I have an elective in my Masters in Business Analytics course for which the concerned Professor has Parkinson's disease. The situation is similar to the movie 'A beautiful mind'. He is the most brilliant Professor technically but his voice is not easily comprehensible. Also, the nature of the course is going to be way too mathematical as per the feedback I had obtained from seniors and other Professors. There was a limit on the class size as 30. Curiously, 30 students registered for the course. I was one among them as I love Mathematics and also love to take challenges head-on.
(Edit: I just noticed that the Professor has won an Gold Medal in the Special Olympics for Golf. Wow!)
By the time the first class started only 19 students were there in the class. The rest of the 11 students dropped out after getting to know the feedback from the seniors later on. The Professor had formed 4 teams out of the 19 students and told all the work in the course including the final take-home exam will be team-based.
During the second class, there were only 9 students. I interacted with the 10 students who dropped out. They told that they weren't expecting so much of a mathematical course.
The Professor now made 2 teams instead of 4. He told in class "Generally, this is my class strength". I thought to myself he is consoling himself by saying that.
Something worse happened after that. It came to my notice that 5 more students dropped out after the second class because they couldn't understand his voice. We are left with a mere 4 students for the forthcoming third class. I am one among the brave souls left.
The professor, while coming out of the second class, asked us, "Are you able to understand?" We all nodded faintly and then he told, "You all should do fine". When he told that, I could sense the pain and sorrow in his voice and face.
I felt bad for him. Apart from his voice, it was also a pitiful sight to see the awkward movements when the Professor is trying to write on the whiteboard. Moreover, he has to sit during the lecture rather than stand because of his disease. In fact, he mentioned he has to take up Rock Steady Boxing classes to help coordinate his movements. Clearly, it was not a joke to be in his position.
I was thinking to myself what would I have done if I were in his position. The answer was not easy. In my old age, if I get Parkinson's I won't be able to do anything about it. I would've just tried to endure what I cannot change. Maybe, just pray to God for strength and accept whatever comes.
Will the Professor's heart sink when he sees just 4 students left? What will he do about the team-based assignments? I thought I will pray to God to give this professor the strength to handle the situation.
In a strange way, this put things into perspective for me. I was thinking that all the troubles that I faced in my life so far. All those troubles seemed like zilch compared to what this Professor was facing at this point in time.
Sometimes looking at others problems we get to know that what we are facing is nothing compared to what many people in this world are facing every day. We are just making mountains out of molehills. We need to distance ourselves from the trials and tribulations that we're facing and look at the big picture. It gave me courage that if someone can handle such huge troubles day in day out and carry on unflinchingly, we can face our problems much better too.
(Edit: I just noticed that the Professor has won an Gold Medal in the Special Olympics for Golf. Wow!)
By the time the first class started only 19 students were there in the class. The rest of the 11 students dropped out after getting to know the feedback from the seniors later on. The Professor had formed 4 teams out of the 19 students and told all the work in the course including the final take-home exam will be team-based.
During the second class, there were only 9 students. I interacted with the 10 students who dropped out. They told that they weren't expecting so much of a mathematical course.
The Professor now made 2 teams instead of 4. He told in class "Generally, this is my class strength". I thought to myself he is consoling himself by saying that.
Something worse happened after that. It came to my notice that 5 more students dropped out after the second class because they couldn't understand his voice. We are left with a mere 4 students for the forthcoming third class. I am one among the brave souls left.
The professor, while coming out of the second class, asked us, "Are you able to understand?" We all nodded faintly and then he told, "You all should do fine". When he told that, I could sense the pain and sorrow in his voice and face.
I felt bad for him. Apart from his voice, it was also a pitiful sight to see the awkward movements when the Professor is trying to write on the whiteboard. Moreover, he has to sit during the lecture rather than stand because of his disease. In fact, he mentioned he has to take up Rock Steady Boxing classes to help coordinate his movements. Clearly, it was not a joke to be in his position.
I was thinking to myself what would I have done if I were in his position. The answer was not easy. In my old age, if I get Parkinson's I won't be able to do anything about it. I would've just tried to endure what I cannot change. Maybe, just pray to God for strength and accept whatever comes.
Will the Professor's heart sink when he sees just 4 students left? What will he do about the team-based assignments? I thought I will pray to God to give this professor the strength to handle the situation.
In a strange way, this put things into perspective for me. I was thinking that all the troubles that I faced in my life so far. All those troubles seemed like zilch compared to what this Professor was facing at this point in time.
Sometimes looking at others problems we get to know that what we are facing is nothing compared to what many people in this world are facing every day. We are just making mountains out of molehills. We need to distance ourselves from the trials and tribulations that we're facing and look at the big picture. It gave me courage that if someone can handle such huge troubles day in day out and carry on unflinchingly, we can face our problems much better too.
