Let institutions educate

A RECURRING theme in this column is the importance of institutions in building the nation: in particular those preserved and established by the Federal Constitution and other laws. But nation building can also rest in institutions that are not established by statesmen, constitutionalists or hacks seeking a narrow political objective: in particular, those created by educators.

Over the past week, I have been reminded of this in powerful terms visiting schools and universities in the United Kingdom that – despite their academic accolades, graduate employment statistics or state-of-the-art facilities – still speak proudly and passionately about their histories and traditions. On their students they impart not only knowledge, but an institutional heritage too.

At the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, where my father was last week conferred an honorary fellowship, it was clear how proud they are of their founding in 1505, and their central role in the development on the profession itself: a story to which they have devoted a large (and sometimes macabre) museum. At Aberystwyth University, where my father was an undergraduate and was made an honorary fellow in 2014, they spoke beamingly of how the university pioneered certain disciplines and enthusiastically shared their plans to renovate their Old College building.  And at the University of South Wales, where my father received an honorary doctorate in Law in 2013, a connection was made between the latest facilities in the aerospace engineering faculty and the origins of the two establishments that merged to form the current university – a mechanics institute founded in 1841 and a school serving the coal mining industry founded in 1913.

These visits were short, but still their peculiarities shone through. When talking to Malaysian students at the three universities, their focus was no doubt on how the knowledge and skills acquired will contribute to their goals in support of their families, employers or country (there were many government scholars), but still they were aware that they have become ambassadors for their universities (not just ambassadors for Malaysia while there).

More so than universities in terms of instilling a unique identity and character building are secondary schools, especially boarding schools.

At my old school Marlborough College on the way back to London, a brief walk around campus reminded me of the hours I spent reading history books, imagining glacial formation, getting my head round quadratic equations and practising Chopin’s ‘Fantaisie-Impromptu’, and also an entire vocabulary of school-specific terms that I haven’t had to use since 2000: I realise now how crucial this was in fostering a deep camaraderie.

Some critics condemn such institutions as elitist and exclusionary, and their reaction is to favour uniformity: to remove the things that make specific establishments unique: to make most people get the “same” treatment. This ultimately results in a centralising tendency in which bureaucrats, rather than principals and teachers, make many of the decisions that directly impact on the student experience. Thus, instead of having educational institutions that are inspired by their own ethos and history, we have schools and universities that have to operate within over-prescribed limits.

We have already seen the effects of this, from the reduction in diversity between schools and the reduction of diversity within them. That is why so many who were educated at English national-type schools want them to return, because they attracted Malaysians of all races.

Perhaps most tragic is the loss of institutional memory in our historic schools, where simply the passage of time, the relocation of campuses or name changes have been used to erase aspects now deemed undesirable. There does seem to be some resistance: St John’s Institution just won the right to revert to its original name after a campaign from its alumni. Even this needed to be cleared by the ministry, though.

Earlier this month I was at Tuanku Muhammad School in Kuala Pilah (which my father attended in the 50s) to witness the unveiling of its centenary landmark, and there too I saw different generations reminisce about the classrooms they were taught in, the foot they ate, the corridors they walked.

But recently in much newer schools too I have seen how innovate principals have used what they can to endow some unique characteristics for their pupils, from the names of their houses, or even the murals on the walls. I hope that such phenomena will be seen as beneficial by our politicians and bureaucrats.

Great educational institutions may have their idiosyncrasies. And in being so, they prepare young people for real life: to endow the idea that as workers and citizens, it’s the shared experiences that create unspoken bonds, that everyone is bound by the rules, and that traditions matter.

Tunku Abidin Muhriz is founding president of Ideas.

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