Critical changes needed by our education system

[William Lim]

Dear MOE officer and friends at EduReview,

I wish to give feedback on the critical changes needed by our education system in order for the country to advance in the knowledge economy. There is none so critical now as to getting rid of our test-centred, grades-obsessed educational culture to establish a public school system of choice for all Malaysians.

 

1. Whenever our public exam results are released, the media would glorify the high scorers and high-scoring schools. Our educational culture views the ultimate goal of schooling as getting the highest possible grades.

 Students are streamed into classes based on their grades. Schools are under pressure to produce more high scorers  to get more funding, so teachers focus on what will be tested. Much time is spent predicting potential exam questions and memorising model answers for it.  Parents ferry their children starting from Primary One to tuition classes in order to maximise their grades. Coupled with heavy homework, our students find life a drudgery as they quickly lose their natural curiosity and childhood wonder. Those who fail to get the desired grades are looked down, driving some to find acceptance in gangs or escape by suicide. 

 

This Asian educational culture probably originated with imperial China's examination system, which enabled ordinary citizens to enter the upper class of society. While the best Chinese minds were memorising facts to pass exams, the West valued enquiry and investigation of natural phenomena, allowing them to make discoveries leading to technological advance. Several Asian nations are now so good at exams that they regularly beat the United States in the Programme for International Student Assessment test, but they will be nowhere near the US when it comes to Nobel prizes. The founding president of Google China said  the next Apple or Google will not arise from Asia, but probably in the US, because "American entrepreneurs can think outside of the box because of their education". For Malaysia to compete in an innovation-led economy, we  need to change our educational culture.

The Western educational culture is based on the Socratic tradition of dialectic and critical questioning. In Western classrooms, teachers regularly dialogue with the students, who freely express their ideas and opinions. Even the views of the academically weaker students are valued. Unlike us, their top exam scorers are not publicised in the newspapers like national heroes. In that culture, children grow up daring to venture without fearing failure. By contrast in Asia, exam grades are used to label a child as either clever or stupid, or a school as either good or bad. Many Malaysians take up Singapore’s Asean Scholarship expecting to experience high quality education. The reality is they are in for an even higher level of exam-centredness than here. Increasing numbers of Singaporeans are sending their children to international schools or migrating to the West to enjoy education that is not grades-obsessed. 

2. The ancient Chinese learning tradition is one where the teacher imparts information directly to the learner who receives the teaching passively in quiet deference. Globally, education is shifting from this teacher-centred approach towards a student-centred paradigm where teachers provide a supportive environment for students to learn actively and independently. This is the philosophy behind inductive teaching methods such as problem-based, enquiry-based and discovery learning. As a start, we need to use these methods for teaching the sciences. Such approaches foster enquiry and critical thinking while nurturing important soft skills like communication, teamwork and leadership. Next, we need approaches that increases student motivation and information retention.  Language teachers should make liberal use of  active learning methods like debates and role plays. Experiential learning is facilitated by lab work or field trips where knowledge is acquired by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Authentic learning can take place by bringing the mathematics class for an outing to the supermarket. Teachers should be asking students open ended questions and encouraging them to think up and share ideas. Students should have a wide range of subjects to choose from, without the restriction of arts-science class distinction.

 

3. Our assessment methods must change. The abolishing of the PMR is an important first step in reducing exam-centric learning and  tuition culture.  There should be less questions testing simple factual recall, which promote rote learning of superficial knowledge. Instead, questions that require justification of answer or problem solving help to foster higher order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis and application. Students should be given projects where they are graded for original thought, collaborative work  and presentations skills. These are the abilities needed in the k-economy where wealth is generated by creating new knowledge, not regurgitating old knowledge.  

