Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim is a historian and educator.
His views on matters of public concern - from sports to nationalism - are often sought and shared. The academician is also a Suhakam commissioner, and a member of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip.

Do you think lecturers in a university should learn to be more effective teachers?

Tan Chia Huei, PhD student in Biochemistry
"I am working hard to become an educator myself. From tutoring and mentoring experiences, I can say that the one thing any teacher needs to be effective is the desire to share knowledge, and an earnest wish to see a younger generation take on the world. I don't believe a lecturer's role is to read off a powerpoint slide. I love a lecturer who can pick up a piece of chalk and create an entire lesson off his head. Or one who has good presentation skills, being able to create connections between each slide, literally telling a story. Lecturers should be given the chance to obtain these skills, through training programs. Only with self-confidence, can enthusiasm take over and run the show. Also to be an effective lecturer, time is needed. Years to gain experience and months to prepare the course well. University or secondary school, it's the same thing. It's not about spoonfeeding, but like what others have said, it's about inspiring."

Daphne, 21, Johor
"Lecturers are to guide but not just to teach."

Ong Siew Lee, 22, Petaling Jaya
"Do you think lecturers in a university should learn to be more effective teachers? They should learn to be more creative and express themselves well to reach out to us students for us to learn more effectively. Rather than be spoonfed."

Yong Chen Wei, 20, Nottingham, UK
"I think they still have a lot to learn before they are even decent people, let alone teachers."

Patricia Pinto, 24, Selangor
"YES. YES YES AND YES! They should also be more effective at encouraging their students to think, and be more concerned with empowering their students as individuals, with a healthy dose of imparting knowledge."

Jason Lioh, 25, Malacca
"Yes. Please stop the reading-from-the-slides teaching method."

Radzman, 17, Putrajaya
"No, they don't, they won't, they shouldn't."

Sundara, 18, Klang, Student
Yes. passing on knowledge to sudents should not only be regarded as a job. Lecturers help to mould the leaders of tommorow. One of my lecturers, whom I really look up to, said on the very first class, "I want to create thinkers, not opportunists"

Meng Yean,19
"No, I was told that lecturers are not teachers. They are just there to facilitate and guide us through our curriculum. They just start the ball rolling and we have to continue the rest ourselves through research and self-directed learning. That is why books, encyclopedias, journals and World Wide Web exist in this world. Who knows we will be better than our lecturers? Enough with the spoon-feeding already, 11 years of it in school still not enough?"

Phang Kuan Hoong, 27, musician
"No. Lecturers in a university should learn to be INSPIRING teachers. Effectiveness merely means you drill a certain set of rigid ideas into our heads. What we need are lecturers who INSPIRES students to think for ourselves."

Chin Pei Ling, 20, undergraduate
"Yes of course, don't just teach for the sake of teaching and getting the monthly pay. A good lecturer is a memorable and inspiring one to the students, one that I can still quote his/her lines 10 years down the road."

Lydia Kwan, 21
"Duh. The days of having 'real' lecturers are long gone. When a friend of mine asked our lecturer a question, his answer was, 'Google it. That's what I do.' He was being serious."