The article below is a view of a person which I got through an email from a friend.
How Come Asking Someone To Go Home Is A Racist Remark?
By Angelia Sinyang
The non-Malays went berserk when they heard how the Principal in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Kulai, Johor insulted their children, by asking the Chinese to go back to China and the Indians of wearing dog-chains.
I am not a racist, though I admit that I started to doubt that now. I personally don’t agree with racist remarks from anybody especially coming from a teacher. But with the racist sentiment filling up the air uncontrollably, lately, I understand fully, how this teacher has come to this point.
A teacher wouldn’t be uttering such words without a good reason. Something must have triggered the words and I believe, she was provoked into saying it just like what the DAP and MCA is doing to the government, UMNO and the Malays lately.
We are already choking, and it looks like nothing could be said or done could purify the air for now.
I do believe that the ‘dog-chain’ thing is too much. The Principal should apologize on that and if action is to be taken, then be it.
But, I didn’t know that coming from China is something insulting. Asking someone to go home is not at all a racist remark.
Especially when the Chinese made it clear how proud they are to be Chinese from China. They look up upon Mao Tze Tung and all the great warriors of China and never share the same proudness towards our Hang Tuah, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Mat Kilau and other Malaysian heroes just because these Malaysian heroes are not of Chinese ethnic.
The Chinese despise Malaysia, Malays, our Kings, our language and everything, so why the hell don’t they go back to China? It is just natural for the Principle to tell their kids to go back to China, where their hearts and souls belong.
Only in Malaysia, we see people go crazy, stomping their feet, insisting that they are Malaysians but at the same time don’t want anything to do with Malaysia.
Only in Malaysia, we see people who insist that they are Malaysians but couldn’t even speak Bahasa Malaysia.
Only in Malaysia, we see people who want to be treated equally as the original settlers but cunningly try to re-write the Malaysian’s history and constitution.
Only in Malaysia, we see people who claim to be Malaysians but cannot even sing the National Anthem!
Only in Malaysia, we see people who fight for equality but insist on going to vernacular schools.
No other multi-racial country in the world would tolerate vernacular schools except Malaysia.
No other multi-racial country in the world would give equal privilege, rights or acknowledgment on the importance of other culture and language to be taught and nurtured among the youngsters.
Only in Malaysia we see minority own 81% of the economic cake and it is still ain’t enough.
Only Malaysian Chinese would ask for Namewee to be forgiven and look up upon the person and even set up a fan club.
And only Malaysia, would forgive someone like Namewee.
The fact that Malaysia has come this far and that the Malaysian Chinese have achieved so much doesn’t seem important anymore.
Of course there are few Chinese students who didn’t get scholarships despite being poor, but there are Malay and Bumiputra students with the same fate too. The problem lies in the implementation of the system, not the race. We have to stop looking at things from the race point of view.
In order to do that, maybe the Chinese first need to look at it from the non-Chinese point of view: what if you didn’t get promoted even when you have proven to be the best employee just because the Chinese management wants only Chinese to hold top posts?
Or you did not get the job even when the interviewer admitted that you are the best candidate, and tell you to your face that they can’t hire you because you are not a Chinese?
Only Malaysian Chinese can hire a new, dumb guy to become your boss, rather than promoting you to the post because the new, dumb guy is a Chinese and you’re not.
Only Malaysian Chinese who want to hold top posts in government sectors but will never ever open top posts for other races in the private sectors dominated by them.
Only in Malaysian Chinese we see a clear practice of double standard and bias when questioning about the positions and employment opportunities in government sectors as compared to private sectors.
Only in Malaysian Chinese, we see zero tolerance, total greed and unlimited hatred.
Only in Malaysian Chinese we see that greed, intolerance, hatred and double standards are acceptable values.
So, how do the Malaysian Chinese interpret equality, actually?
How do the Malaysian Chinese prove that they deserve to be treated as Bumiputras or even call themselves Malaysians?
Could I get a straight, simple answer to these simple questions?
Monday, August 23, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
How to Tell When Someone is Lying
Watching body language in addition to what is spoken might just save you from being a victim of fraud, or it could help you figure out when somebody’s being genuine. The police do this during an interrogation.
You have to learn the little facial and body expressions that can help you distinguish a lie from the truth. Here are some steps and tips to do so.
1. Learn to recognize deflections. Usually when people are lying, they will tell stories that are true but are deliberately aimed at not answering the question you asked. If a person responds to the question “Did you ever hit your wife?” with an answer such as “I love my wife, why would I do that?”, the suspect is technically telling a truth, but they are avoiding answering your original question, which usually means they’re lying.
2. Mind exaggerated details. See if they are telling you too much, like “My mom is living in France, isn’t it nice there? Don’t you like the Eiffel tower? It’s so clean there.” Too many details may tip you off to their desperation to get you to believe them.