 

4. Peculiar to our country is the frequent report that more non-Chinese are attending Chinese schools because of better discipline and use of Mandarin. Traditional Chinese education is teacher-centred, with the cane being used to force compliance. However, the need now is not greater conformity, but creativity. Asia is still better known for imitation than innovation. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that China has failed to foster enough outstanding talents to meet the needs of the nation. He has headed education reform to ‘address the issue of fostering creative and outstanding talents in China to support China’s intention to transform its economy from one built on cheap labour and cheap resources into one built on innovation’. When MOE implemented the teaching of science and mathematics in English in 2003, many parents with children in Chinese primary schools were pleased with the increased exposure to the English language. However, many schools ended up teaching in both Mandarin and English, not because those subjects were best taught in Mandarin, but because their teachers were mostly incompetent in English. One of the consequences of having National and vernacular schools is the sustained national decline in English proficiency. The affluent and well connected resolve this problem by sending their children overseas or enrolling them here in private and international schools. We cannot have an education system where National schools are perceived as a substandard option for the underprivileged. To have a National education system accepted by all communities, we need a single public school system where the English language curriculum is at par with those in English-speaking Western countries, with Malay as a compulsory-pass language, and both Tamil and Mandarin as optional subjects. Initially, English can be offered at both a lower basic level, and a higher level incorporating English Literature. At the lower level, it will be a must-pass subject, but students can opt for the higher level on passing a qualifying test. If English-medium schools is reintroduced as an option (via a referendum or otherwise), only Malay would need to be a must-pass subject.

 

The MOE is currently doing its biggest education review for a long time, and it will be a long time before another one of such scale will be done. We cannot afford to make a mistake with this review. To make the changes our country need, there need be a total change of educational culture. For that to happen, Asian parents need to be informed of changing global conditions and how an exam-centred, vernacular-based educational culture will not help their child or the country to succeed. Without this groundwork, any proposal for an innovative, student-centred curriculum will be shot down.  When MOE’s current nationwide dialogue is over, they should hold roadshows to inform Malaysian parents of the educational culture their children need in the 21^st century. The most important role of MOE in this education review is not to please as many parties as possible, but to design an education system that equips Malaysian children for new global realities. Although giving people what they want may be a politically safe approach, it will not produce the farsighted, innovative system that we need. As much as everybody wants their voice to be heard, ultimately parents do not want an education system that merely incorporate everybody’s suggestions, but one in which they are confident of sending their children to. If the Review panel can have this mindset, their Final Report will be a blueprint for our country's future.

 
William K. Lim
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

[Chang Daniel]

Dear William and Education Review Groups,

As a parent and former students of examination centric learning eco-system, I can't help but agree with William insight on the influence of Chinese Imperial mentality, it was good during the feudal time but not entirely after all for today. Today we need workforce and entrepreneurs that are not in fear of failing, but this attitude and learning behavior had to start right at home and at school level.

Unemployment is unavoidable, no matter how well plan a nation's economy is - it will happen, but can an individual and their family able to withstand the downturn shock, is Malaysian prepare to face this economic shock and are able to come up a hero base on their own ability without government support? When we view education - its not just about educating an individual is about preparing a nation where her human capital is agile and able to travel the journey of up and down - that require creative and critical thinking, and also ability to sense what is happening around before things change based on external factors.

I urge educators, academics and school administrators and our dear policies steward to view education (school) delivery beyond the educational school of thoughts. Too many times I notice that an educational focus too much of the mechanism, but failing to notice that actually in order to build a nation of talents, the key ingredient is less is more. Our schools are filled with far too many contents, examination, schedule (9 sessions par day). In order to be innovative, teachers and schools have to be aligned to impart knowledge via student-learning centric and not teaching centric as of current practices.

Be it a government national school system, vernacular school system or special school system - this mindset has to shift. The child has allowed almost full 6 hours of daily educational experience, it should also go beyond classroom learning. The current two sessions of schooling need change. Students should allow 3 hours of formal learning, and 3 hours of informal learning - that can supplement by activities e.g. Singing, music, acting, physical sports, business-trade simulations, arts, even allocation of school society activities. Its through this combination we can have children that are able to deal with both rationale and creative thinking effectively, it also empowers them to explore beyond a typical box as preset by schools and universities.

Three fundamental today children lacking are - ability and interest in reading, mathematical skills and ability to sense external environmental changes. That is why we have annual of more than 80,000 employed graduates, as there had been trained to follow that line for far too long. I had two girls 8 and 4, and I believe in their generations -  a permanent job is not something common for their generations. Non-permanent jobs, in facts trades of individual capability will become the new economic models of the family.

Educators, academics and policies steward - Rethinking require.

Daniel Chang

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Best regards,

Daniel Chang
Managing Director
dan...@ecocentus.com

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