SPEECHES ON NON-TRADITIONAL EDUCATION

By Professor Dr. Tan Man-Ho

Speech 1: The Message for Future Education: A Real World View on True Education

Speech 2: On the Status and Value of Non-Traditional Education Today

Speech 1: The Message for Future Education: A Real World View on True Education

Guest of Honor, Professor Dr. David De Cornu, Administrator of St. Clements University, Professor Dr. Lim Shian Ghee, St. Clements Academic Council member and Irish Business School representative in Malaysia, all the graduates and the general audience.

Good Afternoon!

I feel honored to be given the opportunity to share with you a piece of my essence thought through this short but important speech of mine entitled The Message for Future Education, A Real World View on True Education

It is not uncommon for many to be aware and view the great education process that occurs in every living being on mother earth to objectively happen solely in the brain systems of humans and humans alone, and that expensive material constructs could only support but not truly think by itself, and therefore cannot accurately and objectively indicate the real you as a truly educated being.

Educators are facilitators and the educational institution is one of the tools for the educational transformation.  Although the institutions are the walls or “stopinders” that have constrained and fragmented the universal soul of education, the “unwalled” institutions could truly liberate it, frees it from limitations and prepares it for unlimited frontier research.

Aldous Huxley once wrote:

“Any educator that aims at completeness must be at once theoretical and practical, intellectual and moral.”   And a true educator must aim at completeness!

I know of a Fourth Way School that aims for completeness in the development of human possibilities and for the harmonious development of human beings.  It consists of highly developed individuals, few as it should be, but would be ready to give a lending hand for the needy when the time and conditions are ripe.  In this school one might learn to become a human without quotation mark!

The founder of this school, G.I Gurdjieff, once said:  Take the understanding of the East and the knowledge of the West --- and then seek!

We know the West has produced a great world of information, science and knowledge but lost hold of being and understanding which is the underlying psychology that nourishes the knowledge, and which can be found in the practical psychology of the East.

When deep understanding of the East and developed knowledge of the West combine in you, and you seek, a miracle would happen for you --- a real enlightenment indescribable! 

As educators we are not completely free and we are subjected to the laws that arise from our social existence including, of course, the market demand .  And one important demand by students is quality deliverance from the educators.  To satisfy this demand, educators have:

• to focus their attention on the customers which is the students, the recipients of educational service

• to be dedicated to continual improvement, personally and collectively

• to be viewed as people on ongoing working process

• be committed to education

An Alternative Educational Delivery System that is offered by St. Clements University and Irish Business School enable hidden and unknown intelligence from obscure corners of the Earth to rapidly surface with formidable force which, otherwise, would escape the awareness of a much self-constrained walled university.

As the saying goes, “God does not limit His choice when looking for a warehouse for His created intelligent package.”

I am gratuitous to St. Clements University for her ability to recognize and formalize the 25 years of my works which could have otherwise gone undetected.

It is for this work that I have finally received my Doctor of Letters in Psychophilosophy, specializing in the development of new paradigms for the investigation of man, nature, society and the universe.

Finally, it is my hope that more would take this opportunity to reveal their true potential.

Thank You!

Graduation Speech by Professor Dr. Tan Man-Ho, November 21, 1999

Speech 2:  On the Status and Value of Non-Traditional Education Today

Guest of Honor, Professor Dr. David De Cornu, Chief Administrator of St. Clements University, Professor Dr. Lim Shian Ghee, Southeast Asia Administrator, Dr. Mogan Karuppiah of Transfakta, Professor Dr. Wong Eng Kong, Deputy President of St. Clements University Alumni Society Worldwide, All graduates, All alumni, and finally the general audience.

Good Afternoon!

I feel honored to be given the opportunity to share with you in today’s Graduation Ceremony, a piece of my experience.  I’m also honored to be given the responsibility and duty to head the Malaysian Alumni Chapter of St. Clements University and sincerely hope that at the end of my service I will be able to add value to the alumni profile and status.

