‘Didn’t you go to school? Are you even Singaporean? How do you not know?’ — Senior professor ‘yells at staff’ and even ‘points his middle finger’

SINGAPORE: In a city that prides itself on world-class education and service excellence, one local university senior professor seems to have missed the lesson on basic human decency.

According to a Reddit post on r/SingaporeRaw, an unnamed “senior prof from a local university” has developed quite the reputation — not for academic brilliance or trailblazing research but for treating staff like a badly written thesis draft. The professor, who claims to have studied at prestigious institutions, “Stanford and Harvard,” reportedly uses his international education credentials to belittle others rather than inspire them.

“He’s super rude and constantly talks down to them,” a Singaporean witness wrote, adding that this behaviour wasn’t a one-off incident, but a pattern. Whether it’s a slow gantry at the carpark or a simple request at the front desk, the professor defaults to verbal attacks and, on one occasion, even raised his middle finger.

“If you want to be seen as a person of knowledge and wisdom, then act like one…”

The most talked-about incident involved the professor asking a staff member for directions to “the tower? The one with two towers?” referring to Marina Bay Sands (MBS).

However, when the staff, understandably puzzled, tried to clarify before he could help, the professor immediately snapped with a barrage of rhetorical jabs: “Didn’t you go to school? Are you even Singaporean? How do you not know?”

Let’s pause here for a moment on this dramatic irony: The professor himself is a Singaporean, so why didn’t he know what the “two towers” were called?

The Singaporean witness then summarised the incident with: “If you want to be seen as a person of knowledge and wisdom, then act like one. Being rude to people who are just doing their jobs doesn’t make you superior; it just shows your lack of class.”

Worse still, the post claims that staff apologising to the professor only makes things worse. “The more you humble yourself, the worse he treats you.” Sounds like he’s more of a professor with a PhD in power tripping than anything else.

“He got Permanent Head Damage (PhD) from the PhD degree he went through…”

The post quickly drew in a flood of comments, with many saying such elitist behaviour is all too familiar in Singapore. One commenter wrote:

“Singaporeans embrace elitism. Look at how Mercs and BMWs owners drive — small people trying to show off their big ego everywhere.”

Another likened the professor’s arrogance to academic tunnel vision: “A PhD isn’t that impressive. It’s really just for people with an unhinged obsession with one very specific thing.”

Others were less diplomatic: “He got permanent head damage (PhD) from the PhD degree he went through. That’s why he has no class. Dudes with huge egos always have small everything else, that’s why they have to compensate by acting bigger than others,” one wrote.

One Singaporean, a PhD holder himself, added a refreshing counterpoint: “A true PhD knows we keep learning throughout life. A student for life, I would say. Nothing justifies unkindness.”

And that, perhaps, is the key lesson here — knowledge doesn’t grant you the right to take advantage of people nor be cruel to them. The real test of education isn’t the letters after your name, but how you treat those without them.

Your job title and education level don’t define your identity; how you treat others does

While the professor’s name and the university he is currently in weren’t revealed, the Singaporean witness hinted that the professor was “quite established from the uni with many upskirt news.”

Whatever that cryptic reference means, the picture painted is clear: This isn’t someone who should be representing any institution, much less moulding young minds.

So it’s really about time some professors got a refresher course — not in academia, but in humility and respect.

Let this also be a reminder that true intelligence never needs to raise its voice or its middle finger, and let us not forget that our job title and education level don’t define our identity; how we treat others does.

Read related: ‘My supervisor pointed his middle finger at me’ — Fresh grad on his first job asks if he should just ‘apologize to keep the peace’