Disclaimer: This post has taken me weeks to compose. It's not a complete set of my ideas on current education issues, but a part of a huge jigsaw puzzle yet to be filled up. I don't think it would make it to the sensory organs of the powers-up-there but if it does, it's just merely my opinion and no offence. It's composed because I felt nauseous of the current problems in my country's education system, that I don't know how many posts it will take to elaborate all of my opinions regarding this matter. I would like to apologise on the trashy manner of my post but it shows that my mind was spun round and round by the papers, the TV, the social media and reality. It may be boring but that's my expression towards my disappointment on the education system.
During my past few weeks as a retail assistant in a bookshop, I have met people of all crosses. The category of people I would like to relate to this post is the family's category, especially among Chinese.
With the exception of families having no children at all or having younger children, the thoughts of some families with children studying at school have inspired me to write this post. Sometimes I would be 'guest-starring' as a cashier. I found that some families bought many exercise books (literally with exercises in the book, not the brown-covered one) and ordered their children to finish them. I knew that that's already a trend going on for years, even during my primary school days, this familiar scene used to be played in my life.
I remembered that one lady told me that her son (a primary school student) is having a hard time in his days of schooling. He has to be in school till around half past 3 in the afternoon, and then attend tuition classes. He has no time to take a much-needed break. He has to finish his seemingly-never-ending homework, including the ones from his tuition classes. My youngest brother is now facing a similar case of the lady's son, with the difference that he has to go to piano classes each weekend. I had also endured this painful, exhausting process of primary school education. The most extreme thing I have ever done for my studies during that immense period is that I had to utilise the dictionary to inquire the meanings for tough Chinese words that I do not understand. I remembered that my teacher would punish me and my classmates if we do not know what is the definition of the word when asked. The point that made the task extreme is that there are way too many words to inquire, and I had to do it until past midnight and had to wake up as early as 5 in the morning to continue the task.
That was a mundane life ... Anyway, it's not totally over in my secondary school days. That's when even the school environment, in my case, are keeping the reading of the pressure gauge up. I was a student studying in A classes (we have 5 classes for each grade, respectively A, B and C). Almost all students are munching on revision books, whether in class or at home. The exams are getting tougher, and getting worse since I was studying in one of the famous secondary schools in my state. I was studying as hard as possible, still not making the passing cut in some subjects, mostly involving memorisation and scientific investigation. Yeah, and there is a subject fooling students all around my country. That subject is called Moral Education. What is tested in the exams? Guess what, it just tests a student on the ability to utilise the 36 moral values set by the board of Moral Education subject of the MOE, alongside memorising the definition and keywords of each moral values. This subject do have projects too, only that it's merely a Hollywood show. The importance of this subject in my country can be easily replaced by Civic and Nationality Education in my country. And there is another subject which is also quite foolish - History. Some of us thought that the History syllabus during their upper secondary school lessons would be more focused to world history, but no, it is taught otherwise. There are some elements of world history, but they only represent a minor portion of the syllabus. The major part of the syllabus is still focused on local history, but with more information comparing to what students learnt in their History lessons during their lower secondary school days. Furthermore, the syllabus is inclined towards the ... ahem ... (I don't want to mention it. As people of my country, you will understand what I mean).
Now, after 11 years of 'formal' (by 'formal', I mean the education provided under the MOE), I am glad to have a period of relaxation for me to recharge and decide what to do next. Thanks for the 3 months of NS, I do not need to enter the world of tertiary education so soon. Within this period, I had time to read the books I have previously bought but never had time to read, along with some books I have picked up during my part-time job in a bookshop. My mind and soul was totally opened to the world and all sorts of ideas and perspective flooded into me just like people charging their way into a shop just to buy something big eg. Samsung Galaxy smartphones, Harry Potter's final episode, or in Mr. Bean's live shows, a new year's sale. Well, I saw my brothers suffering from the wrath of their studies. My little bro faces the same fate as I did in the past. My secondary-school-graduate-to-be bro is juggling between his studies and his co-curricular activities, which he failed quite miserably. I know that they do contribute to their own problems, but seriously, the authorities are the pioneers of these problems.