3. We have illustrators, and manipulators. Illustrators are a sign of telling the truth, this is when you are using your hand gestures to talk. moving your hands while you are talking is a sign of telling the truth. We also have manipulators. These, are the opposite of illustrators. An example of a manipulator can be playing with your wrist-watch, your jewelry, pulling on your ear lobe, etc. People who behave this way tend to be hiding something. The last, commonly unknown sign of hiding something is reptile tissue, most people have a reptile tissue in their nose, and it itches when you’re hiding something. But, before you assume that the person is hiding something, please establish a base line.
4. Base Line: A base line is what someone acts like when they are not lying. You have to get a base line before you proceed with anything. Imagine you have a itch on your nose ever since you got out of bed. And someone thinks you are hiding something because you scratch your nose when answering a question…oops. What the person should have done is establish a baseline. To establish a baseline, you need to see the person when they aren’t lying. Try asking what their name is, and what they do for a living.
5. Look out for micro-expressions. Micro-expressions are split second facial expressions that flash on a person’s face for a less than a 25th of a second and reveal the person’s true emotion underneath their facade. Some people may be naturally sensitive to them, but almost anybody can easily train to be able to detect microexpressions. Put focus to the upper and lower eyelids, the corner of the eyes, the mouth and the muscles surrounding the mouth, the eyebrows and forehead.
6. Shaking hands… When you meet the person who you think is deceiving you, shake their hand. Take note of the temperature. When you are sure they are lying to you, pretend to be leaving and quickly grab their hand for a “Good-Bye” Handshake. If the temperature is colder, they are fearful.
7. Notice the person’s eye movements. Contrary to popular belief, a liar does not always avoid eye contact. Humans naturally break eye contact and look at non-moving objects to help them focus and remember. Liars may deliberately make eye contact to seem more sincere. You can usually tell if a person is remembering something or making something up based on their eye’s movements. When someone is remembering details, their eyes move to the right (your right). When someone is making something up, their eyes move to the left. It’s usually reversed for lefties. (although not always true.)
8. Be aware of their emotional responses
Timing and duration tends to be off when someone is lying. If you ask someone a question and they respond directly after the question, there is a chance that the person is lying. This can be because they have rehearsed the answer, or they’re already thinking about the answer just to get it over with and move forward. A delayed answer can be a sign of lying. To tell the truth takes 2 parts of your brain at most, however to lie takes 6 parts of your brain. If the person has a long story then you can ask them to tell it backwards. Liars have trouble telling stories backwards, because in their mind they have rehearsed it forwards, but not backwards. And, as with smiling, facial expressions of a poor liar will be limited to the mouth area.
Pay close attention to the person’s reaction to your questions. A liar will often feel uncomfortable and turn their head or body away, or even subconsciously put an object between the two of you. Also, while an innocent person would go on the offensive (usually responding with anger, which will usually be revealed in a microexpression directly after you say you don’t believe them), a guilty person will often go immediately on the defensive (usually by saying something to reassure their facts, such as deflections).
9. Listen for a subtle delay in responses to questions. An honest answer comes quickly from memory. Lies require a quick mental review of what they have told others to avoid inconsistency and to make up new details as needed. However, when people look up to remember things, it does not necessarily mean that they are lying.
10 .Be conscious of their usage of words. Verbal expression can give many clues as to whether a person is lying, such as:
Using/repeating your own exact words when answering a question
Not using contractions
Avoiding direct statements or answers (deflections)
Speaking excessively in an effort to convince
Speaking in a monotonous tone
Speaking in muddled sentences
Vocal pitch rising
Using classic qualifiers such as “I’m only going to say this once…”
Using humor and sarcasm to avoid the subject
Using Deflections (beating around the bush, not answering the question.)
11. Allow silence to enter the conversation.
If they’re lying, they will become uncomfortable if you stare at them for a while with a look of disbelief. If they’re telling the truth, they will usually become angry or just frustrated (lips pressed together, brows down, upper eyelid tensed and pulled down to glare).
12 .Change the subject quickly. While an innocent person would be confused by the sudden shift in the conversation and may try to return to the previous subject, a liar will be relieved and welcome the change. You may see the person become more relaxed and less defensive.
13. Watch his or her throat. A person may constantly be either trying to lubricate their throat when he/she lies by swallowing or clearing their throat to relieve the tension built up. A person’s voice can also be a good lie indicator; they may suddenly start talking faster or slower than normal, or their tension may result in a higher-pitched speaking tone. See baseline info
14 .Check the facts. If you have the means, check the validity of what the liar is saying. A skilled liar might give some reason why you shouldn’t talk to the person who could confirm or deny a story. Perhaps the liar will infer that the person is particularly favourable towards the liar, or that the person would have little time for you. These are probably lies themselves, so might be worthwhile overcoming your reluctance and to check with the person you’ve been warned against.
