Adjustment

 

Curtis Lin

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For the exhibition of St. Paul’s College 165th Anniversary, we had an interview with one of the Economics students, Curtis Lin, where he shared his experiences in studying Economics, as well as his adjustment to routine life in SPC.

 

Why Economics?

Curtis Lin chose to study Economics as one of his electives and he chose the subject solely because Economics is, comparatively, a more causal subject.  He pointed out that Economics is a subject that requires relatively less memorization than other electives such as Chinese History.  In addition, other visually-impaired students had chosen Economics, so Curtis could ask them for help with questions upon enquiries and uncertainties about the subject at anytime.

 

Despite the fact that Economics is appealing to Curtis, he still has his doubts about the subject.  As a matter of fact, we do not have Economics in junior forms, and therefore, we know little about it, yet Curtis is still willing to attempt this new subject.  It reflects nothing but Curtis’ bravery to walk out of his comfort zone and try his best learning something completely new.

 

As an Economics Student

As a senior student that has been studying Economics for a year, Curtis generously shared with us some benefits of studying Economics.  Time management is one of them.  Curtis discovered that his time management skills have enhanced after studying Economics – knowing how to allocate the right amount of time spent on revising, based on his understanding towards that subject.  Another advantage of studying Economics is the technique of grabbing key points, an essential skill in scoring high marks in both tests and examinations.  He explained further using an example in Economics:

 

        ‘Like in the definition of Inferior Good, “Income?” is a must-mention word.’

 

It is obvious that these examination skills learnt are not specifically for Economics only, but applicable to every subject. Such also reflects how practical Economics is.

 

On the other hand, Curtis had a hard time studying Economics.  To Curtis, drawing graphs is not an easy task.  It is difficult for a visually impaired student to measure the position of axes, curves, lines of equilibrium price and quantity.  Mathematics like the calculation of elasticity of demand or supply is complicated, inputting wrongly and getting a ‘Math Error’ often occur.  In order to eliminate chances of getting wrong, Curtis will ask teachers and classmates to help him reconfirm if he has pressed anything incorrectly.

 

School Life of a Visually-Impaired Student

Ever wonder how visually-impaired students manage to accomplish their academic studies?  Curtis can certainly clear your doubt.  Visually-impaired students use computers and earphones to assist them.  Their textbooks ‘Braille textbooks’ are more bulky than normal ones, the ones we are using.  Despite having the same thickness, its content is much less than ordinary textbooks, so it is not possible to bring back all chapters to school, leading to situations such as not being able to follow up once teachers have finished teaching something in the chapter after.  Visually-impaired students interact with other classmates with various ways.  For instance, when telling visually-impaired students direction, we can use the ‘clock’ expression like “your computer is at 11 o’clock”.  Curtis told us that we can feel free to touch his hand so as to express graphs or objects more clearly.

 

Cheating? No Way!

To most people’s surprise, visually-impaired students can cheat in quizzes and exams easier than we imagine.  There are even successful examples from Curtis’ friend!  He can simply type a note in Braille beforehand, and claim that this is part of the test paper.  As no one but only the cheater can understand Braille, he can perform extraordinarily well in exams without revision.

 

To Curtis, cheating is a piece of cake.  Nevertheless, he won’t do so because he feels uncomfortable getting good results by cheating. Honesty should always be in a higher priority than academic results.

 

Equity of Society towards the Visually Impaired

Curtis pointed out that one’s personality should not be judged by one’s innate nor postnatal blindness, but one’s immanence.  With more opportunities and helps, visually-impaired people can do equally well, and they can gain more self-recognition from it.  Visually-impaired people can understand their abilities and limitations after encouragement, without thinking they are being discriminated, but rather a kind action offered by people around them.  He thinks that being visually impaired is not a misery, the point is that how your attitude be adjusted and think positive.

 

Curtis suggested that visually impaired should take the initiation to communicate with others, instead of passively waiting others to start the conversation.  To Curtis, being visually impaired is never misery.  What matters is how you adjust your attitude, to stay positive but not to get frustrated.

 

Undoubtedly, we have learnt much more about visually-impaired students from Curtis after the interview.  Let’s not forget being optimistic is the most crucial quality for individuals during hardships. We wish Curtis all the best in his future studies.

 

 Writer: Cheung Cho Yin Ethan (5E)