As you all know, many people were occasionally worried about the Status and Value of Non-Traditional Education in a highly elusive and competitive world of education. They were worried that the value of the degrees they got might not be to the public expectation. They were worried that the traditional educationalists might strategically team up with the education regulators, social and political forces to disfavor their educational worth because they were a product of non-traditional education.  They were also worried at times that the traditionalists might succeed to put them down in this battle of competition for survival.

However, each time they find that they have a good reason to argue their case, and they keep on noticing a strong growing market demand for non-traditional education. Then they notice more and more people are learning the way they are doing, and joining the non-traditional education pool, and this has gradually calmed their troubled mind.

Seeking recognition and accreditation for universities and colleges is one of the important and certainly very difficult journey all universities and colleges will have to travel.  The Recognition & Accreditation providers and the consumers are eager participants in the global market ~ each trying hard to get as much Recognition & Accreditation as possible for the quality and level of their elusive inner world by referencing to an ever more and more expensive buildings and hardware from an outer world standpoint. It makes one wonders whether the Recognition & Accreditation indicator can truly represent the real you when much enrichment is focused on something not belonging to you.  To-date St. Clements University has done it well in the education of the REAL YOU but more recognition and accreditation have yet be sought for.  One thing humble about St. Clements University is that it is very transparent about its Recognition & Accreditation status and you can find them all listed in its website. I will advice you pay a visit.

There are many agencies in the world that provide recognition and accreditation services to universities and colleges. We have the national accreditation on a broad and general basis that tends to produce a halo effect.  We have the professional bodies that accredit in areas of their own expertise and therefore quite accurate when assessing you.  We have the public that are easily swayed by the psychology of promotion. There are the UN boys, the NGOs that also recognize and accredit universities and colleges that might be victims of circumstances in a highly lucrative and competitive business world of Recognition & Accreditation marketing. There are also many more legitimate independent associations including WAUC, groups and team-ups that provide recognition and accreditation too and who are mindful in noticing the hanky panky nature of Recognition & Accreditation politics and would want to break the shackles of being unfairly flanked aside.

Non-traditional education owes much thanks to the emergence of IT and the Internet worldwide, which have also helped us tremendously making thousands of miles education only seconds away, and making us feel the smallness of this world. The  traditionalists are in trouble too.  They have more worries than you have because they often desperately need the number of students to pay the very high overheads and expenditures which is killing their system. Many have already dumped in the millions of investment fund for which there is little hope of getting back, and they have the high payroll to worry.  Today, many traditionalists have quietly  gone non-traditional and e-learning to compete with the non-traditionalists.  The expensive state-of-the-art buildings are mainly used for show and physical image enhancing and to provide a sense of pride and ego satisfaction to their graduates. For network, virtual university or non-traditional university the niche is in the REAL YOU.

Real educational development is something about you, not about a building, a book, a big “padang” or any object outside you ~ not even the massive buildings of a university.  The industrial park where the most sophisticated equipment and systems are located is a formidable place and support system for firsthand learning, research and professional development in your education.  In fact, these industrial organizations have their own training and research centers, and even register themselves as providers of education by setting up their own university.  For this observation I’ll like to call to your attention those familiar universities like the Multimedia University, the University Tenaga, the Motorola University, the Hamburger University, etc.  A traditional university can become isolated from the mainstream and its most up to-date equipment often could not catch up with the real ones in the modern industrial park.

The traditional universities are cornered to provide the additional support especially in the academic training and theory development dimensions. They may be further cornered to function as the awarding universities for confirming and recognizing prior learning in the real world. This is the marketing niche for non-traditional university which is based on the mature adult market who are working and learning in real organizations.

As educators we are not completely free from our social responsibility as we are also a part in the whole, and our actions will affect the whole ~ in an ascending or a descending direction.  And here, we opt for an ascending direction always through our commitments.

As educators, we are committed to:

• Deliver quality knowledge, experience, skill and expertise

• Provide education with care and responsibility

• Ensure objective evaluation and assessment of students’ work

• Emphasize holistic education without ignoring the importance of specialization

• Work towards value-adding and greater recognition for our students and alumni

Finally, it is my hope that more prospective students will take this education opportunity from St. Clements University and Irish University Business School to reveal their true potential.

Thank You!

Graduation Speech by Professor Dr. Tan Man-Ho, May 4, 2003