15. Judge the character. Most people tell the truth most of the time, and will cherish their reputation. Liars will ’sail close to the wind’ – they’ll artificially bolster their reputation so that they seem more credible or desirable than they actually are.
If you overhear a version of an anecdote that seems wrong, listen to those alarm bells – it might be a liar.
If someone takes the time out to ingratiate themselves with you out of the blue, it’s very flattering, but you have to ask, why are they doing that?
If John rubbishes or smears people more than normal, John is possibly putting in the groundwork so the audience are more receptive to John, and less receptive to the people who John has lied to – they’re discredited before they can say ‘John is a liar’.
Note -
Some people are extremely experienced or even professional liars. He or she has told their made up story so many times that they are actually believable, getting all their days, dates and times down perfectly! Sometimes, you may need to simply accept that you can’t catch every lie all the time.
If you do catch a lie, don’t reveal it to the liar; they will just adjust their story. Once you know one thing that is not true, you can use it to find more of the net of lies, and other nets of lies. Then decide which points you reveal and to whom.
You have to learn the little facial and body expressions that can help you distinguish a lie from the truth. Here are some steps and tips to do so.
1. Learn to recognize deflections. Usually when people are lying, they will tell stories that are true but are deliberately aimed at not answering the question you asked. If a person responds to the question “Did you ever hit your wife?” with an answer such as “I love my wife, why would I do that?”, the suspect is technically telling a truth, but they are avoiding answering your original question, which usually means they’re lying.
2. Mind exaggerated details. See if they are telling you too much, like “My mom is living in France, isn’t it nice there? Don’t you like the Eiffel tower? It’s so clean there.” Too many details may tip you off to their desperation to get you to believe them.
3. We have illustrators, and manipulators. Illustrators are a sign of telling the truth, this is when you are using your hand gestures to talk. moving your hands while you are talking is a sign of telling the truth. We also have manipulators. These, are the opposite of illustrators. An example of a manipulator can be playing with your wrist-watch, your jewelry, pulling on your ear lobe, etc. People who behave this way tend to be hiding something. The last, commonly unknown sign of hiding something is reptile tissue, most people have a reptile tissue in their nose, and it itches when you’re hiding something. But, before you assume that the person is hiding something, please establish a base line.
4. Base Line: A base line is what someone acts like when they are not lying. You have to get a base line before you proceed with anything. Imagine you have a itch on your nose ever since you got out of bed. And someone thinks you are hiding something because you scratch your nose when answering a question…oops. What the person should have done is establish a baseline. To establish a baseline, you need to see the person when they aren’t lying. Try asking what their name is, and what they do for a living.
5. Look out for micro-expressions. Micro-expressions are split second facial expressions that flash on a person’s face for a less than a 25th of a second and reveal the person’s true emotion underneath their facade. Some people may be naturally sensitive to them, but almost anybody can easily train to be able to detect microexpressions. Put focus to the upper and lower eyelids, the corner of the eyes, the mouth and the muscles surrounding the mouth, the eyebrows and forehead.
6. Shaking hands… When you meet the person who you think is deceiving you, shake their hand. Take note of the temperature. When you are sure they are lying to you, pretend to be leaving and quickly grab their hand for a “Good-Bye” Handshake. If the temperature is colder, they are fearful.
7. Notice the person’s eye movements. Contrary to popular belief, a liar does not always avoid eye contact. Humans naturally break eye contact and look at non-moving objects to help them focus and remember. Liars may deliberately make eye contact to seem more sincere. You can usually tell if a person is remembering something or making something up based on their eye’s movements. When someone is remembering details, their eyes move to the right (your right). When someone is making something up, their eyes move to the left. It’s usually reversed for lefties. (although not always true.)
8. Be aware of their emotional responses
Timing and duration tends to be off when someone is lying. If you ask someone a question and they respond directly after the question, there is a chance that the person is lying. This can be because they have rehearsed the answer, or they’re already thinking about the answer just to get it over with and move forward. A delayed answer can be a sign of lying. To tell the truth takes 2 parts of your brain at most, however to lie takes 6 parts of your brain. If the person has a long story then you can ask them to tell it backwards. Liars have trouble telling stories backwards, because in their mind they have rehearsed it forwards, but not backwards. And, as with smiling, facial expressions of a poor liar will be limited to the mouth area.
Pay close attention to the person’s reaction to your questions. A liar will often feel uncomfortable and turn their head or body away, or even subconsciously put an object between the two of you. Also, while an innocent person would go on the offensive (usually responding with anger, which will usually be revealed in a microexpression directly after you say you don’t believe them), a guilty person will often go immediately on the defensive (usually by saying something to reassure their facts, such as deflections).