First of all, are you guys diminishing co-curricular activities? Co-curricular activities used to be fun and challenging. You may stay somewhere overnight and enjoy those night activities. I had once during my first year in the secondary school. It was a 3-day training camp and we have to stay overnight at school. That was an experience I thought that it's precious till now. Nowadays, according to my bro, the MOE only allowed activities to be held latest till 5 in the afternoon. The school authorities do not allow students to stay overnight due to safety reasons unless given special permission. Red tapes have to be done before organising an activity (I mean, a LOT of them). Adding that the education system is so damn exam-oriented and my former secondary school's challenging environment, the students in my secondary school would rather attend more tuition classes than participating co-curricular activities. So, what is the point of co-curricular activities? They are meant to be organised to train students to become a more independent, more sociable and more skilful leader who can contribute himself/herself, his/her family, society, country and the world in the future. The current system actually prohibits the growth of the non-academic aspect of the students. Well, parents whom I am concerned, do you know that in order to get a higher chance to be accepted in a top university around the world (especially in the US/UK), you must have an active co-curricular participant other than having a great academic result? Even in Malaysia, 10% of your CGPA of your sons'/daughters' Form 6 (or something like that) is determined by their participation in co-curricular activities. So, how can this type of activity deemed useless?
I remembered there was an incident I spotted during the orientation day of my school years ago. I was a member of my uniform unit. A mother and her son walked past my uniform unit's exhibition site. What I heard from her made me blush 'Son, choose the clubs which are affiliated with your academics ...'. Parents whom I am concerned, can't you see that your 'kiasu' (fear of failure) attitude could've weaken your sons'/daughters' immunity towards the assorted world called society? Studying too much, attending too many tuition classes and any other similar moves just to get freaking great results in the exams? Your sons/daughters may not get through a scholarship interview, or worse, a job interview, just because their interpersonal skills suck although they do get a First Degree Honours. I understand the toughness of the syllabus as students step into the secondary school, but it is now their responsibility to study for themselves. If they don't want to study, they reap what they sow. Your nagging and efforts may just limit your sons'/daughters' true potential too. They may not be good in academics (which nowadays are quite focused on science subjects) but they may be good in other things like arts, sports (our country do need more of these), technical skills and many more. For example in form 4, if they cannot cope with science subjects or they have shown that they aren't interested in science field, then don't force them to enter science stream. I believe that everyone has their own special talent that needs to be discovered, and probably not using the current education system.
Anyway, the MOE should've paid more attention to the development of the co-curricular activities. They should've reduced the red tapes and increased the efficiency of the paper working rates. Ya, I understand that you do have a lot of things to take care, but just please don't let the organisers down. I can't say much becasue I do not have a damn clear view of the situation, it's only based on what I had observed in my life. My pledge to you (including the school authorities and parents), don't kill the fun out of co-curricular activities. These activities are meant to help teenagers to grow from an innocent child to a mature young adult, and the skills learnt in these activities are going to help them go through a lot of obstacles and achieve success in their lives. (On second thought, I thought that the MOE should've reconsider the initiative to encourage the students to wear uniforms of the uniform units. The uniforms are quite thick and under the equatorial climate with the greenhouse effect as the catalyst of the current climate, the students are suffering from extensive heat while in school. I suggest that they should wear the 2nd uniform (usually with a T-shirt or a collar-T) to improve the students' comfort in school)
Seondly, I thought that the abolishment of the PPSMI policy is stupid. I have been supporting this policy till now, although I admit there are necessary revising needed. In a world where English has dominated the academic (specifically the field of science) field, you must be joking me that students would learn the science subjects starting form 1 using Bahasa Malaysia (or Bahasa Melayu, or whatever you call it). I admit that basic mathematics and science should be taught in the national language and the mother-tongue. However, it would not work for students if more advanced math and science are taught in other languages other than English, because by then the students will have big trouble if they were to step into the world of tertiary education. The matters are made worse if they were to further their studies in the science field. The secondary school math and science are foundations for O Levels and A Levels or even University level math and science, so why not in English? I know that not all students can cope with English. Thus, I would suggest that options should be made available for students. Let the students choose whether to study mathematics and science in English or in BM (or in Chinese, as in Chinese private schools, or probably Tamil (I'm not sure about that)), that would do the trick (I understand it seemed futile looking from the point of view of the number of math and science teachers in Malaysia, but yeah, it does justify the situation).
I know the importance of Bahasa Malaysia. Some people opposed PPSMI is due to the dishonoured position of BM in the education system. Sadistically, many of the students (including me) thought that as soon as we finish the SPM, we're probably not going to use proper BM any more, as the society uses 'bahasa pasar', or improper BM mixed with English, Chinese, Tamil and many other languages, with the addition of local Malay slang (bahasa utara, bahasa Kelantan ......). That's where my problem lies where I found out during my NS in Kedah, where most campers are Kedahans. They speak bahasa utara and at first I do not understand some terms, but then I get a little used to it. I can't find many Malays speaking the way Kedahans speak in my home state. Somehow, it looked like the proper BM we learnt starting from secondary school was quite useless outside. So, it seemed like the attention towards to using BM in our syllabus aren't working much in our lives later on, as I have mentioned above, many fields required English as the universal language to enable communication between us, the books and the world.
