KEEMANXP Dot Com

Whenever the word “kiasu” is mentioned, people will immediately think of Singapore and of course Singaporeans’ all-must-win attitude. But hey, believe it or not, I think Malaysia is going to overtake our neigbour as far as the level of kiasuism is concerned.

There are many signs of kiasuism in every tiny spectrum of our daily life. One of them is in our education system. Schools are perhaps no longer the “breeding” place of little Einstein, Picasso or Newton. They have been now converted to human factories that produces students for the sole purpose of excelling in various public examinations. Allowing the “good ones” to make the school proud by scoring straight A’s and leaving those “bad ones” rotting at the back of the classes.  Even when they are good in other co-curricular activities like sports, those so-called bad students cannot get as much attention as those who score straight A’s.  Indeed, that puts pressures on students as they are “rigidly” trained to believe that results in exam are of No. 1 priority, never mind how they get that “A” as long as they get it! Exams are also used as “threats” by parents and teachers whenever they are “studing hard enough”.

This injection of “unnecessary pressures” last for as long as they are in “learning institutions” from kindergarten to universities. One side-effect of such injection is as highlighted in the news below.

Girl disappointed with UPSR result dies

A 12-year-old girl is believed to have committed suicide at her home here yesterday over what she felt was a poor result obtained in this year’s Primary School Assessment Test (UPSR). Subashini Sivakumar, a pupil of Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (Tamil) Ladang Sempah, is believed to have hanged herself with a blanket tied to the grille of a window at her house in Changkat, Sungai Jawi. – Bernama Read Full News Here

Of course that is perhaps an “isolated” case but I guess we can all feel the pressure of school children in primary schools especially when they have reached Year 4; It’s time to drill them for UPSR. There is also the craze of “teach to test”, in which teaching is geared mainly towards exams. You’ll see teachers teaching based on spotted questions or exercises on test formats from day one. It’s all about teaching to let students excel in exams, some even come up with “tactics” to get points in exam but students don’t really understand why.

Something needs to be done, and the MOE proposal of introducing a new assessment system should be backed by teachers, academics and parents. The introduction of 40% school-based assessment and 60% central examination (which will be different from the current public exams and includes EQ and co-curriculum assessment) is right on time.  In terms of its implementation, perhaps more can be discussed and better mechanisms can be devised. The proposal to abolish UPSR and PMR is also a good sign as I personally think those two exams are not a clear indicator of one’s learning capabilities and capacity.

Let’s bring the fun back to learning in schools. Let’s make sure human capital building is not just about producing students who only perform in exams.