9. Listen for a subtle delay in responses to questions. An honest answer comes quickly from memory. Lies require a quick mental review of what they have told others to avoid inconsistency and to make up new details as needed. However, when people look up to remember things, it does not necessarily mean that they are lying.
10 .Be conscious of their usage of words. Verbal expression can give many clues as to whether a person is lying, such as:
Using/repeating your own exact words when answering a question
Not using contractions
Avoiding direct statements or answers (deflections)
Speaking excessively in an effort to convince
Speaking in a monotonous tone
Speaking in muddled sentences
Vocal pitch rising
Using classic qualifiers such as “I’m only going to say this once…”
Using humor and sarcasm to avoid the subject
Using Deflections (beating around the bush, not answering the question.)
11. Allow silence to enter the conversation.
If they’re lying, they will become uncomfortable if you stare at them for a while with a look of disbelief. If they’re telling the truth, they will usually become angry or just frustrated (lips pressed together, brows down, upper eyelid tensed and pulled down to glare).
12 .Change the subject quickly. While an innocent person would be confused by the sudden shift in the conversation and may try to return to the previous subject, a liar will be relieved and welcome the change. You may see the person become more relaxed and less defensive.
13. Watch his or her throat. A person may constantly be either trying to lubricate their throat when he/she lies by swallowing or clearing their throat to relieve the tension built up. A person’s voice can also be a good lie indicator; they may suddenly start talking faster or slower than normal, or their tension may result in a higher-pitched speaking tone. See baseline info
14 .Check the facts. If you have the means, check the validity of what the liar is saying. A skilled liar might give some reason why you shouldn’t talk to the person who could confirm or deny a story. Perhaps the liar will infer that the person is particularly favourable towards the liar, or that the person would have little time for you. These are probably lies themselves, so might be worthwhile overcoming your reluctance and to check with the person you’ve been warned against.
15. Judge the character. Most people tell the truth most of the time, and will cherish their reputation. Liars will ’sail close to the wind’ – they’ll artificially bolster their reputation so that they seem more credible or desirable than they actually are.
If you overhear a version of an anecdote that seems wrong, listen to those alarm bells – it might be a liar.
If someone takes the time out to ingratiate themselves with you out of the blue, it’s very flattering, but you have to ask, why are they doing that?
If John rubbishes or smears people more than normal, John is possibly putting in the groundwork so the audience are more receptive to John, and less receptive to the people who John has lied to – they’re discredited before they can say ‘John is a liar’.
Note -
Some people are extremely experienced or even professional liars. He or she has told their made up story so many times that they are actually believable, getting all their days, dates and times down perfectly! Sometimes, you may need to simply accept that you can’t catch every lie all the time.
If you do catch a lie, don’t reveal it to the liar; they will just adjust their story. Once you know one thing that is not true, you can use it to find more of the net of lies, and other nets of lies. Then decide which points you reveal and to whom.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Saman ekor not fair
Below is my Letter to Editor in the Star 11 Aug 2010. Another version also appeared in NST on the same date.
You can try my tips on how to avoid saman ekor, but don't blame me if you get caught hehe...
Also, for those who have a lot of saman ekor, if the saman ekor system is abolished because of my tips, maybe you should thank me and give 10% of the total amount of your fines to me... LOL
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH ALL YOUR FB/EMAIL/OFFICE FRIENDS, USING THE SHARE/EMAIL BUTTONS AT THE END OF THE ENTRY.
_______________________________________________________________
The Star, Wednesday August 11, 2010
Saman ekor not fair
I REFER to your report “Saman ekor blacklist decision after next week” (The Star, Aug 8). Many people have expressed their views on “saman ekor” and I am glad a high-level meeting involving relevant agencies will take place this week as announced. I wish to give some suggestions for consideration by the authorities.
It is obvious that issuing tonnes of saman ekor have not been an effective deterrent for many reasons. One of the reasons is that the real culprits can easily alter their plate numbers to escape the summonses, at the expense of innocent people.
Just for example, with just a piece of black tape, you can change E into F, B into P, U into J, 4 into 1 and 8 into 3. You can use a white tape if you want it the other way around or add 1 at the end, or simply stick wet, white tissue to the plate numbers to make them unreadable. Go as fast as you want on the highway, and take the tape or the tissue off when you exit, and you are on your way without any trouble.
It is also clear that most people perceive the blacklisting as unfair because they are unable to defend themselves but have to pay the fines anyway in order to renew the road tax. Going to court to challenge the summonses would be useless because they would be without the road tax for at least a few months before their cases are heard.
