The professor and the student

RECENTLY, I was interviewed by a radio station about the incident captured in a viral video in which a professor berates a student in an online class because he does not have a computer. One of the questions I was asked was what is the best relationship a professor and a student should have.

I would like to share the opinion about this that I have come to hold after 17 years as a professor and 35 years as an academician. And I hope this week’s column will not only interest readers but also provoke thought among the young generation of academicians and professors and those thinking of pursuing this vocation.

How do I, as a professor, relate to the university “student”? My answer is I do so from an academic, a spiritual and a political perspective.

I will start with the easiest, the political one.

I view all my students as potential leaders in industry, in the community and in leadership positions in the country. I see these students as one day dictating or writing policies that will have a huge impact on my grandchildren’s lives. With that in mind, I would fill my lectures with serious social, environmental, economic and political issues that impact the design of buildings and cities, as, after all, I am a professor of architecture.

For instance, I would question why must God have a big and expensive house of worship? God does not live in one and has no need for thermal comfort or shelter from the rain. So all those huge houses of worship are possibly built to show the political power the clergy has over the masses and a secular administration.

The key word there is “possibly”. What if the real idea of spiritual heights is about helping the poor and needy as well as joining hands in harmony among different faiths? Then the building would look more like a market place or a community centre, would it not?

Thus the future architects and ministers of religious affairs among my students may take heed and use the people’s money to aid the needy rather than build six minarets. I am very serious in presenting these issues and am very respectful of my would-be-the-next-minister student audience.

The second aspect is the academic one.

As a long-serving academician and professor, I have an understanding that young lecturers might not possess yet: that all knowledge whether derived from research or a PhD thesis is a mere construct within a framework created by the academician himself/herself.

This is why I remain humbled by the depth of knowledge still waiting to be known and do not behave like a know-it-all because the true professor is a “does-not-know-all” individual.

Why? Because he or she has reached the boundaries of present knowledge and has seen the vastness of the unknown landscape. Arrogance built on knowledge possessed should never be a part of the professor’s mantle. Only young lecturers understandably put on such airs because they still reside within the coconut shell of their knowledge.

Thus, I treat students – especially the postgraduates – with respect because they will provide me with knowledge to keep filling in the vast open landscapes of the unknown.

Finally, there is the spiritual perspective of the relationship between student and professor.

In classical Malay, the student is called the santri or santeri. In modern Malay, the university student is called a mahasiswa. “Maha” means “greatness” or “superior” in an ancient language, thus those who pursue knowledge are “great” and “superior” individuals.

In Islam, pursuing knowledge is a highly respected act of “worship”. The first universities in the medieval age were filled with people who sought to be closer to God and the divine by understanding His laws of the natural world as well as the deep mystical realms of thought, feelings, consciousness and visions that traverse the boundaries of time, people and the cosmos.

In Islam, the professor who imparts knowledge and wisdom to the mahasiswa will gain God’s divine grace and he or she would benefit from all the good deeds that his or her students will do in the future even beyond the grave. Such is the height of spiritual importance that religion places on the acts of teaching and learning knowledge. It is the highest form of human endeavour and belittles the accumulation of wealth and political power.

Wealth and power must be guarded by their owners but knowledge paves the path towards salvation. Wealth and power are fleeting and soon spent but knowledge grows and prospers with its expenditure. Thus, I consider the students an extension of my investment in good deeds and are humbled when the students ultimately become my teachers in the future.

The university is not a place for teachers to parade their knowledge in front of students. It is the realm of questions and consciousness as well as multiple awakenings about self, society, the world and beyond. It is truly a “universe” of the unknown with an endless depth of mind to explore and expand. The true professor learns as much as, if not even more than, the student he or she teaches.

Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at the Tan Sri Omar Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Studies at UCSI University. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.