Critical Issues & Proposed Solutions (and I think there is nothing seriously wrong with our system)
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Bryan Lim
Jul 21, 2012, 6:18:16 AM7/21/12
to myedu...@googlegroups.com
I am sharing my thoughts because our children are our future leaders. Even if we could not make all of them successful professors, businessmen, scientists, artists or politicians etc., we hope that each one of them could be a good citizen.
Some issues, to me, are critical. Some of these issues could even leave a long lasting negative impact throughout their lives.
1. [Secondary and Primary Schools] Even straight A students are not able to speak fluently and confidently. (E.g. English for almost all students, Bahasa Malaysia for Chinese students etc.) That is why we always hear feedback that our students are not as competent as students in our neighbouring country. Even our local corporate and enterprises are complaining that our school leavers and graduate could not express freely during interviews. When it comes to public speaking or presentation, it is even worse.
CAUSE: Students are not encouraged to speak and share their opinions in schools.
RECOMMENDATION: Introduce ‘Speaking Class’. E.g. If a school allocates 200 minutes per week for teaching English, take 40 minutes out to be purely ‘English Speaking Class’. Let our students have an environment to ‘talk’ in English and in from of their friends.
OBJECTIVE: Even if a student could not do well in written exams, his ability in communication could give him an advantage to excel in other areas of talent and stay competitive in his private life and the business world.
2. [Secondary Schools] Teen pregnancy. In 2011, we had 18,000 reported cases of below-19-year old teen pregnancy and 25% was unwed.
CAUSE: We have not really tackled the issue at all. The issue remains a sensitive topic to discuss.
RECOMMENDATION: We have to do it, no matter; it is through formal syllabus or through a third party institution or NGO. How many more cases of teen pregnancy do we want? Teach the topic in the following sequence: 1. Respect – respect your own body and the body of the opposite sex, respect all mothers (teach them about the delivery process and its risks) 2. Responsible – be responsible for own actions. Teach our children about ‘where do I come from’, the consequence of teen and unwanted pregnancy, legal age/ law and the risk of abortion. 3. Protection – teach them about STD and contraception. Sex education should starts with the teaching of respect. Some of this content should be imparted to children when they turn 10 to 11 years old.
OBJECTIVE: To cut down the number of teen pregnancy which affects their entire lives and to cultivate the right mindset in our children/ teens on the word SEX.
3. [Secondary and Primary Schools] Victims of the Cyber world and Internet. We have heard too many cases of run-away-kids, raped, cyber-bully etc. due to the accessibility to the Internet and the growth of social media and networking sites. Some other countries already make this a compulsory subject in schools. We cannot stop our children below 13 to use Facebook (which they should not), we should educate them fast.
CAUSE: We teach computer lessons but do not teach the (high) risks behind using the computer to access the Internet.
RECOMMENDATION: Even if it is not feasible to include this in our education system, we should make it compulsory for our children to attend a short course or seminar on the topics ‘Internet Safety’. Teach the basics in Primary Schools and bring up their level of awareness again in Secondary Schools.
OBJECTIVE: We do not want another teen turns victim of the Internet predators.
4. [Primary Schools] How many UPSR students could write an ‘average’ composition? Most of them could not ‘think’ critically and creatively.
CAUSE: Most students have not been encouraged enough to think critically and creatively. Some of our teachers are not open-minded enough to accept our children’s suggestions and views. Some schools are not exposing our children to arts and crafts, music and sports enough, by throwing a printed colouring pages for our children to colour, replace music and arts session with other subjects.
RECOMMENDATION: Upgrade our teacher tolerance level to respect views from our children even if they sound illogical, sometimes. Allow our children to develop their right-brain with arts and crafts, as well as music session as the integration of right-brain and left-brain will take our children learning to new heights.
OBJECTIVE: To nurture total development, academically and non-academically. Even if some of our children could not do well academically, they look forward to go to school for their favourate subjects.
5. [Secondary and Primary Schools] I seldom see many self-motivated teachers nowadays. If they are not motivated, will they be able to motivate our children?
CAUSE: There is no single root cause. It could be the admin and paper work. It could be the salary. It could be their educational background. It could be their personalities.
RECOMMENDATION: (Based on the assumption that they are not trained to motivate the others) Upgrade our teachers. Send them to motivational classes, let them practice and assess them on they ability to motivate. Not every teacher could do that but at least increase the number of percentage.
OBJECTIVE: A motivated teacher would directly or indirectly motivate his students. If our children are all motivated, would we still be worry about their results and they competency when they leave schools? Motivation carries a heavier weight than anything else when it comes to slow learners and those children with special needs.
I think there is nothing seriously wrong with our education system. The thing, which is not quite right, is the local implementation at school-level, the principles and vision of the headmasters and the quality of teachers.
There is nothing seriously wrong with our syllabus. It is just inadequate in some ways.
