Literate Goons and Well-trained Zombies

The view expressed by Prof Emeritus Dr Khoo Kay Kim that Chinese schools have been good only in producing copycats is certainly not without merit or truth.

By Thomas Lee

Education has been perceived by many people as merely the accumulation of facts and figures through a systematic drilling of these knowledge into a person, especially a child, most of the time without the individual concerned truely understanding or really knowing what the facts and figures are all about.

Take the learning of history, for example. A person can pass an examination in histrory and graduate with a degree majoring in the subject without actually knowing much about history. He or she just needs to reproduce the facts and figures fed to him or her by his lecturer and, “Praise the Lord!” as a Christian would exclaim, he or she has now passed the examination and is granted the degree.

But, does the person really know anything about the history he or she has been taught?

True, he or she can reproduce the fact that the Portugese conquered Malacca in 1511, but does he or she know and understand the implication of the fact?

For instant, the driver of Car A will have his version of what happened while Car B driver will have her side of the story. A witness to the accident will give another view of it. The condition of the two cars and
drivers involved, the weather and road condition, too, will contribute to the interpretation of the event.

Are are our students taught to think critically, analytically, creatively and constructively in the classrooms or lecture halls? Or are they just fed facts and figures to be memorised and reproduced wholesale to pass the examination and considered “educated”.

Using the Portugese conquer of Malacca as an example again, I would want my students to go beyond the mere facts and figures of the historical event. I would want them to study the political, economical,
religious and cultural condition and environment of the time, and ask such questions like why Malacca fell. I would like to ask them write an essay on “What would Malaysia be like now if Malacca had not been conquered by the Portugese?”

No, such educational approach is not being used in our schools and tertiary institutions, not only in the Chinese schools. We stress on the competition for excellence in memory and the wholesale reproduction of what is memorised, not in the creative and critical intellectual development of a person.

Hence, we have produced many so-called graduates who are no better than literate goons, who are unable to think analytically and critically.

They cannot come out with their own original creative ideas and ideals, but use only recycled facts, methods and approaches. They dare not venture beyond what they are taught, but are just satisfied with doing what is routine. They are well-trained zombies.

No wonder we see so many gullible people in our midst, who are so easily conned and cheated, so credulous, and these are so-called “well-educated” professional people! A recent news report about how a church with an elite membership of businesspeople and professionals could be exploited and abused financially by its senior pastor is a good example.

The root of our education problem is the lack of real learning. The content and approach of our education system are geared towards passing examination, not the creative intellectual development of indiviuals.

We must remember that education is not merely going through the grill and drill of rote learning, but the acquring, accumulation and absorption of “personal” knowledge and the achievement and accomplishment of “personal” intellectual growth and development.

Perhaps, it is time we redefine, revamp and redevelop our education system.

Thomas, who retired in June as a deputy editor in The Star, has been a socio-political analyst for nearly 35 years.