COMMENT | The idea of culture and education and economic evolution of a nation, framed within Malaysia’s evolutionary stage, is key to answering the question in my heading.

Let us not dwell yet into the comparative aspects of successful countries and how they frame the process of genuine educational change, from crafting philosophy to framing paradigm, to structuring classroom daily practice right until assessing what students need to know and if they already know, understand, and can create new artefacts, as perhaps what Benjamin Bloom’s 'Taxonomy' or Howard Gardner’s 'Multiple Intelligences Theory' suggested. That’s the depth of what ought to happen in Malaysian education.

But first things first. I’d suggest a simple idea, for those in the Ministry of Education: begin by having, as American academics would say, “brown bag discussions” on the exact philosophy Malaysian education needs - multicultural sensitivity. Philosophy guides practice, just as corporate vision and ethos drives organisations...