6 posts tagged “education”
I'd better rant this off before losing steam.
Have you noticed a new generation of bureaucrats in M'sia who are obsessed with form over function? Or it has always been this way..
If we were to built a space shuttle to space, these bureaucrats would be more concerned if the rocket is painted red or blue, if the rocket has a signage writing "Made in Msia"..in the right font and size. If the writing is in black or blue color. And if the engineers building it had taken their PTK exams. If not, you will not be paid and no lift off.
These attitudes of bureaucrats who are essentially controlling the administrative system has bred a new generation of M'sians with stifled thinking. Not to blame our young people, coz the system has forced them to toe the line according to the bureaucratic stupidity. Like must print out in A4 size paper, must write in capital letters, must use black and not blue pen, must use 2B pencils, font must be New Roman size 12 with double spacing...etc. Or else it's no go, it will be rejected. This robotic stupidity has caused a new generation of Malaysians who think that form is more important than function. They worry that if they don't do exactly according to these stupid instructions, they will be rejected. Thus their creativity and critical thinking are stifled.
Never mind if the rocket's engine is not powerful enough or if the design is unsuitable for spaceflight, the most important thing is the colour of your rocket. Alternatively even if your rocket is highly sophisticated and sought after by many countries, it will be rejected by our M'sian bureaucrats if the words "Made in M'sia" painted on it is the wrong font size.
This stupidity exemplified the system we are in now. And the frustration of the people under these administrative conditions. The few really clever ones will manipulate the system to their advantage but by and large most will suffer. The honest ones.
Why have we evolved into this stupid bureaucratic system? Because M'sians of substance have left the country and we are left with many graduates with dubious qualification and training absorbed into the civil service administration. We are producing so many graduates and somehow the government must provide jobs. And since these graduates cannot comphrehend substance, they can only worry about the form. Sad..sad..
What kind of grey matter does this Professor and Vice chancellor possess? Check out here. I'm not an expert on law but is there a provision to allow suing of a person for making a suggestion to open 10% of a university's place to non-Bumis ?
Is this how they are teaching law in this university? Just sue it ! Hahahaha. Thank you very much, not very interested to study in this university even if it is FOC...
I'm really fed up with the political situation in our country...coupled with the obsession with race and religious matters. I think it's about dominance really...
And the fact that 5,000 students in a university protested at the suggestion of allowing 10% of other races to be enrolled just exemplifies how bad polarization has creeped into our education system. Check out here and here. So will we be seeing more race based universities? So much for national integration. I'm a little worried at how things are turning out these days. Maybe I should start having a back-up plan...
Anyway I decided to take my mind away from all these depressing political stuffs. Came across this fantastic video of Michael Jackson's Beat It song by Fall Out Boy. When the mood is right I just love rock songs!!! Wish I could be at a rock concert singing my lungs out right now. Oh and I just bought these 2 new music CDs (can't remember the last time I actually bought music CDs). Ok...maybe I'm a little out of fashion hehe
I just wonder how are students being taught in the interior schools.
I interviewed a 17 year old girl, a patient from a district, in the clinic. She is supposed to take her SPM examinations this year.
Me : Bila ambil SPM?
Her : Tak ambil dah. Henti sekolah dah.
Me: Kenapa?
Her : Tak pandai.
Me: PMR dapat apa?
Her : Dapat "telor" (giggling)
Me: Cikgu ada ajar? Kamu ada tanya?
Her : Cikgu kata siapa tak faham angkat tangan.
Me: Kamu ada angkat tangan?
Her : Tak
Me : Kamu tau baca dan tulis?
Her : Tak
Me: Jadi apa kamu buat hari-hari di sekolah?
Her : (Giggling)
Me : Bapa, mak kerja apa?
Her : Petani. Tanam padi.
Me : Di rumah kamu buat apa? Kamu ada tolong potong padi?
Her : Belum musim. Bulan dua-belas nanti...
Me : Tadi macam mana datang? Macam mana kamu balik?
Her : Ikut "Ngii...ngo...ngii...ngo" (giggling)
Me : Ikut ambulans kah?
Her : (Nodded)
After 17 years of schooling she cannot read and write. I tested her myself. She was very cheerful though. I could not detect even a hint of jealousy nor dissatisfaction.
