COLUMN | As an educator, I have taught hundreds of students from China, the US and from the rest of the world. Many of them are fun and hilarious and they appreciate the way I acknowledge their ideas and test my long-running patience with their communication skills.

Over three decades, students from China have learned the intricacies of English proficiency to philosophy, anthropology to political science, foreign policy to the United States and World History and Psychology, from yours truly.

They are diligent, although many had to make cultural adjustments to adapt to the American classroom environment. Chinese students mostly come from essentially the drill-and-practice structured Chinese education system.

Just as Lao Tzu, Kung Fu Tze, and even Sun Tzu and Bruce Lee, among other notable Chinese, the students eventually became my teachers. They taught me one thing: an educator does not see a learner in racial terms or discriminate in any form.

A teacher should always be a reservoir of cultural beingness so that we can learn from one another. This sums up a key ingredient of my passion for teaching and my commitment to impart knowledge to cultural awareness and human liberation. This is my continuing call for educators, to learn about appreciating others.

Have a Great Lunar New Year, my students, wherever you are. And let us, as Malaysians, dismantle all forms of discrimination in our education system.

Growing up in Johor Baru in the 70s

Back in the day of the smooth-sailing seventies, people were...