Rote Learning Kills

By Rosalind Yang Misieng

I am not an expert in the field of education, but like other Malaysians, I have lived through the examination crazy Malaysian education system and here’s my two cents worth on the matter.As a product of the system, I can safely say that learning in the Malaysian school system could have been a lot more meaningful and effective. It wasn’t exactly a gratifying experience in terms of studies and growth as a person.

I particularly remember the repulsive rote learning environment in which non-thinking students can score for as long as they could vomit out what had been systematically dished out by teachers or the syllabus. There was even such a thing as – horror of horrors! – a book on model essay answers for secondary school subjects such as History. That was a main killer of my enthusiasm about learning history or any subject for that matter. It just kills one’s spirit as a student. It gives one a sense of restriction as to what and how one should think and that to deviate from that particular set path, one deserves to fail.

At that age I wasn’t too sure as to the reason I felt rebellious against such practices. There was definitely a feeling that something was not quite right. But one was conditioned (not necessarily by the education system alone but by our entire social norms) not to question such things especially when you’re just a student. Some people complained that learning history is merely a painful and numbing exercise of remembering dates, events and names. But what is more damaging is perhaps the imposing of views of who’s the hero or who’s the villain when I thought history was supposed to be a presentation and learning objectively, historical facts and the significance of such facts on society.

There seemed to be a lack of exercise to teach students to learn history to understand the human society better. To be fair, there were, dedicated teachers who attempted to do this but they could only achieve so much under the set practices and norms in Malaysian schools.

Learning should be more than just about aiming to get a job. It should be about learning to function as a useful member of society. Sounds clichéd but has anyone else realized how many of our youngsters today lacked good manners and, the desire to contribute to the community?

The more liberal learning practices in the university provided a much needed relief (life-saving?) from the choking study environment in school as one is freer to assert views and perspectives on subject matters through papers, assignments, seminars and research findings. It was not only intellectually liberating but also “spiritually” liberating as one gets a greater sense of dignity as a real scholar.

Working experience has also affirmed my suspicions of the shortcomings we had in school. Participating in forum and meetings at international levels at times revealed that most of us lack deeper insights into some subject matters compared with our foreign counterparts whose education system had encouraged critical thinking among other things. This, of course rendered us vulnerable at the negotiation table. It seems that it’s a little too late to train us to think critically only at the university. It should have started way back. There could have been more stress on social consciousness instead of the lop-sided emphasis on academics.

As such all subjects in school should be taught in ways that could teach us to see things in broader perspectives, to be able to eventually put us on par with international counterparts in terms of thinking, analytical, negotiation and leadership skills. With all the country’s ambitious plans for development for the next few decades, the last thing we need would be a dearth of competent leaders and workers.

We hope that the on-going debate and discussions on the proposed abolishment of UPSR and PMR would carefully consider such points. On this issue, State Islamic Council Educational Services Bureau Director Datu Dr Adi Badiozaman Tuah says “the prime concern in the philosophy of education is achieving development in a holistic manner, physically, emotionally, socially, cultural as well as spiritual.”. I couldn’t agree more. Lest we are being naïve, we are of course conscious of other factors that could affect decisions. For example, a writer has recently called for “less politicisation and greater professionalism” of education.

Another point is that if we do things right enough at the school level, I believe our universities would not be faced with less problems of “low quality graduates”. However, this issue deserves a whole article by itself.

Rosalind Yang Misieng is Angkatan Zaman Mansang Sarawak (AZAM) general manager. 3rd Voice is published fortnightly and was initiated by AZAM and Sarawak Development Institute (SDI).