However I felt sad. How did this happen in our country? Poverty? Ignorance? Lack of opportunity? Neglected? Education system? Some population just don't realize that they have not been given a fair share of the socio-economic pie. Easy going people. Easy to be taken advantage of. The state's wealth plundered away while they are still in the dark. Obviously the "Dasar Ekonomi Baru" didn't reach here. She is a "Bumiputra" though.
Whatever happened to the fair distribution of wealth and opportunity? Looks like it is a skewed distribution.
Recently another batch of medical students came for their clinical teaching in the hospital. I had the privilege of giving my 2 cents worth of bedside clinical teaching. There was a mixed composition of the students with regards to ethnicity and sex. Pretty well balanced. This was their first clinical bedside teaching so it wouldn't be fair to assess their knowledge or competence.
However I was appalled at the standard of their English. The Chinese students were no better than their Malay counterpart. The Chinese student could not even put together a decent short sentence of English. Fair enough clinical knowledge is not about language but we are learning clinical medicine in English and English is the medium of instruction and knowledge (at least to me). If the students were to learn clinical medicine in China, this probably wouldn't matter but the fact is the student is supposed to be learning in English.
And how he can learn medicine in English when he cannot even put together a couple of English words decently? I cannot imagine how would he be able to clerk a patient in English. The same goes for students learning medicine in Indonesia and perhaps Russia. I was told in Indonesia, they used "Bahasa Indonesia" in their studies.
The standards of House Officers are also dropping fast. There used to be a time where senior doctors would say any Chinese student who graduated from the local premier University should be ok in terms of knowledge. If he is not, he is just plain lazy and would deserve some scolding. The reason behind this is obvious (no need to mention lah). However lately this is no longer true. I just wonder if the local universities are still getting the cream of the crop or have the cream left Malaysia and we are left with "beneath the cream"?
Anyway back to the topic, I'm sceptical whether the students understood even 30% of what I've explained due to their poor command of English. But at the end of the session they asked me if I could take them for another session! I'm only paid to teach them for 60 minutes and I've voluntarily extended the session to 90 minutes as an hour was grossly inadequate. Should I do charity work for another 90 minutes? Hmm....
As far as I can recall, my impression of a scholarship is one of a privilege not a right. Scholarships are given to needy (poor) students who obtained good grades so that they have the opportunity to further pursue their studies. Or has the concept of scholarships changed now? Perhaps there are many different kinds of scholarships now, merit scholarships, needy scholarships etc etc
I came across these articles in The Sun here and even in an MP's website here where SPM "top scorers" complained why they didn't get a PSD scholarships. It seems to me they think it's their right to get a PSD scholarship and not a privilege. I'm sure there are many many deserving students out there but can we afford to give scholarships to everybody?
I'm not from a rich background. My parents were both normal civil servants. But we can make ends meet but without any luxuries, just as normal average income earner's home. I obtained good results in SPM and STPM (no need to elaborate what I got lah...) but I wasn't offered any scholarships. I was lucky to be able to enter a local university to do medicine and while I was a medical student I was offered a "JPA scholarship" and so was everyone else in the medical faculty.
What JPA offered us? RM5000 per annum ( =RM 416 per month) in return for a bond of additional 10 years in the government service. We are already automatically bonded for 4 years compulsory service upon graduation. Naturally 99% of the medical students did not accept this "scholarships".
Now what I ask is, are these SPM top scorers asking for the up to RM1million dollars PSD scholarships to study overseas? (especially for medicine) or for the RM5,000 per annum scholarships like what we were offered? What about their family background? Are they poor?
I quote the student's letter to the MP:
"What of the quality of students who are entering the local public universities having not obtained one of the 2,000 PSD foreign study scholarships every year? I have friends’ who are not up to par with me and are able to obtain scholarships and enter our local universities easily"
Wahh...you mean people who did not receive one of the 2,000 PSD foreign study scholarships and entered local universities are stupid? I would never dare to say that other people who received scholarships are not up to par with me...
I'm not saying that the PSD scholarship selection criterias are very transparent or fair or what not, these letters just gives me the impression that these SPM chaps are arrogant and feel it's their right to obtain a scholarship.
If I have lots of money and I want to give a scholarship to a humble poor student with 2As in SPM instead of someone with 10As screaming for scholarships, am I being unfair? Of course this isn't public money lah...
And I wonder how many of the SPM top scores have the intention to serve the country back since you are using public money?
