I must be crazy now..

Believe it or not, for the past two days, I have been reading RPK's blog non-stop. I got so addicted to all the juicy news about Malaysia. Things that I've heard and suspected but never really read in depth. This new information really shed much light to my whole view of Malaysian government and it's people.

I am not racist, although my husband says I tend to be bias with people with dark skin. It is not true! I have some Indian and Malay good friends... arhh, well not many now, I have one in uni but we haven't been keeping in touch, so that probably leaves me to none now. Nonetheless, you cannot put me in the racist category because Sydney is such a metropolitan city and you are bound to meet all sorts of people from all corners of the world. So, I have maintained some good friendships with them.

The thing that is intriguing is that I am getting more and more interested in politics. I don't hate Malaysia, but I certainly hated the system that affected my life. I can name plenty but I will just settle for the education for now. One saying which I like best is "I was born smart, but education ruined me". How germane! I can see this heading towards a controversial post now.

I won't go write my heart out on this but I am truly and utterly disappointed with how the education works in Malaysia. Not just the kiasu syndrome prevails in Singapore, but Malaysia also. Perhaps for similar reason. Let me explain why I say that. I was over in Melbourne for a short holiday and I was with some relatives. I chanced upon the opportunity to look at some report cards of the relatives' kids from school. I am absolutely impressed with how teachers here actually pay so much attention to their students. Every report card details the progress and/or improvement of the child. The only downside is everything is written down in a very politically correct way. Nothing debasing or discouraging. But at least it's good enough for parents to know what to expect of their child and work from there.

Of course the next thing I will do is to make a direct comparison how the teachers write their student's report cards in Malaysia. I remember vividly how several teachers were flabbergasted by how talkative my brother was at school and because they could not find anything else to say at the end of every school term, the only remarks they wrote on the report card was "Cakap banyak dalam kelas" (very talkative in class). Period!

What is that suppose to mean? What do you want the parents to do? They send the children to school only to be told that their kids are talkative in class? How does it help?

Then, this is what I loathe most. There is this positioning system which inevitably forces students to fight for their 'life' just to get top 10, or top 5 or 3 in the whole standard/form. I can't see the whole point of having this "fighting spirit" instilled in children from as young as age 7 (that's the first year of schooling in Malaysia). Whenever I ask my cousins how are they coping with studies. Their reply would be "a lot of pressure". I asked them why because learning is supposed to be fun and not pressuring. They say, they have to "fight" to get top 3. That's because they have been in top 3 for several years now. I was appalled by this attitude that has been so infused in them. How I wish they can tell me, school is fun, and they love this subject or that subject. That reaction was the least I expected of them. But of course I understand what they are going through. I have been there and done that. Strived hard as I did, but in secondary school, I never come close to being in any top 10 let alone top 5 or 3.

These kids should really be given a break and be encouraged to excel in what they are good at. It is not easy to be an all-rounder, but at least they are given a chance to discover what they like and what they are good at.

Next, I had some pretty hard time when I started working in Sydney. Now, I come from science background and I am working in a molecular biology field. But believe it or not, everything I learnt from school, from secondary schools to university, didn't help a single bit. I had to practically re-learn everything from scratch. Ok, I am exaggerating a little, it did help like 10 percent. I know what cells are, I know what's in a cell, I know what DNA is. So what? I don't have much clue when all these things put together. Then it struck me that, I actually studied and passed my exams out of memory. Which is why I don't remember anything from school after so many years!!! For students like me, the reason why we don't do well, is because there wasn't much practicallity in what we study. We were "forced" to understand it and when we don't we resort to memorizing. Other students did extremely well because either they are genius, or they receive help from parents/families. I did receive help on English from my mum, and some maths from my aunts. Which is why I scored As in English and Maths. But the rest, I managed to pull it through, thanks to my photographic memory (my husband says I have a memory like an elephant) lest I fail.

I totally agree with RPK in one particular post. Malaysia loves to set a system, and everyone is expected to follow. They are expected to follow the regime like a robot and are not given a chance to debate, and think out of the box. I was the unfortunate one who fell into that category of being subservient. To make matters worst, I come from a then very dictating father, never allowed a NO for an answer. As a result I was never intellectually challenged. I was and still am a pretty slow person, but I thank God I am a fast learner. I absorb things like a sponge. If this quality were nurtured from young, things would be very different for me now.

Anyway, enough said, Malaysian kids are not stupid, but the education ruined most of them. Of course I am giving the education system some benefit of a doubt with the implementation of english language in maths and science, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not dismissing the fact that there are some who are the top of the cream and succeeds regardless when they study abroad. I'm talking more for the average students like myself who are "not smart" just because we didn't score 7As for PMR, 10As for SPM and 4As for STPM (HSC equivalent).