Jarrett 22, a third year engineering student in a local public university.

He is a clumsy and funny

person. His friends always call him a joker. He always thinks his English is good because it is
simple and understandable. No bombastic or deep element is in his writing. Nevertheless, he has
an entrepreneurial mindset; hopes someday he can create something that can benefit the mankind.
What is the WRONG with the education system in Malaysia?
What is an education? According to Oxford dictionary, an education is the process of
receiving or giving systematic instruction. Based on this statement, it sounds like the engagement
is either by learning and teaching an instruction given by teachers. Would it be good enough for
the students? How can this approach help the students to handle difficult situation in the future?
The learning process in the classroom is never enough for the students anymore. It takes more
than academia to survive in such a stressful working environment. In Malaysia, the education
system is indeed facing problems in producing competent graduates to face this gruesome and
depressing challenging working world. What are the possible problems that caused such a bad
system? What can be done to create a better education system?
The problem of education system in Malaysia is that the students are too exam-oriented.
Due to societal pressure, the result is the sole indicator of determining your performance in the
school. For many innocent students in Malaysia, education means scoring the test papers,
acquiring more knowledge for the exam, and of course, aiming for higher number of As! There is
a misconception that higher number of As indicates the person is smarter. For example, parents
and relatives like to compare their own children with the number of As in result slip or how
much salary they can make per month. Why are they making us so stressful? I had heard
numerous comparisons throughout my schooling year (even now). My aunt did that by
comparing my cousin and me in SPM. With an extra A in my cousins result slip, she is assumed
to be better. It is not because I am jealous or what (maybe I am?), this should not be the way to
gauge the students ability. This is because the quality of As would be affected. I still
remembered that she is still struggling with Chemistry questions during her foundation year. So,
is this the right way to compare? Would you compare a student with a very strong foundation in
Physics gets mediocre result in other subjects, while another student who is just barely good at
every subject gets straight As? Would you expect Albert Einstein to be good in every subject
while his expertise is Physics? I believe his research ability would have suffered if he did that.
This is the problem with the parents. They do not utilize the talents of the children. The children
might be good in drawing, handcrafting, or sports. Instead, they put too much emphasis to create
Jack-of-all-trades students in term of academic examination. When students are too exam-
oriented, they are unable to utilize their talents by being productive in their fields. Because after
all, they just want more As in exam slips.
Another problem I see within most students in Malaysia is they lack of leadership
element. It may sound clich, but it is crucial to possess this a must element in every student.
This element cannot be acquired through class unless the leadership role is taken by the student.
This is why the roles of class monitor, secretary and treasurer exist even in primary school.
However, how many students are able to take these roles? Not so many. Based on my experience,
most of the student leaders you see in your school or networking events are comprised a very
small number. Perhaps, they may be 1 out of 100 students? What I find it funny is that the
student leaders in the various events are actually the same group of people! These high motivated
enthusiastic groups go for every kind of event to get exposure. This is why the representatives
from Ministry of Education always think that most students are like the leaders, engaging most
of the time. In fact, they are engaging the same students most of the time. Take for another
example, today you might see a student ambassador from AIESEC in a GRADUAN career fair.
After that, I can bet my 1 cent that you would most probably see him in other career
fair/networking event/startup event/random event etc. This is a good sign, but what about the
rest? We are now talking out of the average students, not the top 5 %. Most of them would shun
away from this kind of event, stay at home/hostel most of the time. The lazy type (eg. my friends)
would most probably demotivate you by giving excuses like Why do you go for so many kind
of events?, Stay at home chillax first! Not easy to get holiday on weekends-leh!, I didnt meet
my family for nearly whole semester. I miss them so I have to go back!, After graduated you
still can go-mah! and the list goes on. What happened after that? They feel scared when
lecturers point them to answer question. Especially those forum and networking events where
there will be a Q & A at the end of the session, not only the students, even the working adults
would tilt their heads down. This shows they are shy and not taking initiative to take up a
leadership role in asking questions. Who knows the answers from the questions would be an
inspiring quote in the future? That is how the legacy was born by the leaders.
Anyway, I have found a random quote from the internet.
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher
demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward
Speaking about teachers, teachers are noble and respectable. However, back to the quote,
did teachers ever inspire most of the students nowadays? Yeah, maybe a handful. Most of them,
are like the result of education system in Malaysia, teach according to the syllabus. They lack of
empathy to care more about the students. The good ones would be focused, while the bad ones
would be sidelined. Some would say Why getting yourself into troubles when your pay is the
same before and after? After all, teachers are now only known for rushing the exam syllabus.