Recently, I have just heard of callings of abolishing vernacular schools and building English-medium schools. Okay, it seemed true that the existence of vernacular schools have caused races not to unite, but question and fooling around among each races' culture. However, think about the Chinese and the Indians whom have been going through intensive Chinese and Tamil education during their primary school days. I was one of the graduates of the Chinese primary schools. Even after 5 years of secondary school education whereby the subjects are more English-taught or BM-taught, I am still able to listen, read, write and speak Chinese and with effort, I may be able to take on the UPSR Chinese exam with distinction (this exam is basic but essential, the PMR and the SPM are more advanced and erm, more into literature and Ye Olde Chinese). You don't actually acquire this skill strongly if you weren't immersed in the school culture where everything around you is Chinese. This is also the main skill I got the part time job. Not knowing how to utilise basic Chinese is like not being able to speak Hokkien as a Penangite and failing to speak native English as an English or an American. Abolishing these schools will cause other races (except the Malays whom their mother tongue is BM, no hassle studying in national schools) to lose this powerful skill. Imagining not being able to talk about things other than basic stuff in Chinese when communicating with a Chinese is seriously damaging. It's not about being racist, it's about the identity of the races themselves. Now, even other races (especially Malays) have enrolled into Chinese primary schools, with a gradual increase along these years, when some Chinese have turned their heads away from these schools and send them to national schools instead, also with a gradual increase along these years. So, what does that show?
If you abolish vernacular schools, are you going to set classes for the affected races, like the Chinese and Indians? Oh please, unless you managed to transform the education system so that the children won't have that stereotypic mindset of 'going to school is to study, and then study is to get great grades in the exam', don't tell me about implementing other policies. I believe even English-medium schools are built, the system will remain the same. The students will keep complaining school is boring, the teachers will be complaining how on earth the SAPS is loading freaking slow (by the way, SAPS is a system set by the MOE to enable teachers to key in students' grades). There are a helluva ideas and things to mention, but I'm not that inspired to cover so many of them, with some require a complete set of methods. I thought that adults always said that children should not be a busybody (with some people out there asking people to move out if they do not agree on the country's political terms). So I would like to observe how the MOE is going to 'transform' the education system in my country ... Hmm, I'm interested ...
It is a relief that I've said whatever it's stuck in my head for years ... However, I don't see much improvement on the education system (and I was like duh, no wonder many are leaving here and not coming back ... even those who are unable to do so, dreamt of that) ...
During my past few weeks as a retail assistant in a bookshop, I have met people of all crosses. The category of people I would like to relate to this post is the family's category, especially among Chinese.
With the exception of families having no children at all or having younger children, the thoughts of some families with children studying at school have inspired me to write this post. Sometimes I would be 'guest-starring' as a cashier. I found that some families bought many exercise books (literally with exercises in the book, not the brown-covered one) and ordered their children to finish them. I knew that that's already a trend going on for years, even during my primary school days, this familiar scene used to be played in my life.
I remembered that one lady told me that her son (a primary school student) is having a hard time in his days of schooling. He has to be in school till around half past 3 in the afternoon, and then attend tuition classes. He has no time to take a much-needed break. He has to finish his seemingly-never-ending homework, including the ones from his tuition classes. My youngest brother is now facing a similar case of the lady's son, with the difference that he has to go to piano classes each weekend. I had also endured this painful, exhausting process of primary school education. The most extreme thing I have ever done for my studies during that immense period is that I had to utilise the dictionary to inquire the meanings for tough Chinese words that I do not understand. I remembered that my teacher would punish me and my classmates if we do not know what is the definition of the word when asked. The point that made the task extreme is that there are way too many words to inquire, and I had to do it until past midnight and had to wake up as early as 5 in the morning to continue the task.
That was a mundane life ... Anyway, it's not totally over in my secondary school days. That's when even the school environment, in my case, are keeping the reading of the pressure gauge up. I was a student studying in A classes (we have 5 classes for each grade, respectively A, B and C). Almost all students are munching on revision books, whether in class or at home. The exams are getting tougher, and getting worse since I was studying in one of the famous secondary schools in my state. I was studying as hard as possible, still not making the passing cut in some subjects, mostly involving memorisation and scientific investigation. Yeah, and there is a subject fooling students all around my country. That subject is called Moral Education. What is tested in the exams? Guess what, it just tests a student on the ability to utilise the 36 moral values set by the board of Moral Education subject of the MOE, alongside memorising the definition and keywords of each moral values. This subject do have projects too, only that it's merely a Hollywood show. The importance of this subject in my country can be easily replaced by Civic and Nationality Education in my country. And there is another subject which is also quite foolish - History. Some of us thought that the History syllabus during their upper secondary school lessons would be more focused to world history, but no, it is taught otherwise. There are some elements of world history, but they only represent a minor portion of the syllabus. The major part of the syllabus is still focused on local history, but with more information comparing to what students learnt in their History lessons during their lower secondary school days. Furthermore, the syllabus is inclined towards the ... ahem ... (I don't want to mention it. As people of my country, you will understand what I mean).
