Whenever someone says that the young knows best or that our future is better in the hands of the young, I would quietly smile in complete amusement.

As an academic with the so-called crème de la crème of students, I know the immaturity of most students in not just academia but more so in politics, religion and life.

Of course they are immature; they have zero experience and so little reading from their past religious and public schools.

Their parents also probably do not read, just follow ustazs and religious teachers after their universities and schooling.

Let’s take a look at some of the immature decisions and actions of university students mostly from public uni.

First and latest is the “Ham Sandwich” incident. The student had assumed that ham automatically mean “pork meat” when a simple check would reveal much.

Perhaps the students did not receive this information from their lecturer’s Powerpoint? In the age of AI and ChatGPT, a simple question to the largest database of human existence was not done.

Then, there is the question of simply asking the shop or owners of the shop.

It is fine that the student reported to the UM authorities, but to report to the police?

With no information from simple Internet searches and not having the courtesy of asking questions, it’s straight to the police!

I would not hire students like this!

Recently, we saw the UMS student wanting to stage a huge public demonstration à la Bersih 1.0 or 2.0. Their issue was Musa Aman being appointed as TYT of Sabah.

The student could not even distinguish between accusing a person of corruption or using facts that the person has been found guilty of corruption.

Najib Tun Razak is guilty of corruption as of now. Who says? The court and several courts also. Which court convicted Musa Aman?

Just reading about Musa Aman’s insane wealth and even more insane gambling debts are not enough. It would have been better to frame the concern of appointing questionable candidates to the TYT in a forum and streamed on social media.

Before this, there were UiTM students staging a protest over the possible inclusion of just a few medical students last year.

Did the students know the spirit of MARA and ITM in the beginning? Did they bother to read what Tun Arshad Ayub said about UiTM and inclusiveness with other races?

Did the students understand the cryptic message of Tun Dr. Ismail about Bumiputra first policy? And, did the students understand the gravity of medical specialist needs in the country?

Again, why demonstrate? Why not call a few people from the medical profession, historians and politicians of all races and divide and have a conversation?

Do we academics teach research, rationale and arguments, or do we teach how to stage demonstrations with zero understanding of the context of the issues?

A few years ago, GAMIS or Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam staged a protest against Dong Zong for rejecting the inclusion of Jawi in Bahasa Malaysia syllabus.

The group of Malay Muslim students had threatened “May 13” onto the Chinese education group.

These students were not even born when May 13 murdered many innocent young lives. These mahasiswa showed no compassion and no reflection of grave incidents like riots.

Again, why not call Dong Zong for an intellectual dialogue or ask to speak and debate the issue in the open?

Do we academics teach threats and demonstrations as tools for future careers? I never did.

Lastly, there was this Sabah student who performed the “Sieg Heil” as a tribute to Adolf Hitler in murdering Jewish children, women, elderly and adult.

To the world, this was a crime of unprecedented proportion. To that student, it was a noble act of courage and spirituality in murdering those Muslims and Christians deem as enemies of the religion.

Now, which university has this sort of teaching in their syllabus? Did the MQA check this? I want to know.

The MQA is so efficient that their evaluators love looking at forms and details that boggle my mind, but did they check why this student as a product of a Malaysian education saw fit to harbour holocaust intentions on people whom he has never met?

When journalists ask me about my opinion of the Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint, I just look at them blankly and in utter amusement.

We have such students as the above and we are way beyond blueprints, dear Malaysians.

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)