In Continuum.

Mr. Hazelnut Bun

The one thing you are going to notice when you step into Mr. Hazelnut's class in school is the fact that this man is somebody with enough passion to drown every student in the lecture hall. Economics is probably filled to the throat of this man, and he probably spent the better half of his life studying Economics as well, and you can see from the way his eyes sparkle even when we are just talking about grapes and bananas. The truth is, Mr. Hazelnut is the kind of teacher who has a lot of passion and a lot of knowledge, and probably not somebody with just average knowledge of the textbook, standing in front of the classroom asking people to respect him or her because of that. I've met too many teachers who are just sub-standard, who are there because they were appointed the job. You can see how bored they are while teaching whatever they are teaching, you start to wonder if walking out of the classroom would do the teacher a favor instead of showing any disrespect.

From the very first time we saw Mr. Hazelnut, he laid out the rules and regulations flat out in front of everybody. He is very particular about the way you write your name on the test papers, or the way you decide to indicate your recitation group number. Also, if you are going to write your UB number on the 'Name' column, he is not going to take his time to look through the database just to find out who the hell you are. In fact, if you so much as fill in the wrong column on the test papers, you are going to receive heavy penalties for doing just that, even if you are a grade A student in school and scores full marks for every one of his tests. That was the kind of discipline he wanted from the students, and to me that wasn't a lot to ask for. After all, it is going to be difficult for him to be checking through nameless idiots who refuse to write their names when he is alone marking the 120 odd scripts of the whole cohort. However, some people see this as being a 'Jerkoff' attitude, or that he is being anal about things. Well, to these people who thinks this way: Go fuck yourself. Here's why.

Mr. Hazelnut is not really called Mr. Hazelnut, to tell you the truth. I call him that because his name sounds like Hazelnut if you read it fast, and that is how we coined that name. To me, he looks more like a prune in class to be honest, with his dark skin and thick facial hair, it is not hard to imagine him hanging from a tropical tree in the middle of an Indonesian rain forest. With his thinning hair and thick beard, he marches up and down the staircase in our lecture theaters with much vigor and passion that they almost become infectious - at least for the attentive ones at the front of the hall. These are the people who genuinely want to learn something from this guy, who respect him for who he is. It's not because he went to great length to drill concepts into our heads, or because we like him particularly over the other teachers. Our respect for this man was never earned, but it stems from the simple truth that this man is in a foreign country all by himself, for months at a time and away from his family living in the States just to teach us some basic concepts about Economics. That alone is worth some kind of respect, the kind which the back of the class seldom gives to this man.

We were given sheets of paper to write our feedbacks just last week, and there were columns for Instructor, Course and our everyday quizzes and tests. Because these feedbacks were submitted anonymously, some schmucks thought that it'd be cool to write angry messages and their dissatisfactions about Mr. Hazelnut on the comment sheet and pass it up. Little did they know that he intended on flashing some of these comments on the giant screen in class in the next lesson. And that is exactly what he did with that particular comment that said "I hate his jerk attitude", which I thought was just a repulsive comment altogether. Of course, Mr. Hazelnut took it with a smile and joked about how he REALLY can be a jerk at times. But seriously, who the hell wants to be called a jerk?

The real 'jerk' in this whole issue is the idiot who wrote the comment himself. I mean seriously, if you cannot appreciate this man's teachings and cannot get over the fact that he is particular about certain things, then that is really your own problem and not anybody else's. If you are going to call him a jerk off, why don't you try studying your facial features in the mirror and realize who the jerk off really is. Because the truth is, by being yourself you are not only labeling yourself as one, you are giving shame to the entire population of jerk offs in the world. So rid us of your stupidity and save your comment to yourself. The world is not going to be made better just because of your petty bullshit, so stop whining about how he may be strict in his work at times because that's the way it is going to be. Swallow it and move on, and stop sulking anonymously. If you have a problem, voice it up in class. Don't hide behind the veils of anonymity your spineless worm.

Anyway, enough of that. The moment he flashed that particular comment, I just felt a wave of nausea and shame for Singaporeans. I mean, this teacher is coming all the way from the States to give us lessons, and there we are presenting ourselves as petty, immature bird brains. It takes a lot of good students to cover up the acts of one idiotic student, and it's not like there are a lot of us to begin with. It is an uphill battle on our part to cover up the mistakes that you guys are making every single lesson, and we are running out of paper to wipe your royal asses. So please, like I said, just shut the hell up the next time you decide to voice your retarded comments. Thank you.

Visiting his website through Google, you get to see the other side of Mr. Hazelnut. You see his hobbies, the countries he have been to over the years, and his family pictures. His two children and wife are all in the States right now, and he is alone in Singapore teaching a bunch of young brats about demand elasticities. That alone is a kind of respect, because not everybody can tolerate coming overseas for a few months each time, and to stay away from their loved ones for so long. And I couldn't help but smile when I saw those family pictures on his website, the way he looked happy with his family and most of all - contented. At least that was the feeling I got when I saw his arms around his daughter's shoulders at a football game. I thought it was just nice, to see this other side of him that we do no see very often about.

We knew so little of him before the website was publicly known. We knew that he is from the States, that he loves Economics more than his wife - maybe, and the fact that he was from Bangladesh previously, before moving to the States for further studies. That was as far as our knowledge about the man went, and the website truly opened up a lot of doors and windows about this person, and to me it just brought us that much closer to this man standing in front of the class with his carefully trimmed beard and suit. Perhaps a little respect also, but that's just me on my part. Sure I talk a little bit during his lessons, and I text-message my friends at times as well. But at least I do well in his papers, I listen and make notes most of the time. That is the case for the most part of the class but not some of those inconsiderate individuals in the back.

We paid good money to have Mr. Hazelnut sent all the way from the States to this place, and he is here for one purpose: Us. Now, if you are going to pay four digit school fees and sit in a lecture to talk, then you are better off sitting in the canteen the whole day and not go to class for the sake of attendance. Because your presence is pissing the other students off, the ones who truly want to learn and take something away from class each day. These people show so little respect that I just feel like standing up in class at times and scream. It's just sad that Mr. Hazelnut is not getting enough respect he deserves, and how so little people are giving him the deserved amount of respect as well. I feel sorry at times, but it's not like I can do anything much about other people's idiocy. Some people are alive in this world only because manslaughter is illegal. That's true.

So here is me, telling you Mr. Hazelnut, that there are people in your class who still wants to learn, who are unlike those ignorant bastards in class. We really want to take something away from you, and we do have that respect in our minds about who you are, and what you are. I know that it is hard to be here and teach these pigs about economics. But hang in there until August, they will be gone from your life in no time. Until then, don't give up at all. Keep pressing on, there are the ones - like myself - who still likes you the way you are.