Now, after 11 years of 'formal' (by 'formal', I mean the education provided under the MOE), I am glad to have a period of relaxation for me to recharge and decide what to do next. Thanks for the 3 months of NS, I do not need to enter the world of tertiary education so soon. Within this period, I had time to read the books I have previously bought but never had time to read, along with some books I have picked up during my part-time job in a bookshop. My mind and soul was totally opened to the world and all sorts of ideas and perspective flooded into me just like people charging their way into a shop just to buy something big eg. Samsung Galaxy smartphones, Harry Potter's final episode, or in Mr. Bean's live shows, a new year's sale. Well, I saw my brothers suffering from the wrath of their studies. My little bro faces the same fate as I did in the past. My secondary-school-graduate-to-be bro is juggling between his studies and his co-curricular activities, which he failed quite miserably. I know that they do contribute to their own problems, but seriously, the authorities are the pioneers of these problems.
First of all, are you guys diminishing co-curricular activities? Co-curricular activities used to be fun and challenging. You may stay somewhere overnight and enjoy those night activities. I had once during my first year in the secondary school. It was a 3-day training camp and we have to stay overnight at school. That was an experience I thought that it's precious till now. Nowadays, according to my bro, the MOE only allowed activities to be held latest till 5 in the afternoon. The school authorities do not allow students to stay overnight due to safety reasons unless given special permission. Red tapes have to be done before organising an activity (I mean, a LOT of them). Adding that the education system is so damn exam-oriented and my former secondary school's challenging environment, the students in my secondary school would rather attend more tuition classes than participating co-curricular activities. So, what is the point of co-curricular activities? They are meant to be organised to train students to become a more independent, more sociable and more skilful leader who can contribute himself/herself, his/her family, society, country and the world in the future. The current system actually prohibits the growth of the non-academic aspect of the students. Well, parents whom I am concerned, do you know that in order to get a higher chance to be accepted in a top university around the world (especially in the US/UK), you must have an active co-curricular participant other than having a great academic result? Even in Malaysia, 10% of your CGPA of your sons'/daughters' Form 6 (or something like that) is determined by their participation in co-curricular activities. So, how can this type of activity deemed useless?
I remembered there was an incident I spotted during the orientation day of my school years ago. I was a member of my uniform unit. A mother and her son walked past my uniform unit's exhibition site. What I heard from her made me blush 'Son, choose the clubs which are affiliated with your academics ...'. Parents whom I am concerned, can't you see that your 'kiasu' (fear of failure) attitude could've weaken your sons'/daughters' immunity towards the assorted world called society? Studying too much, attending too many tuition classes and any other similar moves just to get freaking great results in the exams? Your sons/daughters may not get through a scholarship interview, or worse, a job interview, just because their interpersonal skills suck although they do get a First Degree Honours. I understand the toughness of the syllabus as students step into the secondary school, but it is now their responsibility to study for themselves. If they don't want to study, they reap what they sow. Your nagging and efforts may just limit your sons'/daughters' true potential too. They may not be good in academics (which nowadays are quite focused on science subjects) but they may be good in other things like arts, sports (our country do need more of these), technical skills and many more. For example in form 4, if they cannot cope with science subjects or they have shown that they aren't interested in science field, then don't force them to enter science stream. I believe that everyone has their own special talent that needs to be discovered, and probably not using the current education system.