Where is the personal connection between the students and the teachers? Why can it never be
like the relationship between the mentors and disciples? Let me ask you some questions:
1) When was the last time you had given a wishing card to them on Teachers Day?
2) Or for worse case, when was the last time you had visited your teachers after your
graduation?
Those days where teachers inspire were gone. Students are never appreciative with what the
inspiring teachers have done for them. They take everything for granted. Most would complain
about the teachers on they did not come to the class and finish the syllabus. Again, syllabus!? I
believe that every student should have an equal opportunity. It is the dedication of the teachers
who can make a difference. Frankly speaking, I had a hard time tutoring a student with bad
results. It really tested my patience to really get him understood. He did well after that (Thank
God!) Besides, teachers are also responsible for some kind of programs in school, for example
development programs (such as extra-curricular activities). These programs are usually deemed
as wasting time by the students. Same goes to my second point, unless they are forced, only the
1 % highly motivated student leaders would volunteer to join these programs. Because students
are only taught that results are everything. The result slip is the only pathway to go through your
next level of education. Truth to be told, they would only realize the result slip is just an entrance
to any level of education, in secondary and tertiary education. After that, everything would start
from 0. Why dont I tell you everything would start from 0 after you land your first employment?
Imagine your 15 16 years of education becomes negligible after your first job. Reality is hitting
us hard, isnt it? Therefore, inspiring teachers can really mold the leaders that we can see at the
top of corporate leaders.
Have you ever heard of teacher-centered learning? It is where the teachers would talk and
the students would listen. This kind of approach has made students who can read and write well,
but could not communicate with people around them. This problem usually happens to the
people learning second language (eg. English). The education system usually taught students to
read and write first before they start to talk. This approach is actually very bad. Have you ever
wondered why you can speak your native language (Malay, Tamil, or Mandarin) so well? This is
because you use the language in most conversation. In my experience, I could not read or write
most Chinese words, but I could converse well with my Chinese friends. Many people find it
weird because I can listen/speak but I couldnt read/write. Yes, these components are actually
different from each other. It must be improved part by part in order to improve your overall
proficiency. However, the approach of teaching students to read and write English before they
get to speak is just not right. Before the era of instant messaging, everyone speaks to each other
as a form of communication. Before you get to speak, you must listen to how others speak.
Before you write a passage, you must read how others write. Perhaps, I would suggest the
government to start listening and oral tests in primary school as part of the curriculum. Anyway,
English is a lingua franca, but many students are still reluctant to learn it. I am not good in
English is a merely excuse. I find it funny because it has become an opening for many
conversations. For me, there is no good English, there is only understandable English. Even if
you throw bombastic words to me in a conversation, while I dont understand it, I would not
think your English is good. So this is how KISS rule applies (Google it!). Take your time by
using common phrases in English. Master them and I am sure you would be talking like a native
speaker in the future. For your information, I am taking German now. If I were to compare
English and German, I would say that German is much harder than English.
Their verbs are weird (the word haben have in German is different conjugation for
every pronoun such as habe, hast, hat, haben)
The articles of the have different forms (das, die, der)
Even plurals are not as straightforward (can you imagine the plural of Buch book is
Bcher books).
Although it seems hard for me, it is very common in Germany. The Germans can speak
grammatically correct sentences while we are struggling on the correct rules in each sentence.
Ignore that, just speak up! It is the same as our native languages. We are so used to it, yet the
foreigners are having tough time learning it. Do not wait for education system to teach you how
to speak English. It would never work! Take the initiative and learn it on your own! Do not
forget that where theres a will, theres WILL ALWAYS BE a way.
In a crunchy nutshell, education system in Malaysia certainly doesnt prepare the students
to face the corporate life. The budget allocated for education sector is increasing annually, with
the highest last year at RM 54.6 billion (Woah, how many Ferraris can I buy?). Somehow, was it
utilized effectively? It is not a matter of allocation anymore, the biggest role here is the execution.
Teachers must be able to inspire the students to think out of the box. The students must not be
left out for leadership role. They must be given the freedom to utilize their real talents to
contribute to the society. Number of As shall not be the sole comparison to the quality of the
students. Scoring 2928 of As throughout your life is equivalent to an IQ of 200! By changing the
mindset of the young in the early stage, they would know their purpose to work on what they
want to contribute in the future. If the country is to take about education excellence, it has to start
with reformation in education first.