common sense...

i rarely follow the course syllabus when i teach my undergraduate students...i trust them to read the recommended text books with minimal guidance...i believe my job is to teach them how to think...fast and sometimes the opposite way...by giving cases i would ask my students to solve problems without giving definite answers...there's no right or wrong answer in real life anyway...it always depends...and discussing cases from both sides would be more meaningful in teaching students to think...i would encourage my students to participate and throw out ideas without fear of being wrong...to me the ability to give spontaneous answers "confidently" is crucial...and that requires skills...no one fails my class as long as they talk...last week, my ex-student came to have a chat with me...she just reported her duty with UUM as a tutor about a week ago...she graduated 4 years ago with 1st class honours...and worked with one of the big audit firms after her graduation...she said what i told her was true...i used to tell my students that probably only 20% of what they learned from the text books will be relevant when they work...and probably they will remember only 10% of those...so i told them to never be a text book worm...general knowledge is more important than text books...that's what i always believe...most of the times you only have your own instinct and common sense as a tool to solve problems especially when you are at the management level...it is all about being innovative, creative and inventive...that's what my own experience taught me...but then how to become innovative, creative and inventive? hmmm...good question but unfortunately i don't have the answer...it is about common sense i guess...and common sense comes thru knowledge, experience and self-believe...cheers