(On having a different types of schools) To me, there is nothing wrong with having a variety of SK, SJKC and SJKT. As long as we do it right in the teaching of ‘moral subjects’ in schools, we would nurture children whom would respect diversity and other races. Of course, to promote cohesiveness and unity, we could have a short student exchange program. E.g. Let SJKC students pay more visits and interact with students in SJKT and SK. Bahasa Malaysia is our national language. If these students from different schools could not communicate with each other in Bahasa Malaysia, it is their respective Bahasa Malaysia teachers who have not done enough. In fact, I prefer variety.
(On assessment and exams) To me, there is nothing really wrong with assessing how our children do in schools. It is the intension and the reaction of schools and parents, which kill our children. When a child does well in exams, it means he understands what he was taught; he is a discipline person in doing revision; he is healthy at the point of attending exam. When a child does not do well in exam, it may mean he could not understand fully what was taught; he fell sick right before exam; the family situation does not allow him to have to time for revision etc. However, it is our teachers and parents themselves who determine how this child move forward – whether this child could re-group and try better or stay depressed and hate studying. It would be a PROBLEM if the headmaster’s vision were to produce as many straight A students as possible, to get the award or reward from the ministry.
(On elite group) To me, there is nothing wrong with putting the fast learners together. What could be wrong are parents whom stubbornly label their child as elite. We understand that most schools would put the best resources in attending to the elite group and there is nothing wrong. We do not want to use a big knife to cut a small shrimp. What is more important is that slow learners in the schools are having equal opportunity to grow academically or in other areas.
(On teachers) To me, a master degree holder may not be a better teacher than a SPM holder. It is the passion and motivation that count. Being higher educated does not mean one could understand children and handle difficult behaviour better. Where a teacher has a degree or not, to me, is secondary. It is the REASON behind why he or she wants to be a teacher, which is more important. I am sure all other related skills a teacher should know about is being taught in the maktab perguruan. However, when it comes to language subjects, it is essential that the teacher needs to at least understand and speak the language well enough.
(On Focus-On-Learning) To me, this is important. No matter how much a teacher teaches, if a child does not pick up the knowledge, learning does not take place. There is nothing wrong for teachers to press the students to memories or writes or even punish (in whatever way) those who do not follow instructions. However, the teachers should follow up if learning takes place after the event. Very often, we hear about teachers who are too strict and teachers who give the students too much ‘freedom’. If learning does not take place, I do not like to say this but the teachers fail to play their roles as teachers.
They are our children and future leaders. Let’s work together to grow them into talents with a positive mindset, in their own ability.
Bryan
Some issues, to me, are critical. Some of these issues could even leave a long lasting negative impact throughout their lives.
1. [Secondary and Primary Schools] Even straight A students are not able to speak fluently and confidently. (E.g. English for almost all students, Bahasa Malaysia for Chinese students etc.) That is why we always hear feedback that our students are not as competent as students in our neighbouring country. Even our local corporate and enterprises are complaining that our school leavers and graduate could not express freely during interviews. When it comes to public speaking or presentation, it is even worse.
CAUSE: Students are not encouraged to speak and share their opinions in schools.
RECOMMENDATION: Introduce ‘Speaking Class’. E.g. If a school allocates 200 minutes per week for teaching English, take 40 minutes out to be purely ‘English Speaking Class’. Let our students have an environment to ‘talk’ in English and in from of their friends.
OBJECTIVE: Even if a student could not do well in written exams, his ability in communication could give him an advantage to excel in other areas of talent and stay competitive in his private life and the business world.
2. [Secondary Schools] Teen pregnancy. In 2011, we had 18,000 reported cases of below-19-year old teen pregnancy and 25% was unwed.
CAUSE: We have not really tackled the issue at all. The issue remains a sensitive topic to discuss.
RECOMMENDATION: We have to do it, no matter; it is through formal syllabus or through a third party institution or NGO. How many more cases of teen pregnancy do we want? Teach the topic in the following sequence: 1. Respect – respect your own body and the body of the opposite sex, respect all mothers (teach them about the delivery process and its risks) 2. Responsible – be responsible for own actions. Teach our children about ‘where do I come from’, the consequence of teen and unwanted pregnancy, legal age/ law and the risk of abortion. 3. Protection – teach them about STD and contraception. Sex education should starts with the teaching of respect. Some of this content should be imparted to children when they turn 10 to 11 years old.
OBJECTIVE: To cut down the number of teen pregnancy which affects their entire lives and to cultivate the right mindset in our children/ teens on the word SEX.
3. [Secondary and Primary Schools] Victims of the Cyber world and Internet. We have heard too many cases of run-away-kids, raped, cyber-bully etc. due to the accessibility to the Internet and the growth of social media and networking sites. Some other countries already make this a compulsory subject in schools. We cannot stop our children below 13 to use Facebook (which they should not), we should educate them fast.
CAUSE: We teach computer lessons but do not teach the (high) risks behind using the computer to access the Internet.
RECOMMENDATION: Even if it is not feasible to include this in our education system, we should make it compulsory for our children to attend a short course or seminar on the topics ‘Internet Safety’. Teach the basics in Primary Schools and bring up their level of awareness again in Secondary Schools.