I suggest that instead of an outright blacklisting, car owners be allowed to renew their road tax, but be served with the summonses at JPJ, for which they must sign acceptance. This will give them time to dispute the summonses, failing which they have to settle them or risk being arrested and have their driving licences suspended.
As a deterrent for real offenders, I suggest higher fines and demerit points be imposed. The fines and demerit points should be progressively higher for repeat offenders.
Some countries like the US and UK even impose a few week’s jail sentences for extreme speeders and drunk drivers, and the errant drivers are banned from driving for a few years.
In Finland, where the fine for speeding is relative to the offender’s last known income, Jussi Salonoja of Helsinki was fined a record 170,000 euros in 2003 for driving 80km/h in 40 km/h zone.
I believe it is not the number of summonses issued that is important for the Government to fight traffic violations. Stiffer penalties on indisputable summonses should be the deterrent. It’s time we show the real offenders that we mean business.
A. HASHIM,
Sungai Petani.
You can try my tips on how to avoid saman ekor, but don't blame me if you get caught hehe...
Also, for those who have a lot of saman ekor, if the saman ekor system is abolished because of my tips, maybe you should thank me and give 10% of the total amount of your fines to me... LOL
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH ALL YOUR FB/EMAIL/OFFICE FRIENDS, USING THE SHARE/EMAIL BUTTONS AT THE END OF THE ENTRY.
_______________________________________________________________
The Star, Wednesday August 11, 2010
Saman ekor not fair
I REFER to your report “Saman ekor blacklist decision after next week” (The Star, Aug 8). Many people have expressed their views on “saman ekor” and I am glad a high-level meeting involving relevant agencies will take place this week as announced. I wish to give some suggestions for consideration by the authorities.
It is obvious that issuing tonnes of saman ekor have not been an effective deterrent for many reasons. One of the reasons is that the real culprits can easily alter their plate numbers to escape the summonses, at the expense of innocent people.
Just for example, with just a piece of black tape, you can change E into F, B into P, U into J, 4 into 1 and 8 into 3. You can use a white tape if you want it the other way around or add 1 at the end, or simply stick wet, white tissue to the plate numbers to make them unreadable. Go as fast as you want on the highway, and take the tape or the tissue off when you exit, and you are on your way without any trouble.
It is also clear that most people perceive the blacklisting as unfair because they are unable to defend themselves but have to pay the fines anyway in order to renew the road tax. Going to court to challenge the summonses would be useless because they would be without the road tax for at least a few months before their cases are heard.
I suggest that instead of an outright blacklisting, car owners be allowed to renew their road tax, but be served with the summonses at JPJ, for which they must sign acceptance. This will give them time to dispute the summonses, failing which they have to settle them or risk being arrested and have their driving licences suspended.
As a deterrent for real offenders, I suggest higher fines and demerit points be imposed. The fines and demerit points should be progressively higher for repeat offenders.
Some countries like the US and UK even impose a few week’s jail sentences for extreme speeders and drunk drivers, and the errant drivers are banned from driving for a few years.
In Finland, where the fine for speeding is relative to the offender’s last known income, Jussi Salonoja of Helsinki was fined a record 170,000 euros in 2003 for driving 80km/h in 40 km/h zone.
I believe it is not the number of summonses issued that is important for the Government to fight traffic violations. Stiffer penalties on indisputable summonses should be the deterrent. It’s time we show the real offenders that we mean business.
A. HASHIM,
Sungai Petani.
Flying Out of the A-Syndrome Cocoon
For years, many people have voiced out and debated on the deteriorating quality of Malaysian education, but nothing much seems to have changed. Every time an examination result is announced, the media is full with those straight A’s stories.
With the ‘A-Syndrome’, our sons and daughters struggle with their homework, extra-classes and tuitions, at the expense of their childhood enjoyment. Some survive and succeed. Some fail and give up, drop out from school and join the bands of kaki lepak, mat rempit and drug users as they lose interest and hope in education. Some even commit suicide when the pressure from their parents and schools is too much to handle.
What happen to those who manage to go through the hardship and graduate from the universities? The common complaint among them is that it is very difficult to get a decent job despite having good paper qualification and technical knowledge. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah acknowledged not long ago that our graduate unemployment rate is one of the highest at 4%, and there seems to be a “mismatch between our industry’s needs and the output from the local universities”.
This comes as no surprise. I am not an education expert, but being in Human Resources for more than 18 years, I have interviewed many fresh graduates of all races. It is very sad that a majority of the local graduates glaringly lack the soft skills and cannot even express themselves, let alone giving opinions and convincing arguments when asked.
It is no secret that most multinationals companies prefer candidates from foreign universities. The reason is obvious- those graduates are perceived to have higher confidence level and better interpersonal skills which are very much needed in a matrix organisation.
