Education: Let’s set it right

My letter in NST 8 Sep 2010
Education: Let’s set it right


I REFER to the letter, “Education is not all about scoring As”(NST, Aug 4), from C. Arjun and the recent discussions on our education system.
For years, many have debated on the deteriorating quality of Malaysian education, but there has not been much change. Every time results of an examination are announced, the media is full of stories about the top scorer s.

As a result of the “A-Syndrome”, our children struggle with homework, extra classes and tuition at the expense of their childhood pleasures. 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 gets too much.
What happens to those who endure the hardship and graduate from universities? The common complaint is about the difficulty they face landing decent jobs.

Not long ago, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah acknowledged that our graduate unemployment rate was one of the highest at four per cent, and there seemed to be a “mis - match between our industry’s needs and the output from local univer sities”.

This comes as no surprise. I am not an expert on education, but having been in human resources management for more than 18 years, I have interviewed many fresh graduates. A majority lack soft skills. They are unable to express themselves, let alone present views or arguments when asked.
It is no secret that most multinationals prefer graduates from foreign universities as they are perceived to be more confident and h ave better interpersonal skills.

Therefore, we need to change the way we do things in school.

Children must be trained to speak their minds freely at every opportunity, thus exposing them to reasoning and communication skills and developing self-confidence.
For example, portfolio assignments should focus on topics that require students to provide their own input rather than just presenting a search-copy-paste-print- and-bind project. They could even be asked to present their portfolios before the class, allowing the teacher and other students to listen, ask questions and give their opinions.

A simple school trip could be organised in such a way to improve students’ observation and analytical skills. Follow-up discussions could be held, making it more worthwhile.

Quality education at primary and secondary levels should focus on comprehensive development of the child, with academic expectations balanced with games and informality, as opposed to the present system which suppresses self-reliance and motivation.

We need schools with invigorating, stimulating and inspiring classroom environments, where students will come to know themselves and love learning.

It is also important for policy makers to ensure that the purpose of the curriculum and activities is not lost in the implementation.

Other countries have examinations, but in the United Kingdom, for example, students are not evaluated on how many As they get, but on how they think and prog ress.
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 exams.

Parents are called to meet the subject teachers every two to three months to discuss the students’ progress and to identify improvement needs. In Malaysia, parents meet only the class teachers and only after the exam results are out.

I was told that in Japan, Australia and some other developed countries, the students 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 minds and the teacher is still around to explain, thus making tuition classes almost unheard of. Look at the amount of homework our kids have every day, besides attending tuition classes.

Recent reports seem to point to Finland as having the best education system in the world. Perhaps Malaysia can send a team to benchmark the system and p r a c t i c e s.

We desperately need a metamorphosis of education to create a school environment that is fun and motivating, which promotes creativity, initiative, individuality and curiosity instead of the current one which relies on rote learning, fact-regurgitation and conformity in order to pass exams.

Unfortunately, the action taken so far to improve the quality of our education is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Ti t a n i c .

We must 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 course. It is insane to do the same things over and over again and expect different outcomes.

A. HASHIM Sungai Petani, Kedah