Abstract
THE BASIC IS STILL BASIC: A BIOLOGY PROFESSOR’S PHILOSOPHY AND PERSONAL REFLECTION
Journal: i TECH MAG (Letter to Editor)
Author: Chee Kong Yap
DOI: 10.26480/itechmag.07.2025.79.82
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This reflective note offers my personal journey through academia, guided by principles of humility, integrity, and foundational scholarship. Drawing parallels with the structure of Merdeka 118, it emphasizes the importance of deep grounding in both knowledge and character. I reject the pursuit of ego-driven recognition and instead advocates for mentorship, responsible research, and accessible scholarship rooted in biology and ethics. Through lived experience and philosophical insights, this note explores burnout, the quiet strength of teaching, and the enduring impact of values over metrics. Humility, clarity, and service are presented not as constraints, but as enduring pillars of scholarly legacy. This reflection serves as a message to young scholars and research students: build slowly, build deeply, and build truthfully. This is because the view is earned by the strength of the foundation. To make this message practical for new researchers, I anchor it in a simple natural law. Big results grow from small well-tended beginnings and careful early moves prevent failure at the end. I frame mentoring and laboratory practice around this. Attend to roots, correct while errors are still small, and finish with the same care as at the start. The basic is still basic, especially in today’s AI era, and it remains the real mover of scientific success; if you can agree with me.
| Pages | 79-82 |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 7 |