We need to change the way we do things in school. Children must be trained to speak out their minds freely at as many opportunities as possible, exposing them to reasoning and communication skills and developing their self-confidence.
For example, portfolio assignments should focus on topics where the students need to give their own inputs rather than being just a search-copy-paste-print-and-bind project. They could even be asked to present their portfolios in front of the classroom where the teacher and other students listen, ask questions and give their opinions or critics.
Even a simple school trip could be organised in such a way to improve the students’ observation and analytical skills, and followed-up by discussions on what they learn from the trip, so that the trip is worthwhile and not just a meaningless sight-seeing activity.
Quality education at primary and secondary levels should focus on comprehensive development of the children during their fragile formative period, where academic expectations are balanced with games and informality as opposed to the present rigid system which suppresses self-reliance and motivation. We need a school with invigorating, stimulating and inspiring classroom environments, where the pupils will come to know themselves and love the process of learning itself. It is also important for the policy makers to ensure that the objectives of the curriculum and the activities are not lost in the implementations.
Other countries do have examinations like us, but in the UK for example, the students are not evaluated on how many A’s they have got, but mainly on how they think and progress. Tests and assessments are used mostly to diagnose needs and to target instructional resources where they can help the most, rather than to sort and screen. Most exam questions do not ask for memorised facts- they ask for ‘how’ and ‘why’ and the justification for the answers. And a big percentage of the grade comes from projects, not just the exams.
Their students have a longer recess where they can enjoy playing games rather than just rushing to queue up to buy food. On top of that, they have a short break after each period where they can interact and socialise and learn about teamwork under the teacher’s supervision.
Parents are called to meet the subject teachers every 2-3 months to discuss the students’ progress and identify improvement needs, whereas in Malaysia, parents meet only the class teachers and only after the exam results are out. They seem to have a school environment where the students love learning and have enough time to enjoy their childhood.
I was told that in Japan, Australia and some other developed countries, the pupils do not have homework because exercises are done in school during the last 20 minutes of the period after the teacher finishes the lesson. They learn better that way because the lesson taught is still fresh in their mind and the teacher is still around to explain, thus making tuition classes almost unheard of. Look at the amount of homework our kids have to do everyday besides attending tuition classes!
Recent writings on education seem to point to Finland as having maybe the best education system in the world. Perhaps Malaysia can send a team to benchmark their system and practices.
But then, we probably don’t even have to look very far to see the differences.
A friend of mine related this story recently. He managed to take his son out of a public school and got him into an international school in KL. His son came home on his first day of the new school with a huge worry- “They want me to give an opinion Pa. This is hard. I don’t have any opinion.”
His son was a straight A’s student prior to that.
We desperately need a metamorphosis of the education system to create a school environment that is fun and motivating, which promotes creativity, initiative, individuality and inquisitiveness instead of the current one which rely on rote learning, fact-regurgitation and conformity in order to pass exams.
Unfortunately, the actions taken so far to improve the quality of our education are akin to rearranging the deck chairs on Titanic. We must thoroughly re-engineer our education ship to take us to the right destination in the sea of challenges; we don’t need a sophisticated ship that takes us to the wrong port.
I hope the current discussions on our education system will finally put us back on the right track.
It is absolutely insane to do the same things over and over again and expect different outcomes. And we should stop counting the A’s when what emerges from the cocoon is just a faster caterpillar, not a butterfly.
With the ‘A-Syndrome’, our sons and daughters struggle with their homework, extra-classes and tuitions, at the expense of their childhood enjoyment. Some survive and succeed. Some fail and give up, drop out from school and join the bands of kaki lepak, mat rempit and drug users as they lose interest and hope in education. Some even commit suicide when the pressure from their parents and schools is too much to handle.
What happen to those who manage to go through the hardship and graduate from the universities? The common complaint among them is that it is very difficult to get a decent job despite having good paper qualification and technical knowledge. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah acknowledged not long ago that our graduate unemployment rate is one of the highest at 4%, and there seems to be a “mismatch between our industry’s needs and the output from the local universities”.
This comes as no surprise. I am not an education expert, but being in Human Resources for more than 18 years, I have interviewed many fresh graduates of all races. It is very sad that a majority of the local graduates glaringly lack the soft skills and cannot even express themselves, let alone giving opinions and convincing arguments when asked.
It is no secret that most multinationals companies prefer candidates from foreign universities. The reason is obvious- those graduates are perceived to have higher confidence level and better interpersonal skills which are very much needed in a matrix organisation.
We need to change the way we do things in school. Children must be trained to speak out their minds freely at as many opportunities as possible, exposing them to reasoning and communication skills and developing their self-confidence.
