The typical sights today, when exams floods in, is truly reflected in Facebook, people mentioning about books, final push, die and God knows anything that can relate to our examinations. I was googling Exam, then it came out Stress Management for Dummies. haha so cute.
In the typical context of Education System in Malaysia, it’s really about books. Nothing wrong, but just books, then it does not sound right. We have a lot of books, nothing wrong too, but if everything is about books, then yeap. I still remember from my Childhood to Secondary it was all about books. But until my college life which I have found something else, I realize how my education perspective have changed rather than books.
Yes, you see, it’s really about books. and also, Examinations, die the day they call it. Then after that everyone is as free as birds and everything is back to square one. This is rather a random post trust me, I just have a thought or two to spill here and I am not the education minister or whatever it takes to study education background of other countries so just take this from an easy perspective =) My 2 sens on how I would change this education system.
Stop Lecturers from Giving Notes but just guidelines.
It SUCKS but it’s the way it supposes to be. The rule is simple, the internet is there today, yes a lot of content is available online now and also a lot of craps in there, and it’s student task to search and ask relevant info in respond to the lecturer’s topic and refer back to him the relevance of their researched info. There are many things we can learn when lecturers don’t give notes. Really, firstly very obvious, updated information, compared to lecturers notes which are 10 years old.
The truth is Students are not lecturers’ priority most of the time, papers and their own research will come first. The lesser focus will come into really planting the seed of knowledge into students. As much as I am the student who wants notes where I can know black and white what’s coming out from examination and score well, I must admit this system is very biased. Simply that there is no constant evaluation by the examination system (it’s just a checkpoint) Our learning curve is not proportional to our education phase in a way.
Knowing the Ingredients of their Cakes
Again what i notice again most students turn out to be studying what they don’t even know they are studying about. Or rather said, they don’t like it. Having a right people entering a right course is hard, so cut that out. but how the syllabus is going to be matter to the student depends on how much they see it relevance to their future career. I realize there are much electives or core courses being thrown at students but little really can define what cake do they get in the end. There are so many ingredients here and there from different subjects but as a student ourself we should know our end product and how we could stand out compared to other uni students, which actually since beginning, we don’t, or we are unaware to know the relevance of each subjects and its importance.
Find the Relevance, find the Passion, Find the Reason.
I would say cut the examinations, do community work. I am saying this because i realize how much one’s desire to make the world a better place can really make him to see things in a different perspective. Most youths today in general are still in the free living world, we claim that studies is stress but yet we still don’t understand the reality of the world and troubles we face today. Till only when they hear true stories from true people, then they shall start saying “let’s do something”. When there’s a passion to fight for, there’s a greater awareness of the person himself. I am not a education background person, but i believe how much community work (again really need to emphasize good ones) can change youths today a lot. We say Education is the core to change youths, but i say that Education today is not realistic because they are words to youths and not actions for them to experience. Remembering the first thing that changed me entirely is when i talk to HIV positive people face to face. That’s how it started 3 years ago.
Encouraging Undergrads to write Papers.
This is what I observed in the recent ASEAN Conference where Indonesia presenters presenting their papers, or I would say very simple conceptual of theirs in front of us the delegates. It was not as serious as a Ph.D. research paper but rather this reflects how much education system can be adjusted to a mean to send an urge to youths today to imagine what can happen, and how? This is very little seen in Malaysia’s Education system. The basic driving question such as “What do you see yourself as after 10 years” has rarely gone through every youth’s thought too. I’m not expecting everyone to raise up for that concern, but my idea is that we need a better mechanism to encourage more thinkers to raise up. Leaders is another matter. Different.
That’s pretty much the sum of it. All I am saying this is out of the really boredom typical examination I have been facing for the past 13 years. I admit I learned a lot. I learned a lot when I pick up the books and read, and I learn how much actually exams can demotivate students.
There shall be a way to encourage students to even read up all this knowledge without having Exams. We could have a better reason. The reason that lies within them.
I never waited for it to happen, though. I just realized most of the things I learned was from magazines and nonfiction books such as from Jared Diamond and James Martin. Powerpoint slides are really just off the chart in this context.
