spirit higher.

Well, it ain’t all sunshine forever. Now, once you get the feeling that you’re in control there, you start laxing. Power corrupts, even in this context.

I got through my foundation with flying colours. I mean, really flying. But my degree years didn’t begin quite the way I thought it would. Too much partying, lack of studying, and some bad luck that I can’t mention here, I only ended up with a 2.8 CGPA after 2 semesters. I’d say my environment wasn’t condusive enough. After a major change, I managed to surpass 3.00 at the end of my first year.

Few years later, I graduated with a 2nd Class Upper degree, fully aware that I could’ve done better. Would’ve done better coz I know myself. The reactions I got for my results were mixed. Some were praising me for achieving something they can only dream of. Some actually felt sorry for me for not getting higher points. Although, I did have the foresight to empower myself with programming skills since I got only Cs in “Computerised Accounting” and “Computer Ethics” and the likes.

Now, is it because of my peers that I screwed up my first year? Is it because of the help that I received that I at least worked something proper out towards the end? I can’t say for sure. If it wasn’t for my seniors, I wouldn’t have known how to solve complex calculus in my foundation studies. If it wasn’t for some “friends”, I wouldn’t have cut class to go play snooker.

The thing is, there can never be one thing that is a direct cause to whatever happens. I firmly believe in that. Each and every happening has it’s beginning and end. It is up to us to decide for the best, rather than blaming the culture of the Indian race for being in such a way, but simply following everything blindly.

There is one thing that I will never forget. The arrogance of Indian students. You heard me right. Arrogance. There was a point when Chinese student population was growing at the university, and it was evident that their performance was peaking higher than the Indians. That was when arrogance caught up. Arrogance that said a this was a place with an Indian majority, and the Indians must always outperform everyone else. An arrogance that was coupled with the natural crafty, intelligent minds of Indians, and made the Indians bring out the best in themselves. An arrogance that kept them diligently pursuing education excellence.

All I can say is that, Indian students have the brains and capability to perform well in studies. All we need is the right environment to be the catalyst. I am not refuting tzarina. I am merely complementing her thoughts in this subject. We both have written what we saw with our eyes. Perhaps the mindset of students had been different at her time, or perhaps it is the difference between private and public universities.

PS: This post only reflects on the student mentality of said university.  Other issues, if any, will be discussed with at the author’s blog, but certainly not within the coming weeks.