How we can revamp our education structure

The plans below may not work in their entirety but they represent the first act of a long discourse that will hopefully result in a more complete undertaking.

COMMENT

By Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

In this article, allow me the leeway of producing a “schematic sketch” of our education system. In architectural training, one must come up with a schematic sketch which can take 10 minutes to draw or one day to produce. A schematic sketch is an ideas sketch which puts all the important elements into a sketchy whole to test out the intentions and assumptions. In architecture, talking about elemental issues devoid of committing to a holistic idea is nonsensical. Architects talk with their pencils, papers and words to describe whole ideas, committing technology, culture and history into a single set of drawings.

Since I seem to be a pain in the behind of policymakers and other parties on the subject of overhauling the education system, I will be the first to put my money where my mouth is. I know many educationists fear repercussions if they disturb any part of our useless but “sacred” curriculum and thus take the simple position of letting it be and just talking about elements and side issues to complete a few journal papers. I do not work like that. If I feel strongly about something, I put it in paper format so that my thoughts are in the order and sequence that I want. Whether the readers agree with me or not is besides the point. My concern is to put forth the idea lock, stock and barrel.

I have dealt in previous articles with the kinds of people, citizens and humans that I envision for our society, so I will go straight to the point of the proposed curriculum overhaul.

For primary education, I have divided the children’s growth phase into two. The First Intellectual Growth Phase is at the age of seven, eight and nine in Primary One, Two and Three. In this phase, I wish to let the children “mess around” and “play” more without too many report cards and grades. The most important subjects are Bahasa Malaysia and their mother tongue language. English, I believe should wait. Religion, also, I believe should wait.

Now, I do not see any need for nine-year-olds to speak Oxford English in ordering things and conversing intellectually. I also do not feel that God will throw a bunch of nine-year-olds into hell for not discharging their religious duties. However, if the parents disagree, they can get their children to go to the surau or Sunday School after classes. There should not be any homework in this phase but more physical rather than intellectual learning. Science and Maths should be reduced to simple counting and understanding as well as appreciation for Nature’s wonders. No grades, please.

In the second phase of educational growth for children, we are dealing with 10, 11 and 12-year-olds. Some children are now forming early ideas of society and their surrounding. English is introduced once Bahasa Malaysia and the mother tongue language have been indoctrinated for three years. Religion or Cultural Studies is now introduced and the children will go to their separate classes. In these classes, emphasis will be on the universal values shared by all religions but phrased in each individual’s faith. There is no bad mouthing and condemnation of each other’s faith in the pedagogy. Cross-religious visits to temples, mosques and churches should be a must during this phase. Science and Mathematics are combined and reduced significantly from the present curriculum. The mathematics and science curriculum of the present to me is too overloaded. Arts and Creative Design are important to encourage thinking out of the- box which we lack today. Using computers and other media should be part of all subjects rather than a standalone subject as is presently the case.

The secondary school phase is divided into two. The first phase is for students ages 13, 14 and 15. I have reduced the history component drastically as I see no purpose in nation-building. For young minds such as these, why burden them with so many historical facts and so much baggage that makes little sense and labour to create “good guys and bad guys”?

I also think that we have too much geography in school, learning about how much rubber or palm oil is being produced. So what? How is a 14-year-old boy supposed to empathise with that? I have replaced both subjects with Human Civilisation and Culture with Malaysia at Form One, Asia at Form Two and the World at Form Three. Of course, there is a bit of physical geography, economics and history thrown in to set the backdrop for how the present has more or less come to be. I have also reduced the science subject and reformatted it with sustainability so that students can be aware of the future of the world without understanding every single branch of science as a scientist would.

In Form Four and Form Five, students are becoming productive young adults. I have eliminated the mother tongue language and placed more emphasis on English. Bahasa Malaysia communication is still there. The other three core subjects of Computers, Sustainable Development Goals and Health are there to prepare students to meet a new world. I have placed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a class so that students can not only save Malaysia but also be a global agent of change. Thus the five core subjects are to create a well-rounded citizenry and global players. In preparation for the student working life, I have created Options A through F for them to choose from. I think when the students reach university or college, they will be better prepared than they are today with traditional subjects in secondary school.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasise that I have shot the first arrow towards total change in our education system. We must be courageous enough to swim against the tide of racial and religious bigotry as well as fattened academia and administrative bureaucracy. The above “sketch idea” is not supposed to work in its entirety but it represents the first act of a long discourse that will hopefully result in a more complete undertaking.

We are at a tipping point in our society. Pakatan Harapan’s win has created a very small hole of opportunity. If we, the intelligent citizenry, do not act to widen this hole, then we will fail the nation and jeopardise our children’s future.

Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is a professor of Islamic architecture at UCSI University. FMT

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