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LAST week’s article “Tidak apa attitude rules” (StarEducation, March 14) reminded me of my own political outlook. People get involved in a system only when they believe their actions will make a difference.
My political outlook as a young Malaysian was formed when I was in secondary school. I am a Gen-X/Y child who used to be quite ignorant of politics. I was interested in politics in Form One through Form Three, but after that I stopped following the news because it makes local politics boring.
It wasn’t just the lack of political-philosophical education in schools, but also the media coverage which put me off politics.
Looking on the bright side, it’s better to have apathetic citizens than to have misinformed voters.
When citizens are not politically educated, what results is a class of “leaders” and a
class of “followers”. This isn’t a bad system, mind you, and young people today seem to know it.
Practically speaking, we don’t need a theoretically-pure democracy. Our country is what we have made it to be, and we should be proud of what we have, don’t you think?
I love Malaysia for what it is, simply because I think the system works. I will work with the system to make it better, but that doesn’t mean that everyone should have to bear the burden of civil responsibility.
HWA YANG JERNG
Maine, the United States
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THE letter “Rethink education system” by Ashraff Sanusi (StarEducation, Dec 21) struck a chord in my heart. As a recent product of the Malaysian public education system, I’m aware of the thousands of complaints heaped against that institution.
Yet now as a third-year student at a liberal arts college in the United States, I find myself complaining just as much about the US education system. No country’s system is perfect.
Our Malaysian education system is certainly not the worst. In fact, I believe that it is quite good and certainly above average.
While schooling in Malaysia I had teachers who were positively enlightened souls. It mattered not that they had won neither prizes nor fame. What I loved about them was that they had a profound understanding of life and how to live it; science and how to teach it; as well as spirit and the ability to inspire in others wise ambitions.
But have we succeeded in nurturing brilliant minds? Now, if by “brilliant” we mean academically or technically accomplished, there is absolutely no question that Malaysia can and does produce experts in various fields.
Of course, it would be nice if every child could enter the education system and come out brilliant. But the fact is, there is a statistical distribution of intelligence in every population, and not even 5% of the population can ever dream of being a distinguished scientist.
As for curbing indiscipline in schools, Moral Education is a good subject. Even learning by rote moral definitions is effective to a certain degree, as it forces pupils to think about their actions and the consequences that follow.
People’s choices are guided by their personalities and experiences, and our education system succeeds in giving kids meaningful experiences in terms of extra-curricular activities.
Finally, I mean no disrespect when I say that fear is not a tool in education. Discipline in education is all about respecting pain, and not fearing it.
The basis of Moral Education is showing people how they should live. It assumes that individuals want life and I think it is partly parents’ responsibility to give their children reasons to love life.
Hence, in view of what I have just said, I think our education system need not be revamped.
HWA YANG JERNG
Via e-mail
