By rockettan
Study week before semester final exam can be dull and boring. I was trying to find ways to relieve myself from such boredom when I stumbled across an interesting talk by Ken Robinson on Ted.com. The title of the talk ‘schools kill creativity’ captured my attention and what he said resonate well with my perception of current predicament facing Malaysian education system.
Ken Robinson observed that a child has no fear of making a mistake. To illustrate his point, he told a story of a girl as having learning disorder by her teacher due to her inability to concentrate in class. However, she seems to be able to concentrate by preoccupying herself with drawing. Hence, one day, the teacher decides to ask her what she is drawing all these while and the girl replied that she is trying to draw the face of god. The teacher finds it amusing and told her that no one knows the face of god and it is pointless to try to sketch it. She was awestruck when the girl replied: ‘you will know when I finished in a short while.’
There is no way of determining the truth of the story. But the important message that it conveys is that our education system discourages our students to be creative or try something unprecedented. This is reflected in our examination systems which penalized students for making mistakes in exams or homework. I remembered being chided by teachers for not getting the right answer in class and feel bad for it. It is the fear of making mistakes; imbued by our education system; that will prove to the stumbling block towards creativity and innovation.
It should be borne in mind that the great inventors in history had to go through many failures before their invention become successful. I could not imagine what will happen if Thomas Edison give up when he failed in his experiments. We could be still living in darkness if not for his perseverance and courage in pursuing his dream.
In the context of Malaysian Education system, it is common knowledge that our students are bogged down by route memorization of subjects that bear little relevance to real life. Out teachers do not encourage independent learning or questioning in class. Students are expected to be passive and obedient recipient of what is being conveyed by the teachers. To make matter worse, students often confine themselves to learning what in the textbooks, particularly only to what will potentially be in exams. As a result, they are oblivious to what happens around them, be that national or global issues. This is a worrying sign in light of globalization which make the world more interconnected. Our students are not able to be ‘ global citizens’ who can engage in people around the world confidently.
I am not trying to generalize that all students are shortchanged by the falling education standard. I am sure there are bright students who are able to defy all obstacles and shine in their own ways. My only concern is for the majority students who are unable to cope with the rapid changes around the world due to their limited general knowledge and myopic views.
The failure of Malaysian Students to gain admission into Harvard University is perhaps a testament to the abovementioned. I believe many of us are wondering what are the main reasons for this failure .The interview conducted by BFM (Business radio station) with Malaysian Harvard Alumni and interviewers shed some light on these issues. One of the Harvard Alumni and interviewers lamented about the lack of critical thinking skills and general knowledge among our students. She mentioned that our students are not used to question things around them and are very likely to accept the status quo. She observed that maybe this is due to the lack of flexibility in the choice of subjects in high school and tertiary education. It is common that our bright students are automatically being placed into science stream with no chance whatsoever to choose art subjects. As a result, they are not able to think or see things from different perspectives.
Besides, the other reason is the applicants’ lack of communication skill and their inability to form their own opinions or engage in general discourse confidently. She suggested a revamp of the whole education system which focuses on allowing our students to explore a wide range of subjects according to their own interests without any pressure to conform to the majority. She used the example of how Harvard students are given two years to explore any subjects before making a decision on their major.
It is my greatest hope that Malaysian Education system will be modeled on the basis of fostering creativity, soft skills, and dynamism. However, my hope was dashed when the Education Ministry of Malaysia announced a new scheme to increase the lessons for Malay in schools at the expense of subjects like physical education and music. Moreover, ‘kemahiran hidup and geography in primary school will be scrapped and will be replaced by history subject. . I am not trying to be a doomsayers or naysayers and I am not trying to be cynical. However, in the age of innovation, creativity grounded in practical skills rather than academic knowledge, our students will be severely disadvantaged by the current changes in the syllabus
Perhaps we will have a deep conviction in what Ken Robinson said if we view them in Malaysian context.
