COMMENT | I have been teaching for almost as long as I have been a journalist. When I first started lecturing undergraduate students, I was only slightly older than most of them. In fact, a few of my students at that time were even the same age as me. I could teach so early in my life because I had, with the support of my parents, received my post-graduate degree quite early.

One of the pranks I used to play was to sit at the back of the class on the first day and pretend to wait as if the lecturer had not arrived. I would get to hear all kinds of rumours the students were dishing out about me even though they had never met me.

“This lecturer always late ahh?”“I hear he is very easy to suck up to for good grades!”“They say he is very boring!”“Apparently he is extremely good looking and some say funny too!”

Okay...