Anyway, the MOE should've paid more attention to the development of the co-curricular activities. They should've reduced the red tapes and increased the efficiency of the paper working rates. Ya, I understand that you do have a lot of things to take care, but just please don't let the organisers down. I can't say much becasue I do not have a damn clear view of the situation, it's only based on what I had observed in my life. My pledge to you (including the school authorities and parents), don't kill the fun out of co-curricular activities. These activities are meant to help teenagers to grow from an innocent child to a mature young adult, and the skills learnt in these activities are going to help them go through a lot of obstacles and achieve success in their lives. (On second thought, I thought that the MOE should've reconsider the initiative to encourage the students to wear uniforms of the uniform units. The uniforms are quite thick and under the equatorial climate with the greenhouse effect as the catalyst of the current climate, the students are suffering from extensive heat while in school. I suggest that they should wear the 2nd uniform (usually with a T-shirt or a collar-T) to improve the students' comfort in school)
Seondly, I thought that the abolishment of the PPSMI policy is stupid. I have been supporting this policy till now, although I admit there are necessary revising needed. In a world where English has dominated the academic (specifically the field of science) field, you must be joking me that students would learn the science subjects starting form 1 using Bahasa Malaysia (or Bahasa Melayu, or whatever you call it). I admit that basic mathematics and science should be taught in the national language and the mother-tongue. However, it would not work for students if more advanced math and science are taught in other languages other than English, because by then the students will have big trouble if they were to step into the world of tertiary education. The matters are made worse if they were to further their studies in the science field. The secondary school math and science are foundations for O Levels and A Levels or even University level math and science, so why not in English? I know that not all students can cope with English. Thus, I would suggest that options should be made available for students. Let the students choose whether to study mathematics and science in English or in BM (or in Chinese, as in Chinese private schools, or probably Tamil (I'm not sure about that)), that would do the trick (I understand it seemed futile looking from the point of view of the number of math and science teachers in Malaysia, but yeah, it does justify the situation).
I know the importance of Bahasa Malaysia. Some people opposed PPSMI is due to the dishonoured position of BM in the education system. Sadistically, many of the students (including me) thought that as soon as we finish the SPM, we're probably not going to use proper BM any more, as the society uses 'bahasa pasar', or improper BM mixed with English, Chinese, Tamil and many other languages, with the addition of local Malay slang (bahasa utara, bahasa Kelantan ......). That's where my problem lies where I found out during my NS in Kedah, where most campers are Kedahans. They speak bahasa utara and at first I do not understand some terms, but then I get a little used to it. I can't find many Malays speaking the way Kedahans speak in my home state. Somehow, it looked like the proper BM we learnt starting from secondary school was quite useless outside. So, it seemed like the attention towards to using BM in our syllabus aren't working much in our lives later on, as I have mentioned above, many fields required English as the universal language to enable communication between us, the books and the world.
Recently, I have just heard of callings of abolishing vernacular schools and building English-medium schools. Okay, it seemed true that the existence of vernacular schools have caused races not to unite, but question and fooling around among each races' culture. However, think about the Chinese and the Indians whom have been going through intensive Chinese and Tamil education during their primary school days. I was one of the graduates of the Chinese primary schools. Even after 5 years of secondary school education whereby the subjects are more English-taught or BM-taught, I am still able to listen, read, write and speak Chinese and with effort, I may be able to take on the UPSR Chinese exam with distinction (this exam is basic but essential, the PMR and the SPM are more advanced and erm, more into literature and Ye Olde Chinese). You don't actually acquire this skill strongly if you weren't immersed in the school culture where everything around you is Chinese. This is also the main skill I got the part time job. Not knowing how to utilise basic Chinese is like not being able to speak Hokkien as a Penangite and failing to speak native English as an English or an American. Abolishing these schools will cause other races (except the Malays whom their mother tongue is BM, no hassle studying in national schools) to lose this powerful skill. Imagining not being able to talk about things other than basic stuff in Chinese when communicating with a Chinese is seriously damaging. It's not about being racist, it's about the identity of the races themselves. Now, even other races (especially Malays) have enrolled into Chinese primary schools, with a gradual increase along these years, when some Chinese have turned their heads away from these schools and send them to national schools instead, also with a gradual increase along these years. So, what does that show?
If you abolish vernacular schools, are you going to set classes for the affected races, like the Chinese and Indians? Oh please, unless you managed to transform the education system so that the children won't have that stereotypic mindset of 'going to school is to study, and then study is to get great grades in the exam', don't tell me about implementing other policies. I believe even English-medium schools are built, the system will remain the same. The students will keep complaining school is boring, the teachers will be complaining how on earth the SAPS is loading freaking slow (by the way, SAPS is a system set by the MOE to enable teachers to key in students' grades). There are a helluva ideas and things to mention, but I'm not that inspired to cover so many of them, with some require a complete set of methods. I thought that adults always said that children should not be a busybody (with some people out there asking people to move out if they do not agree on the country's political terms). So I would like to observe how the MOE is going to 'transform' the education system in my country ... Hmm, I'm interested ...
It is a relief that I've said whatever it's stuck in my head for years ... However, I don't see much improvement on the education system (and I was like duh, no wonder many are leaving here and not coming back ... even those who are unable to do so, dreamt of that) ...
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