I must confess that I hate to take on the responsibility of coaching anyone in view of the appalling standard of education these days - which is the primary reason why I retired in the first place. Hobart's mom is indeed patient and persuasive because it took many phone calls since January 2008 and even more emails before I finally agreed to coach Hobart on a short-term basis in January 2009!!!
Unlike many other teens, Hobart is fairly cultured as he has acquired his Diploma in Music Performance for both the piano and cello and will be taking his fellowship exams for both instruments in June.
His resume is immaculate. He scored 12 A1's for the 2008 SPM, was one of the top achievers in Penang (see pic below), was also the conductor of the Chinese Orchestra in his school and is an eloquent and polished debater. But there was only one teeny weeny problem - he had never ever been taught by anyone like yours truly :-). My former students can testify that if anyone can survive my classes, indeed, they will definitely make it in life.
And so our journey began in January. Each lesson was probably an ordeal for poor Hobart as he had to rewrite his outlines and essays four or five times. I was amazed that a top student like him could accept my stringent standards and no holds barred type of criticism. He was probably in a state of shock for the first few sessions as every single line he wrote had red marks all over. Even when he emailed his works to me, a large part of it would be highlighted and he had to rewrite many parts almost endlessly.
Frankly, I thought he would quit my classes but he did not. He plodded on amazingly and yielded to my requests for corrections after corrections (aren't you glad you were never my student hehehe?). During some of our sessions, I tried to make him see that he had to get in touch with himself and to speak from his heart, without thinking in BM or Mandarin and without using any unnecessary ornaments in writing which to me, unless skillfully executed, would make an essay sound most unnatural and stiff.
I never fail to emphasize that they must write to express, not to impress and that some of the most important elements would be grace, vitality, crackling energy, simplicity, honesty, accuracy etc. including the 5C's of communication which include conciseness, concreteness, correctness, completeness and clarity of expression, not forgetting the KISS formula which is Keep it short and simple. For over twenty years, I have never ever in any of my classes given any model answer because I believe in original work and that each must unleash the writer within.
Without a doubt Hobart must have felt quite crushed during many moments although I always tried to inspire him and to shower him with positive comments either in class, via emails or google chats. :-) I am both astounded and thankful that he persevered to be coached by this eccentric old lady. Somehow, our class last week must have struck a chord in his heart because this evening, he gave me a piece of work that did not have to be rewritten at all! Needless to say, yours truly had been chasing him for the past few days for this piece of work and we both knew that he found writing to be quite tedious which was why I instructed him to write an essay using the analogy technique to compare life with essay writing!
He attended his JPA scholarship interview two weeks ago and if he is successful, we will be parting ways but he will have a place in my heart because it is rare that I get students like him any more. The last time I had a group of brilliant students was in 2004 with people like Nisha, Wei Lyn, Nicholas Aw, Seleen (all doing their 4th year in medicine), Vanmala (Uni of Toronto), Xinch (HELP), Huey Sian (Curtin Uni), Chris Chua (currently in Uni of Sydney and recently interned with Microsoft in Seattle) etc. Can you imagine? Since 2004, I have NOT had any brilliant student so Hobart is like a breath of fresh air to me :-) although I am sure he felt quite suffocated with my high expectations. Whatever the case, I am glad our paths crossed and I hope that somehow, I did help him to get in touch with himself and to write straight from his heart like he did in the following essay. Many of the ideas he discussed were pointers that I shared with him to teach and to inspire him to be more than what he has achieved thus far.
To challenge him to give his best, I wrote this post COOKIES AND CREAM on April 6th and told him that he had to do better than I did :-)...and in his own way, he has done brilliantly, despite the many challenges I threw in his path. Ho! Ho! Ho! Hobart! I am very proud of you!
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Hobart Lim....
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THE ANALOGY TECHNIQUE IN WRITING BY HOBART LIM
Life can be described in many ways. Forest Gump called it a box of chocolates while William Shakespeare likened it to a stage. To me, life is similar to the process of writing an essay, not so much because of any deep, philosophical reasons but more so because of my current predicament with essay writing.
The preliminary stage of essay planning is akin to the act of charting one’s life. To write an excellent essay or live a fulfilling life, one needs to be organized and to have a clear direction. Above all, one needs to take pride both in one’s works and life. Only by believing in and loving what one does can one produce a masterpiece or lead the life one has dreamed of.
Like life, one will encounter ups and downs in the course of writing an essay. There will be times when one suffers from writers’ block and subsequently loses faith, just as how there will be frustrations and disappointments in life. On the other hand, writers do enjoy periods of heightened creativity which enable them to churn out high quality passages at a fast pace, similar to how we sometimes experience periods of good fortune in life where things seem to always happen without fault.
Unfortunately, unlike the task of essay writing which can be put off at any time, there is no ‘pause button’ in life. Indeed, time and tide wait for no man. As much as we would like to escape from life even just for a while, it is impossible to stop the continual clockwork motion of life. Similarly, as much as we yearn to change our life to how we want it with just a snap of a finger, it is not as easy as merely erasing the parts we dislike in an essay.
Additionally, while essay writing takes place at most over a few hours, life is far longer. Also, the effect of an essay is rather limited compared to the how our lives affect not only us but also the many different people with whom we interact. Finally, the greatest difference has to be the fact that while a bad essay rarely makes an imprint on anyone, a bad deed is sure to be remembered, even if the person has turned over a new leaf.
Life and essay writing, although as different as heaven and earth when placed side by side, do surprisingly yield many similarities. Perhaps this essay is a testimony of how I should open my eyes to the limitless ways in which one can view the world. Maybe then I can lead the life I want and write the essay that showcases my full potential.
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Well done, Hobart Lim. I am truly VERY proud of you!!!
P.S. Everyday, I try to improve in my writing and also in other areas of my life. I do not claim to be an expert in any area but would always want to share my experiences with others :-). Life is a long but exciting journey of learning, growing and changing for us to be better than what we were yesterday.
Hobart Lim I am both surprised and deeply touched. I have to admit, the first few weeks of your lesson was indeed an ordeal to say the least. I found myself beaten up week by week. But slowly, I realised that every criticism was meant to make me stronger and better. Looking back now, I can say with a resounding yes that I have improved significantly. But being under her tutelage has made me highly critical of myself and that is why I am honestly surprised to see my essay gracing your blog (an honour indeed!) I suppose perhaps this still shows that I have yet to be fully confident of myself. I used to think I was good, but being under you has opened my eyes to where I truly stand. Not that this drop in confidence is a bad thing. After all, confidence without awareness of reality is a dangerous thing.
I sincerely hope that I'll be able to continue to grow under your guidance. I know my time in Penang might be coming to an end if I secure the JPA scholarship, but I'm sure with today's technology, we can still keep in touch.