THE BEST LECTURER AS OF YET

























Grabbed a photo from Yingyou's Friendster late last night. Shown in the picture above, is Mr. Humphrey Ko - one of my favourite lecturers in Temasek Polytechnic. We got acquainted when he taught my cohort one of our core modules, Human Physiology and Immunology (HPI), back in Semester 3.

Admittedly, we were pretty mean to him initially. There are so many types of educators, in my opinion.

There is the Strict Disciplinarian - these are the ones who, without needing to speak even a single word, effortlessly conveys the message that they are never to be messed or joked around with.

There's also the Slacking Sloth - spending your time sleeping in your cozy bed is much more fruitful than attending their classes or tutorials.

Ni-kong-si-mi? - these are those with such super-duper thick Indian-Cantonese-American-and-who-knows-what-else accent that a knife cannot even penetrate through; and poor little students have to put in twice the effort just to decipher what on earth they are saying. It's exhausting at the end of the day, you know?

Swift, Silent Killer 007 - these are the mean and nasty ones who set killer papers that would give the Ph.D holders a run for their money. Enough said.

Unwilling Imparters - these teach directly from the lecture notes only and nothing more. I mean, come on, I don't attend classes and lectures so that someone can read aloud my own lecture notes to me, right? Geez! And when students try to probe more, they'll tend to answer grudgingly.

Blur Kings/Queens - these are absolutely the worst. They win hands down. They know NOTHING on the subject they teach. Trust me; I had one for my Biochemistry tutorial. She doesn't know most, if not all, of the answers to our tutorials, and had once ended up asking us to "vote". Raise your hands if you get Answer (a), raise your hands if Answer (b), and majority wins! Can you believe it??!! *swears silently* And of course, she lasted for only 1 semester before having to pack her bags - courtesy of those proactive coursemates of mine who wrote a petition against her and sent it to the Dean. Hohoho!

Big Friendly Softie - these are the ones who are the easiest to push around and have things done your own way; and they hardly lose their temper or raise their voice. I had one in my secondary school, and I remember a friend telling me that her class had once managed to persuade (I think bully might be a better word here) him (i.e. the teacher) to spend their 2-hours lesson period in the library, when he was supposed to be teaching Physics. *faints*


Mr. Ko belongs to the Big, Friendly Softie group. He's sweet beyond words, really (just look at how toothy his grin is); hardly raises his voice by even a notch, and never quits smiling. Of course, this makes him the easiest target to be "bullied".

I remember we had a Term Test for HPI, and most of the class did badly; with quite a number of people scoring Ds and Fs. The Gaussian, bell-shaped curve is left-tailed skewed - very badly. It's not surprising, really; considering that HPI constitutes loads of memorizing work and is theory-heavy, and most of my coursemates did not commit the facts down to memory for that particular Term Test. Mr. Ko was, needless to say, upset and disappointed with the cohort results.

I remember sifting through my exam script immediately after receiving it back, making mental note of where I lost marks at and whether did I commit any silly mistakes. Deeply engrossed in my own world was I. It was not only until after I was done and satisfied with the "self-evaluation" of my exam script, did I catch the sombre and quiet atmosphere in the Lecture Theater. I took my focus off my exam script, looked at Mr. Ko, turned to my left, and asked Li Huey (my Ai Ai!!!) who was seated beside me, "Is he scolding us?". I was not trying to be witty or funny here, but I honestly had no idea that Mr. Ko was chilling us and expressing his disappointment. He's really too... soft... in personality. It doesn't even appear like he's giving us a dressing down.

Admittedly, I had my share in snubbing him too. I remember how surprised I was when he called me out of my seat to answer a tutorial question on the board on one fine day. He knows my name??!! I was so taken aback. Apparently, he's not the blur-blur-toot-toot type of teacher I had hastily classified him under. Obligingly, I got off my seat, went up to the whiteboard, and drew and explained the 5 different ways of how chemicals/neurotransmitters can interact with cell receptors. And I rolled my eyes at my tutorial mates on my way back to my seat, who snickered in response. I guess I was no angel back then - even though till today, I frequently declare myself otherwise.

