I have undergone primary and secondary education in Chinese schools in PJ, undertook matriculation and am now a medical student in Universiti Malaya.
I must say I totally agree with some who point out the need for our education to go back to the basics. I believe focusing on university students alone is the wrong approach as the vital years in one's life are the schooling days. Have we not heard of the Malay proverb, melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya ?
It is futile to change mentalities and mindsets of university students; we should instead be focusing on to shaping and moulding the young ones for the betterment of this nation.
The main problem with schools in Malaysia is that students are spoon-fed everything, especially during their schooling days. From my perspective, this results in university students being unable to think for themselves and ending up having to rely on ‘lecture notes’ to pass exams.
When asked to speak up in public, we end up stammering in embarrassment; summarising from a standard textbook is a pain because everything was handed out to us during school; out of textbook questions give us a problem because all we were taught to do in school was to just memorise.
Subjects like ‘Moral Education’ have only served to worsen the situation as students are just required to swallow a set of ‘good values’ and regurgitate them out during examinations, hoping that it will fit the answer scheme. Speaking as the grandson of someone who was directly involved in proposing the subject of ‘Moral Education’, I daresay that this was not part of the original objectives or learning outcomes.
The ‘History’ ( Sejarah ) subject in secondary schools also needs a revamp as students hardly learn anything about world history. Questions are phrased in such a way that force students to blindly memorise and rewrite.At this rate, we are merely producing ‘computers’; not a new generation to lead Malaysia one day.
The other issue is the usage of English in the education system. From the recent UPSR results, it is clear that students are ready to change to English as the medium of instruction. In this day and age, learning English is as necessary as the air with breathe. How is the next generation expected to lead Malaysia in this wave of globalisation with superpowers around the world using English as their main language?
Don't get me wrong, however. I have nothing against the Malay language and in fact have obtained an A1 for Malay in SPM and used to wear the baju kebangsaan every Friday during matriculation.
Therefore, I feel that the only method that would not only improve and enhance our education system but also unite races in Malaysia would be to teach all three main languages in all schools - Malay, Mandarin and English.
At the first glance this may sound absurd, but it is better than using only one language to unite us (like Britain or China or any other country) as we would have endless debates about it. Looking around me at my course-mates, I see that we are not divided by race but by the language we speak. Even during mealtimes we sit according to our medium of communication. This is because we find talking to someone in an unfamiliar language too uncomfortable.
Being a Chinese with a good grasp of the Malay language, I have less problems. A Malay junior I know speaks fluent Mandarin and has no problems mixing around with her Chinese friends.
If anything were to reunite Malaysia, it would not be the number of times we sing the national anthem; nor the hype of Merdeka celebrations; nor the symbol of the flag, the Twin Towers, etc but the language we speak. Unless we find common ground in this area, we will be forever swimming against the tide of racial harmony.
There is so much to be done to realign and refocus the Malaysian education system, not only in providing better education but more importantly, for the sake of this nation’s future. There are so many in the general public that are equipped with experience and the knowledge to help, but how many letters, complaints and suggestions have gone unheard by the ministry?