For example, portfolio assignments should focus on topics where the students need to give their own inputs rather than being just a search-copy-paste-print-and-bind project. They could even be asked to present their portfolios in front of the classroom where the teacher and other students listen, ask questions and give their opinions or critics.
Even a simple school trip could be organised in such a way to improve the students’ observation and analytical skills, and followed-up by discussions on what they learn from the trip, so that the trip is worthwhile and not just a meaningless sight-seeing activity.
Quality education at primary and secondary levels should focus on comprehensive development of the children during their fragile formative period, where academic expectations are balanced with games and informality as opposed to the present rigid system which suppresses self-reliance and motivation. We need a school with invigorating, stimulating and inspiring classroom environments, where the pupils will come to know themselves and love the process of learning itself. It is also important for the policy makers to ensure that the objectives of the curriculum and the activities are not lost in the implementations.
Other countries do have examinations like us, but in the UK for example, the students are not evaluated on how many A’s they have got, but mainly on how they think and progress. Tests and assessments are used mostly to diagnose needs and to target instructional resources where they can help the most, rather than to sort and screen. Most exam questions do not ask for memorised facts- they ask for ‘how’ and ‘why’ and the justification for the answers. And a big percentage of the grade comes from projects, not just the exams.
Their students have a longer recess where they can enjoy playing games rather than just rushing to queue up to buy food. On top of that, they have a short break after each period where they can interact and socialise and learn about teamwork under the teacher’s supervision.
Parents are called to meet the subject teachers every 2-3 months to discuss the students’ progress and identify improvement needs, whereas in Malaysia, parents meet only the class teachers and only after the exam results are out. They seem to have a school environment where the students love learning and have enough time to enjoy their childhood.
I was told that in Japan, Australia and some other developed countries, the pupils do not have homework because exercises are done in school during the last 20 minutes of the period after the teacher finishes the lesson. They learn better that way because the lesson taught is still fresh in their mind and the teacher is still around to explain, thus making tuition classes almost unheard of. Look at the amount of homework our kids have to do everyday besides attending tuition classes!
Recent writings on education seem to point to Finland as having maybe the best education system in the world. Perhaps Malaysia can send a team to benchmark their system and practices.
But then, we probably don’t even have to look very far to see the differences.
A friend of mine related this story recently. He managed to take his son out of a public school and got him into an international school in KL. His son came home on his first day of the new school with a huge worry- “They want me to give an opinion Pa. This is hard. I don’t have any opinion.”
His son was a straight A’s student prior to that.
We desperately need a metamorphosis of the education system to create a school environment that is fun and motivating, which promotes creativity, initiative, individuality and inquisitiveness instead of the current one which rely on rote learning, fact-regurgitation and conformity in order to pass exams.
Unfortunately, the actions taken so far to improve the quality of our education are akin to rearranging the deck chairs on Titanic. We must thoroughly re-engineer our education ship to take us to the right destination in the sea of challenges; we don’t need a sophisticated ship that takes us to the wrong port.
I hope the current discussions on our education system will finally put us back on the right track.
It is absolutely insane to do the same things over and over again and expect different outcomes. And we should stop counting the A’s when what emerges from the cocoon is just a faster caterpillar, not a butterfly.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Carjack, again!
New Straits Times 10 Aug 2010
Thief drives off with 3-year-old boy in car
By P. Chandra Sagaran
csagaran@nst.com.myShare
Wong Soon Loy and her son Yim Mun Chun happily reunited yesterday after their ordeal.
BATU GAJAH: A 3-year-old boy was taken on a three-hour terror ride from Taman Sepakat in Menglembu to Kampung Muhibbah, here some 10km away on Sunday night.
Yim Mun Chun's mother, Wong Soon Loy, 32, had left him in her Perodua Myvi with the engine running as she went to open the house gate after they had returned from shopping at 9.45pm.
Two men on a motorcycle suddenly came up and the pillion rider hopped off and got into the car.
Wong tried to get back into the car to stop the man through the passenger door but the man had locked the door sped off.
She then lodged a report at the Batu Gajah police station.
Batu Gajah district police chief Assistant Commissioner Najib Mohamad said police called Wong's handphone, which was left in the car.
"A man answered the call and said that there was a boy in the car.
"He brazenly told us that he did not need the child and we told him to leave the boy at a safe place," said Najib.
He said the man then drove to Kampung Muhibbah and approached a villager with the intention of leaving Yim there.
When the villager refused, the man just left the boy there and drove off, he said.
Najib said the villager brought the boy to the police station and lodged a report at 12.30am.
"Wong rushed there to fetch the boy who was unharmed.
"However, the car with her belongings and RM200 have yet to be found," he said.
This is the second such incident in the state in less than two weeks where children in a car with the engine running had been driven off by criminals.
On July 27, two sisters were driven away when three men hijacked their parents' car in Kuala Kangsar.
