02 June 2005

Oh Dear....

Some of our subjects have lab classes, and these lab classes are taught by different tutors. For one particular networking class, the lab tutor has just resigned. He wasn't a very good teacher, but very knowledgable in networking so we hoped that his replacement would have both skills. However, when we found out who the replacement was, everyone in the classroom was caught totally off-guard - it was a former lecturer of ours, who had neither teaching skills nor practical networking knowledge! I was quite disappointed myself, but decided to wait and see.

We had our first lab today, and right from the beginning he fumbled. He didn't even know what the login name and password was! Then we found out that the network settings have been changed and he went around aimlessly enlisting the help of more knowledgable students to resolve the issue. At one point when he was over my shoulder, he referred to a group of students and said that they are already so good that he cannot control them.

Oh dear...

The only consolation to the whole class was that in the last 10 minutes we got to see a cable crimper. I've never seen or used one before so it was quite nice to actually feed the 8 wires into the connector and get a grip of how the process works. Of course, those "networking wizards" would have been bored to death. Indeed, by the end of the class we had two groups of people playing video games.

He actually came over to us and asked us not to install any games. But we were playing Pinball! He has not seen it before, much less played the game. Who has not grown up with computers AND played the built-in Windows games? Seriously! He hasn't even played Solitaire.

On another matter, a minor flu virus is spreading around us. 4 of my coursemates have fallen ill to it. I'm not taking any chances by consuming more Vitamin C and trying to avoid being cooped up in a room for prolonged periods of time.

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