Anyway, I think educators like Mr. Ko are always being tremendously under-appreciated. Their charm works only after they've done their part and had imparted whatever knowledge they are supposed to impart. And more often than not, the charm works brilliantly. It was only after Semester 3 had ended, then did we realize that he's actually a great educator; possibly one of the best in the Biotechnology/Biomedical Science department staff.

We were, of course, way beyond delirious when we learnt that he'll be taking us again for Basic Pharmacology (BPhar) in Semester 5. I had made a conscious effort to minimize communication with him during HPI back in Semester 3. If I had any doubts or questions, I would rather consult reference books in the library or search the internet. On the rare occasions when I did consult him, I would make it short and to the point, utter a quick "Thank you", and sashay my way out.

This time round though, for BPhar, I made it a habit to consult him whenever possible. In fact, it almost became an obsession (the guy is so sweet, you know?). He's an awesome educator, honestly.

By the end of Semester 5 (our last and final semester before the commencement of Student Internship Programme), everyone in my cohort had already taken a liking for him. I can still remember - my very last examination in Temasek Polytechnic was on 7th September 2005, while the first day of our internship attachment started on 19th September 2005. And we celebrated Mr. Ko's birthday on 31st August 2005. As his date of birth is just a day before 1st September, we celebrated Teacher's Day for him concurrently.

My scheming coursemates hatched a plan. Mr. Ko was, on that day, delivering his BPhar lecture as usual. After the lecture has ended, Timothy was supposed to catch up with Mr. Ko and claim to have left his wallet in the LT. Usually, lecturers will only lock the front entrance doors in the LT, while leaving the back doors unlocked; as there will always be another lecture going on later in the same LT.

A big batch of my cohort were gathered outside the back entrance. As soon as the lights were out and the front doors locked, we sneaked in silently in the dark. It's quite fun actually; we dared not switch on the LT lights for fear of giving ourselves away. The whole lot of us filled into the LT sneakily, stumbling around and using light source from our mobile phones to find our way in the dark. People kept "shh-ing" at each other, and giggling softly.

After everyone had grabbed a seat, we waited in silence. Finally, we heard the lock on the front doors clicked. Man, I could almost feel the anticipation in the LT. Everyone was practically holding their breath. Finally, the lights flickered on, and we yelled, "Happy Teachers' Day!!!". Mr. Ko was so surprised; his mouth hanged wide open. No kidding. He looked so funny with his mouth hanging open; the whole LT erupted into laughter.

He must have been so shocked. Imagine a student coming up to you anxiously, saying that he has left his wallet in the LT; and when you stepped into the LT, you were greeted by a LT-full of students waiting secretly in the dark.

The lot of us then presented our gifts. A group presented a big cake. Some gave cards. A batch of us - around 30 other friends and me - shared a big, huge gift. We bought him a BIG TEDDY BEAR that's worth slightly more than S$100.00. Super expensive ok, but luckily; it's shared among 30+ students. *phew*. The teddy bear was so huge; it's almost half my height. And poor Mr. Ko had to lug it back to the Staff Room. Poor thing. So paiseh!

Anyway, Mr. Ko was super touched. He gave a thank-you speech; and a couple of my friends who were seated in the front rows said that his eyes were teary; and they caught drops of tears at the corners of his eyes.

Aren't we the best students ever??? Hohoho!!!


He is a wonderful educator. He maintains sincere eye contact when I'm explaining what I don't understand, nods gently and smiles encouragingly from time to time, "uh-huh" occasionally to indicate that he's listening and following, and waits patiently - without breaking off the eye contact - while I try to find fitting words to express my queries. And when he answers questions, it's obvious that he places himself in the shoes of his students and tries his very best to facilitate understanding. His sincerity in teaching just simply shines through.

And personally, I feel that the more you are taken to an educator, the more you'll perform well in the particular subjects/modules he/she teaches. For BPhar, loads of questions just pop into my mind during lectures. Why does this specific class of drug results in drowsiness? Why is this drug contraindicated in women? What is the mode of action for Benzodiazepine? Why is phenytoin teratogenic?

Admittedly, sometimes I'll force my brain to question this and that; all in the hope of getting to consult Mr. Ko. Hohoho!


He's the best lecturer and educator I had in my 3 years of tertiary education in Temasek Polytechnic. Man, he's absolutely awesome.