OBJECTIVE: We do not want another teen turns victim of the Internet predators.
4. [Primary Schools] How many UPSR students could write an ‘average’ composition? Most of them could not ‘think’ critically and creatively.
CAUSE: Most students have not been encouraged enough to think critically and creatively. Some of our teachers are not open-minded enough to accept our children’s suggestions and views. Some schools are not exposing our children to arts and crafts, music and sports enough, by throwing a printed colouring pages for our children to colour, replace music and arts session with other subjects.
RECOMMENDATION: Upgrade our teacher tolerance level to respect views from our children even if they sound illogical, sometimes. Allow our children to develop their right-brain with arts and crafts, as well as music session as the integration of right-brain and left-brain will take our children learning to new heights.
OBJECTIVE: To nurture total development, academically and non-academically. Even if some of our children could not do well academically, they look forward to go to school for their favourate subjects.
5. [Secondary and Primary Schools] I seldom see many self-motivated teachers nowadays. If they are not motivated, will they be able to motivate our children?
CAUSE: There is no single root cause. It could be the admin and paper work. It could be the salary. It could be their educational background. It could be their personalities.
RECOMMENDATION: (Based on the assumption that they are not trained to motivate the others) Upgrade our teachers. Send them to motivational classes, let them practice and assess them on they ability to motivate. Not every teacher could do that but at least increase the number of percentage.
OBJECTIVE: A motivated teacher would directly or indirectly motivate his students. If our children are all motivated, would we still be worry about their results and they competency when they leave schools? Motivation carries a heavier weight than anything else when it comes to slow learners and those children with special needs.
I think there is nothing seriously wrong with our education system. The thing, which is not quite right, is the local implementation at school-level, the principles and vision of the headmasters and the quality of teachers.
There is nothing seriously wrong with our syllabus. It is just inadequate in some ways.
(On having a different types of schools) To me, there is nothing wrong with having a variety of SK, SJKC and SJKT. As long as we do it right in the teaching of ‘moral subjects’ in schools, we would nurture children whom would respect diversity and other races. Of course, to promote cohesiveness and unity, we could have a short student exchange program. E.g. Let SJKC students pay more visits and interact with students in SJKT and SK. Bahasa Malaysia is our national language. If these students from different schools could not communicate with each other in Bahasa Malaysia, it is their respective Bahasa Malaysia teachers who have not done enough. In fact, I prefer variety.
(On assessment and exams) To me, there is nothing really wrong with assessing how our children do in schools. It is the intension and the reaction of schools and parents, which kill our children. When a child does well in exams, it means he understands what he was taught; he is a discipline person in doing revision; he is healthy at the point of attending exam. When a child does not do well in exam, it may mean he could not understand fully what was taught; he fell sick right before exam; the family situation does not allow him to have to time for revision etc. However, it is our teachers and parents themselves who determine how this child move forward – whether this child could re-group and try better or stay depressed and hate studying. It would be a PROBLEM if the headmaster’s vision were to produce as many straight A students as possible, to get the award or reward from the ministry.
(On elite group) To me, there is nothing wrong with putting the fast learners together. What could be wrong are parents whom stubbornly label their child as elite. We understand that most schools would put the best resources in attending to the elite group and there is nothing wrong. We do not want to use a big knife to cut a small shrimp. What is more important is that slow learners in the schools are having equal opportunity to grow academically or in other areas.
(On teachers) To me, a master degree holder may not be a better teacher than a SPM holder. It is the passion and motivation that count. Being higher educated does not mean one could understand children and handle difficult behaviour better. Where a teacher has a degree or not, to me, is secondary. It is the REASON behind why he or she wants to be a teacher, which is more important. I am sure all other related skills a teacher should know about is being taught in the maktab perguruan. However, when it comes to language subjects, it is essential that the teacher needs to at least understand and speak the language well enough.
(On Focus-On-Learning) To me, this is important. No matter how much a teacher teaches, if a child does not pick up the knowledge, learning does not take place. There is nothing wrong for teachers to press the students to memories or writes or even punish (in whatever way) those who do not follow instructions. However, the teachers should follow up if learning takes place after the event. Very often, we hear about teachers who are too strict and teachers who give the students too much ‘freedom’. If learning does not take place, I do not like to say this but the teachers fail to play their roles as teachers.
They are our children and future leaders. Let’s work together to grow them into talents with a positive mindset, in their own ability.
Bryan
TayCN
Jul 25, 2012, 9:48:20 PM7/25/12
to myedu...@googlegroups.com
Bryan Lim,
Well said! I couldn't agree with you more.
With the kids becoming digital natives / near natives, we must take care of their cyber-wellness. Schools should be sensitive about this.
There are NGOs doing their bit on this, but the reach would be small, compared to what the Ministry of Education can do.
Of sex education and teenage pregnancies, this must be properly taught as the age of the internet has brought info, good or unwanted, to all.
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