Public Speaking is by far one of the most fun and educational non-academic class I've ever partaken. We had like canceled classes for 5 consecutive weeks it was almost magical. It is also the only course that gave us the privilege to have a written essay for finals with the question distributed 7 days before the due date. The question was quite creative and ingenious enough for me to assume that he made it up on the spot,
"What did you learn from this class?" And well, this is my final exam answer.
Nur Naelah, section 4 of subject CCDS 2352 Public Speaking & Contemporary Issues
I read somewhere that Public Speaking is the number one fear of people.
Second being death. People are more afraid of talking to an audience, than
dying. But being a statistic of the majority, I'd say the huge contribution
towards the fear in public speaking lies in the fear of social acceptance. Our
opinions are scrutinized by society and if it is not part of the norm, it would
be deemed invalid. But then again, why should it be? We are complex beings with
individual brains, our thoughts need not be shaped by society and when it's
not, society does not have a say on validating it. Which is why I think public
speaking is feared, and which is why I feel liberated in this class where all
opinions are accepted. And because of this acceptance, I learnt a lot.
First of all, public speaking is not that hard. With structure,
substance, a good flow, and a bucket of courage, anyone can speak their mind
publically. You don't need to comply with society to have a valid opinion and
in the case of differing thoughts, there is always room for debate.
Debating however, is very theatrical.
The Niche Debate Final was the first debate tournament I ever attended
and I noticed that every contestant on stage were vey expressive in their
facial expression, made large hand movements to portray their disbelief of
their opponent's argument and some even stood up to argue every 5 seconds even
when being signaled to sit down every time he stood up.
But I guess that's how people arguing in real life seem to look like
from the perspective of a third party — unnecessarily dramatic and depicted by passion of
belief that person has on his/her argument. However, our opinions does not
necessarily ring true, the fact that they are not does not necessarily put us
at fault. We just have to listen to the opinions of others and if we agree to
it, alter our opinions in relative to theirs and if not, to each of their own.
I guess in theory it is always easy to know what is morally right and
wrong, but in practice these logic are not always intuitively present. Having
someone associate people with their skin color, race and country of origin sums
up a pretty clear equation that that person is racist even when he claims
that he is not. Being accused of a nationality that is not my own, I felt very
uncomfortable around this person and the more he talked, the more weird he came
to appear.
But as weird as he might be, he was subjected to his own opinion, in
each class he was given a chance to share his thoughts on certain topics and he
was given appraisal for his effort and that level of acceptance taught me a
broader understanding of the term 'open-minded'. I used to only think that
oppression are upon the minorities: women, gays, opposition parties and whatnot. But it seems
that I only listen to opinions of people who I consider relevant and disregard
the thoughts of people I don't like and it is then I realized that I was a part
of an act of discrimination.
There are two sides of a coin. We all know that the origins of World War II lie in the unsatisfactory outcome of World War
I, and everything ended when Germany's Fuhrer saw his decline, but that is
world history as written by the victors. How is world history written by the
Germans?
Point being, I thought my eyes were already wide, but this class taught
me that they weren't wide enough. It might never be, but I am aware of my
limited field of vision and strive to always try to look at my entire
surrounding for a clear perception of whatever comes my way in the future. This
class taught me to be more open, to always give people the chance to give their
thoughts, but judgment shall not follow unless asked for, and that is more than
I could ever ask from a 0.5 credit hour class.
It has been a very pleasant learning experience. Thank you.
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