Others – Page 6 – A Learning Journey

Completing ChinaX’s Module 2: The creation and end of a unified empire

To understand the future, one must learn from the past. To understand China of today, one must learn about China of the past. If you are a Chinese Malaysian (or ethnic Chinese of other nationalities), you could do no wrong in learning a lot more about your roots.

It is not easy to follow a highly demanding course on the history of China delivered by 2 of the current authorities in Chinese history and culture in Harvard University, Professors Peter Bol and William Kirby.

I got to learn from these scholars free of charge via MOOC from edx.org.

The course demanded lots of reading (but all provided free) and most importantly, you need to post your comments and participate in discussions. The course materials composed mainly of video lectures and reading plus assessments in the form of multiple choice questions and some short answer questions. These by themselves are not as demanding as the need for the learner to have a good command of English. There were many words and phrases that I had to consult Google to figure out. But the learning and understand you will achieve is all worth the effort.

I spent about 10 -12 hours each week on the course and picked up lots and lots of knowledge that I wish I was given as a school student studying Chinese and history.

The 2nd module is about the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). It began with the fall of Qin Dynasty (221 – 206 BCE) and compared the systems of government of the two. The story telling nature of the delivery was great in helping me to follow the course. The course then cover the rise of the Western Han then the Eastern Han. It also touches on how Buddhism was established in China and the influence the new “foreign” religion has on the people and the rulers. But I like the Salt and Iron debate most where the Lord Chancellor of Han was debating with the Literati about the relative merits of the Han system of governance and the scholars wish to revert to Confucianism and antiquity (used in the Zhou Dynasty, 800 years before).

The concluding video for the module is presented below:

Despicable act of an educator – inflating marks for bribes

It is disgraceful for an academic to inflate the marks of students in exchange for bribes so that they can pass their examinations. This is despicable.

It seems that the institution concerned, Curtin University, Australia, does not have a foolproof system to detect and check on possible abuse by academics.

I think all institutions should have an examination board rather than one person to decide on grades etc. When I was managing the academic operation of a college, all examination decisions were made by the examination board and no individual, including the head of academics had the right to make decisions on grades. The check and balance system worked very well. Also proper and judicious record keeping is crucial. In my case, for the lack of a functional examination operation system, I invented the use of Google Docs and the many features to provide a full paper-trails (or electronic trail, to be more precise) of all decisions and operational work. This allowed me to deal with all the malicious accusations made by people with ulterior motives and exposed their ill intend.

I feel that the institution is just as responsible as the disgraced academic on this issue.

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Malaysian lecturer escapes jail over bribery charges in Perth

DECEMBER 6, 2013

MELBOURNE, Dec 6 — A former Malaysian-born Perth university lecturer has escaped imprisonment after admitting he took thousands of dollars in bribes to increase exam marks for students who would otherwise have failed.

The Australian Associated Press said Foong Tuck Cheong, 54, pleaded guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court in June to three charges of corruption and two counts of bribery following a Corruption and Crime Commission investigation into offences committed at Curtin University in 2012.

Foong increased the marks of two students who should have failed units for their Bachelor of Applied Science (Construction Management and Economics) degree.

One student paid him A$3,000 (RM8,776) and the other paid A$1,500.

For a third student — whose father in Malaysia had known Foong for many years — he increased the marks on one assignment and gave him a pass mark on another project even though the assignment had not even been submitted.

Judge Philip McCann on Friday sentenced Foong to 16 months’ jail, suspended or two years.

He said the offences were very serious and had the potential to cause serious damage to Curtin University’s reputation.

While it was important to send a message to others that jail would follow such offending, and that academic integrity was taken seriously, McCann acknowledged Foong’s behaviour was “irrational and out character”, and accordingly suspended the sentence.

It followed Foong being told he was about to be made redundant after 24 years with the university, which left him “emotionally devastated” and affected his judgment.

Foong was also fined A$6,000 for his actions relating to the Malaysian student. — Bernama

From: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-lecturer-escapes-jail-over-bribery-charges-in-perth#sthash.np6kd2JG.dpuf

Learning about Bitcoin

There has been lots of interest in this virtual currency or more appropriately described as cryptographic transaction medium called Bitcoin. One Bitcoin at the end of Nov 2013 is worth over US$1,000 making it coming close to the price of one ounce of gold (about US$1,250 on Nov 29, 2013).

I have done a lot of digging of information about Bitcoin to learn about this concept and am sharing my learning in this post.

The Economist has a series of good articles on Bitcoin:

1. This article is a brief summary about how Bitcoin works.

2. Despite Bitcoin system claims of anonymity for the users, there is a trail that is really relatively easy to be picked up. This has been demonstrated by researchers in the University of California, San Diego. The Economist also gave a good coverage in this article. This trail was how the drug dealing site, Silk Road was nailed by authorities eventually.

3. Keeping the Bitcoin ecosystem going requires lots of computing power that is ever increasing. Bitcoin is a cyptographically generated virtual currency that has no backing by any government or precious metal. It is generated when “miners” using huge amount of computing power solve complicated mathematical problems (that are getting increasingly difficult). The miner who solve the latest problem will be given a reward of 25 Bitcoin (currently). The next problem will be harder and progressively so. The entire ecosystem is too taxing and there is not fixed rule for the game, making the system very flexible but also fragile. The Economist has a great article covering the technological challenge for the Bitcoin ecosystem.

4. Because of the fact that Bitcoin has risen in value from US$15 a year ago to US$1,070 at one point in late November 2013, many experts have cautioned about the Bitcoin bubble. I think this is very akin to the 17th century’s tulip mania that was also a big bubble. This article gives a very good explanation of the bubbly Bitcoin.

I have also dug around for other sources of information about Bitcoin and compiled this into a document that is shared here.

My take on Bitcoin:

It is good and cheap a system for moving lots of money across international boarders and do so in minutes. But I will not speculate on it. If I own any (which I don’t), I will sell them fast before the bubble busts.

Updated (Dec 18, 2013): The China government has decided to curb the speculative trading and impending bubble of bitcoin. It s central bank has ordered financial institutions in China not to provide Bitcoin-related services and products and cautioned against its potential use in money-laundering. The value of bitcoin tumbled 60% from its highest level.