Some Teacher Talk

Hello Travellers!

This evening I had the opportunity of having dinner with a bunch of teachers. There were 6 of us and we were dining in at Secret Recipe. Obviously, at some point, we began discussing the education system in Malaysia.

Suddenly I had a great revelation of thought. (That usually happens and it leads to me writing a blog post) All of a sudden, I thought about how messed up our education system had become. The purpose of its existence, being a means of bringing up a better nourished and prepared generation, is forgotten.

Teachers are pushed to spoon-feed their students only the answers needed to pass the tests given out at the end of every year. Come to think of it, textbooks and revision books are even written to prepare the students with the right sentences to fill in the blanks. Why?
Why not educated the students for life?

It is a sad case that many teachers feel that their sole responsibility is to produce students that can pass the big examinations with flying colours. Here in Malaysia, the SPM and the STPM are why students drive themselves into madness. But why? Yes, I can see how these examinations are important in educating a generation but there is more to life than that. Besides, we can tell that our education system has many flaws and loopholes when we see youngsters failing to apply what they learn in school in real life itself.
So, shouldn't we try changing tactics?

I believe that the education system should be geared towards educating students for what is out there in the world and not the questions that are going to come out on a piece of paper in October. On the other hand, it is great that we have a great foundation in specific fields of study and also expanded our memory power throughout high school. (Because most of high school comprises of memorizing sentences and spitting them out in the SPM) I only wish that the teachers and students were more focussed on the long term goal rather than a silly test. I also think that Malaysians should quit revolving their lives around huge examinations such as the SPM and the STPM because there is more to life than memorizing textbooks and earning money.

Open your eyes. Expand your horizon.

Yours Truly.