Education

Sunday February 24, 2008

Education wish list

AS an academic and father of five, I feel qualified to pen my thoughts on a new primary and secondary school curriculum. Here is my education wish list – hopefully, it will stimulate discussion.

From Years One to Three, the emphasis in schools should be on strengthening the students’ sense of identity within a community.

Don't try to turn young children into patriotic citizens – it is enough if they can just understand their respective cultural and religious worlds.

To achieve this objective, reading must be emphasised in the curriculum so that students can understand what is happening around them and learn to think for themselves.

Religious rituals, if practised, should be understood and not just memorised. Trips to mosques, churches and temples should be encouraged.

English and Bahasa Malaysia must be taught. Children should also be introduced to simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

But please don't try to turn them into little Einsteins. The keywords in school should be “fun” and “creativity”. No homework please! Instead, let them finish their work in school by the end of the day. Never mind if the finished product is not great as long as the child enjoys and completes the task given.

Do away with grades. Just give progressive reports using words like “Great stuff”, “Nice going” or “Good attempt” to motivate them.

They should keep portfolios of work done to show their parents at the end of the school term.

The contact hours for the various subjects can be broken down in this proportion – Bahasa Malaysia (20%), English Language (15%), Mother Tongue or Third Language (15%), Religious Studies (15%), Mathematics (10%), Healthy Lifestyle and Physical Education (10%), and Art and Creativity (15%).

From Years Four to Six, students are usually ready to learn about other communities, so subjects like Malaysian People and Places can be introduced. Encourage them to learn about other cultures and visit different places of worship.

The subject Healthy Lifestyle and Physical Education should continue to be taught, with emphasis on diet and nutrition, workouts and stress management.

As for the language subjects, writing should be a core focus, with emphasis on the ability to write simple descriptions of familiar surroundings to hone observational skills.

Science should be introduced carefully at this stage, without encroaching on religious beliefs. There is no hurry to turn children into young scientists – focus on developing an enquiring mind.

At this stage, some grading can be introduced for subjects like Mathematics, Bahasa Malaysia and English. Other subjects should be evaluated via projects, not tests.

I do not see the point of introducing subjects such as Living Skills at this stage as we don't aim to turn our children into contractors.

The breakdown of contact hours can be as follows – Bahasa Malaysia (20%), English Language (10%), Mother Tongue or Third Language (10%), Religious Studies (10%), Mathematics (10%), Healthy Lifestyle and Physical Education (10%), Art and Creativity (10%), Science (10%) and Malaysian People and Places (10%).

Students from Forms One to Three need to learn about how to contribute towards nation building. All Chinese should know how many times a day a Muslim prays, just as all Malays should understand the significance of Qing Ming.

The Science and Mathematics syllabus should be cut down by half so that there is more time given to training thinking skills.

Healthy Lifestyle should include topics like interpersonal and coping skills to help the students deal with the storms and stress of adolescence.

This is also the time when students should be equipped with core language and thinking skills, scientific knowledge, mathematical concepts and creativity.

Living Skills can be assimilated into the Arts and Creative Design course.

The breakdown of contact hours can be as follows – Bahasa Malaysia (10%), English Language (10%), Third Language (10%), Religious Studies (10%), Mathematics (10%), Science (10%), History (10%), Geography and Malaysian Cultural Studies (10%), Healthy Lifestyle and Physical Education (10%), and Art and Creativity (10%).

The last two years of secondary school should see students concentrating on subjects that can help their intended career paths.

Religious studies should be continued but teachers need to be retrained in current methodology such as technology and multimedia. At the moment, Religious Studies is being taught in an extremely boring way.

Malaysian Studies should be given prominence so that students understand their constitutional rights. Environmental and energy conservation are increasingly important as new focuses of study.

At this stage, all subjects should be examinable, except Religious Studies, Health and Physical Education and the electives.

The breakdown of contact hours can be as follows – Malaysian Studies (10%), Religious Studies (10%), Professional Streams: Choose either science stream, business stream, design stream (45%), Healthy Lifestyle and Physical Education (5%), Computer Technology (5%), Electives: Art, Music, Drama, Advanced Computer, Entrepreneurship, Design, Literature, World History, Advanced Third Language (20%).

So, there you have it. The shining new educational blueprint for teaching our children in the future. I have left out stuff like co-curriculum, soft skills, teaching methods, teacher training, etc, as this wish list is just a starting point for discussion.

We should have think tanks come up with new ideas which they can present to a committee comprising Malaysians from diverse backgrounds.

It is time we take back the power of educating our children so that we can mould them to become tolerant, creative and critical individuals. In the long run, these are the survival skills that count most.

PROF DR MOHAMAD TAJUDDIN MOHAMAD RASDI

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

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