Teach your little darlings to think

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Nov 27, 2013

His father, a doctor, claimed the change at the eleventh hour without prior notice was “racially-motivated” and was to ensure non-Muslims — for whom Moral Studies is a required subject — score fewer As than Muslim students who have to sit the compulsory Islamic Studies paper.

Frankie D’Cruz, The Malay Mail

Last year a giant UK supermarket’s poll of parents of children aged 18 to 25 years claimed one in three teenagers arriving for their higher education was unable to even boil an egg.

The survey also revealed the average student struggled with basic chores such as barely making toast for breakfast and not knowing how to make their bed in the morning.

The findings of this poll were disclosed by a college lecturer over the weekend during a talk on journalism. We were discussing the changes to the format of SPM Moral Studies paper by the Examination Syndicate that had caused confusion among students and parents.

The lecturer said that in her 12-year experience with institutions of higher learning she had come across students who lacked the ability to carry out simple tasks in life.

She said the robotic tutorials in schools have created students who struggle to think out of the box. “Parents need to teach their little darlings how to do the simplest things in living skills.

“Then, we wouldn’t have a situation where parents and students growl when creativity and critical thinking are encouraged as in the Moral paper.”

Consider: Over the past two years, students were told that they only needed to memorise the 36 moral values and answer accordingly during the exam.

The 36 values are categorised into seven major fields — self-development, family, nature, patriotism, human rights, democracy and peace and harmony.

Obviously, any change in format without prior notice will cause confusion. So was the case among students and teachers.

One student in my neighbourhood who is incredibly competent at using gadgets and technology came to see me with his parents and asked me if The Malay Mail would highlight the racial element in the changes to the Moral paper.

His prejudiced remark must be in the running for the Ugly Malaysian 2013 grand prize. And right up there is also Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli who told a news portal at the height of the issue that the problem was symptomatic of the fragile race relations in the country.

Rafizi reportedly said: “People do not trust the system and the government. The majority have long felt that the subject (Moral Studies) only serves to penalise them (non-Malays).

You decide where Rafizi is coming from. You figure out why race has been dragged in. Aren’t we all bored with unintelligent interpretations?

What came across as refreshing though were the points put across by Sarala Poobalan in her letter to the editor:

She wrote that the format used to prepare the paper was heading in the right direction. “Our students are being prepared for thinking outside the box skill although it is currently only for the Moral paper.”

I agree with her that it’s worrying that the change in the format was not made known to teachers and students.

I agree with her that this was unprofessional and unbecoming of the Examination Syndicate in preparing a national examination paper.

I am not too sure however if all the students would have been able to prepare mentally if they had been told of the format because the Malaysian education system has been focused on standardised testing and memory recall.

Sarala says nobody likes surprises, especially during a major public examination, but agree or disagree, creative impulses are often stifled by a continuation of the instructive approach to teaching that dominates primary and secondary education.

In the push for better grades, creativity is often considered as having no place in the classroom as teachers transmit facts and procedures in a regimented manner to students.