They were later found unharmed by the roadside, about 6km from where the car was stolen.
Thief drives off with 3-year-old boy in car
By P. Chandra Sagaran
csagaran@nst.com.myShare
Wong Soon Loy and her son Yim Mun Chun happily reunited yesterday after their ordeal.
BATU GAJAH: A 3-year-old boy was taken on a three-hour terror ride from Taman Sepakat in Menglembu to Kampung Muhibbah, here some 10km away on Sunday night.
Yim Mun Chun's mother, Wong Soon Loy, 32, had left him in her Perodua Myvi with the engine running as she went to open the house gate after they had returned from shopping at 9.45pm.
Two men on a motorcycle suddenly came up and the pillion rider hopped off and got into the car.
Wong tried to get back into the car to stop the man through the passenger door but the man had locked the door sped off.
She then lodged a report at the Batu Gajah police station.
Batu Gajah district police chief Assistant Commissioner Najib Mohamad said police called Wong's handphone, which was left in the car.
"A man answered the call and said that there was a boy in the car.
"He brazenly told us that he did not need the child and we told him to leave the boy at a safe place," said Najib.
He said the man then drove to Kampung Muhibbah and approached a villager with the intention of leaving Yim there.
When the villager refused, the man just left the boy there and drove off, he said.
Najib said the villager brought the boy to the police station and lodged a report at 12.30am.
"Wong rushed there to fetch the boy who was unharmed.
"However, the car with her belongings and RM200 have yet to be found," he said.
This is the second such incident in the state in less than two weeks where children in a car with the engine running had been driven off by criminals.
On July 27, two sisters were driven away when three men hijacked their parents' car in Kuala Kangsar.
They were later found unharmed by the roadside, about 6km from where the car was stolen.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Kitty
I guess it is true what people always say- we never really appreciate something or someone until we lost that thing or that someone.
We had this kitten recently, until last week that is. This little kitten followed me home one day in April. She was small, lost, alone...She saw me throwing rubbish not far from my home that day, and just came running and followed me home.
We never really had cats in our home before because my wife wasn't really fond of cats. Two of my kids used to have asthma, therefore we never allowed cats in our house.
But this little kitten was so small and fragile that my wife took pity of her. We allowed her to stay only outside though. During the first week, she almost died because I guess she was not used to the kitten food we gave her.
But she survived. And not only that- she grew into a very beautiful kitten. We didn't realise that she was actually a mix until she grew up later. She had a pair of beautiful blue eyes. Her white fur had shades of gray and orange on the tail and ears, and when she was about 3 months old, we began to notice that her fur was growing thicker. Later she grew to look almost like the original Persian. We named her Kitty.
Maybe because she was very cute and adorable, my wife started to allow her into the house. Of course my little girl loved Kitty very much. This little Kitty would answer to the call and would come running whenever we called her. She was very playful, but we trained her not to scratch anyting inside the house. We let her sleep outside though. But she never wandered very far from the home, only as far as our adjacent neighbours' house.
She became a favourite with other cats as well. Our neighbour's two cats would come to play with Kitty almost daily without fail. Or Kitty would simply go to their house to play with them. She would always return when I called her.
Kitty was such a pleasure around us. My little daughter would look for her every time she came back from school. Very often my daughter and I would take Kitty for a drive, something I never did before. My girl won't sleep every night until she played with Kitty. All my other kids loved that kitten too. She was very much a family member. It was such a joy to have her around.
Then one early morning last week, when I was going to work, I noticed that Kitty wasn't in the porch as usual. My daughter asked me where Kitty was. I just said that Kitty might be playing with some cats nearby and would come back later.
When I came back from office later in the evening, they informed me that Kitty was still not home. I went around calling her name, but she never showed up.
Later at night, my little girl still waited for her beloved Kitty. I kept telling her that Kitty would come back and she just have to wait. She went to sleep very late that night, waiting for her Kitty to come back.
The next morning, the first thing my little girl asked was whether Kitty came back. She was very sad when I said no. She went to school that morning with a very sad look, without saying anything.
Later in the evening when I came back from work, Kitty was still not in sight. Then slowly we began to realize that she probably would never come back. My daughter kept asking what happened to Kitty. I told her that somebody might have stolen her. That's all I could say.
We never knew what happened to Kitty. We probably will never know. Until today she has not come back. We began to accept that she is gone. Maybe forever. It is something very hard for my daughter and our family to accept, but Kitty is gone. I told my daughter that we could get another cat, but she said she just wanted Kitty to come back.
The neighbors' cats still come everyday, looking for Kitty I guess. We can almost feel that these two cats also miss Kitty very much.
Now, after she's gone, we realize how much everybody loved Kitty...We really miss her.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)