by M. Bakri Musa
Three recent and apparently unrelated news items reflect our distorted view of merit and our dysfunctional education system. We believe that merit is measured only by test scores. As for our flawed education system, its current minister is seeking UNESCO’s help while his immediate predecessor commissioned the World Bank. As in the past, there will be an expensive and voluminous report, and that will be the end of it.
The first news item was the law lecturer who flunked over 97 percent of her students; second, the tragic death of a college dropout at UTM’s campus dormitory in Johor Baru; and third, Prime Minister Najib’s announcement of special ‘merit’ scholarships.
That law lecturer is actually proud of the fact that only 4 out of her 157 students passed her test. She is now a cause celebre among those who have legitimate misgivings of our education system. However, I would gently suggest that perhaps teaching is not her calling. That assessment would change of course had she approached her dean early in the academic term to discuss her classroom problems.
For her to realize only at the end of the year that nearly her entire class was not prepared to undertake rigorous law studies is incredulous. She must have been totally out of touch with her class. If what she claimed were true, that should have been obvious within the first few weeks, not at the end of the year.
The second, the death on UTM campus, was tragic in many ways. This, together with the recent snafu over processing applicants at the supposedly ‘apex’ Universiti Sains Malaysia, reflects the quality of our campus management. Her and her baby’s bodies were not found until two days later. Where were her dorm mates? Were they deaf and blind? This is a pathetic reflection of the campus social environment.
The university released a statement that she was a fourth-year unmarried ‘dropout’ who had been renting a room from the university. No mention of condolence to the poor victim’s family. I wonder if the campus Imam had performed the funeral rites on her and comforted her grieving family. More than likely, he too had condemned her for her sins. If I am wrong in my assumption, I unreservedly apologize to the Imam.
A fourth-year student just does not ‘drop out.’ She must have had other than academic difficulties, most likely her pregnancy. That undoubtedly was a mistake, but not a reason for dropping out. The university could have granted her leave of absence. To expel someone at that level is unnecessary.
Nor should the UTM victim pay for her one mistake with her life, as well as that of her innocent baby. That she felt isolated and without any help right on campus is an indictment of her university. The campus should not have punished her or aggravated her problem by not offering her medical and counseling care. The campus environment must be supportive such that students like her could readily seek help.
The university should provide adequate sex education and the necessary medical services. This is not just to prevent unwanted pregnancies but also the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS. The moral qualms of the officials should not blind them to the needs of their students.
The third news item is the giddiness that greets Prime Minister Najib’s announcement of special scholarships based only on ‘merit.’ This response is most pronounced from those who feel that awards where Malays would predominate, as with JPA scholarships, would by definition lack ‘merit.’
Najib’s announcement followed an earlier controversy where students with 21 A’s in the SPM examination were denied the honor in favor of those with only 10 or 11 A’s. Never mind the absurdity of sitting for so many subjects. ‘Merit’ to these folks is a simplistic concept, something that can readily be measured by a paper and pencil (or pen) test. If that were the case, there would be no need for selection committees or interviews, just use computers to select the candidates.
These folks would be bewildered if told that even top universities have large admissions department to look out for potential talents that could have been missed from just looking at their test scores alone. For its part, JPA has not seen fit to learn from the great universities on how they select their candidates, like having them write personal essays. With JPA scholarships, I would have eligible candidates write personal essays in both Malay and English, in addition to separate interviews conducted exclusively in Malay and English.
One company has interviews with a twist. A day before the interview, the candidates were assigned a real-life problem. During the interview the candidate would discuss his or her approach to solving it. It is a revelation to see how candidates approach a problem.
Those who view merit strictly as test scores obviously do not have the humility or capacity to understand the limitations of those tests. There are at least three variables to a test. One is the test itself, its validity and reliability. Meaning, does it really measure ‘merit’ (however we define the term) and are its results reproducible? Then there are the students. The third would be the teacher and her teaching. The students may be intelligent, willing and capable, but if her teaching skills are wanting, the results would also be poor.
It is presumptuous if not outright arrogant for that law lecturer to assume that she is a superb teacher and that the fault lies entirely with her students. Even if she is a superb teacher (or others have convinced her that she is), she still could not attribute her class failure entirely to her students. She may have been inept in designing effective test questions. The only way for her to prove that her tests were valid would be to administer them to two control groups: one would be those who should pass her examination (positive control), and the other would be where you expect them not to do well (negative control).
The first could be her senior students and the second, other than law students. If the first group excelled on her test while the second did poorly, then she could rightly conclude that her examination questions were valid. Short of that she is unjustified in assuming that her students were all duds and that her teaching and tests were blameless.
If as she claimed that her students were totally unprepared to pursue law studies, a good or at least diligent teacher would have changed her emphasis and approach to bring them up to par. There is no point piling on materials that the students could not absorb. If need be she could have alerted her dean on the need for remedial instructions. Perhaps she could have asked the dean to put the entire class in a year of preparatory instructions.
Any or all of these approaches would have been more productive. Had she done so she would have won the eternal gratitude of her students. She would also make a national contribution by producing a class of competent lawyers. More importantly, she would not have been fired. Instead all she achieved with her strutting was to brand her entire class as failures, a stigma that will tag them for the rest of their lives. In the process she also branded herself a failure as a teacher.
On many American campuses, even at the most prestigious, there are preparatory summer classes before the new academic year where students could enroll to better prepare themselves. Many students, even bright ones, avail themselves to such programs. Even top MBA programs have similar summer programs so students could brush up on their mathematics, for example.
It is amazing how once you have correctly identified the problems, it is remarkable easy to craft the needed solutions. On the other hand, if you fail to identify or comprehend the problems clearly, then you are more likely to seek gimmicky solutions. Najib Razak’s plan for ‘merit’ scholarships is one such example.
Najib is frankly admitting that the current program is based on other than merit. I wonder how those current JPA scholarship holders feel now that the awards they had worked so hard for had been trashed by no less than the Prime Minister.
Like the USIM law lecturer, Najib Razak is confused on the meaning of education and learning, as well as the significance of tests, test scores, and merit.
It must be remembered that a professional such as a doctor’s ultimate challenge is when he is practising his trade after graduation.
He has to convince the public that he is worth his salt or the public may not visit his clinic.
Hence there is no short cut to gain entry to a medical course except with a sterling academic result in STP.
///Najib is frankly admitting that the current program is based on other than merit. I wonder how those current JPA scholarship holders feel now that the awards they had worked so hard for had been trashed by no less than the Prime Minister.///– Bakri Musa
Yes, the JPA scholarship holders have worked hard. But it is not deniable that some of them did not merit the award, and that itself spoil the reputation of those who earned them. If the scholarship was an indication of merit, than merit has to be upheld at all cost. When there was the malpractice of giving bonus marks in passing graduates of a certain race in the name of NEP, the reputation of others who are capable and deserving suffers. When Zaid Ibrahim criticised NEP, he was branded as being ungrateful. It did not matter whether Zaid Ibrahim had attained his present standing because of his hard work and ability he had to be seen to have got it through the convenience of NEP. So, Malays are not allowed to criticise others because they are deemed to share the secret of deceit. That was why Tun Ismail said that Malays would voluntarily forgo the quota protection under Article 153 when they no longer required them. Out of political opportunism, the ex-Youth chief of UMNO declared that Malays needed not be apologetic for receiving the special assistance which was originally time-bound, and we heard UMNO Mamak members declaring non-Malays as Pendatang. Obviously when Tun Ismail referred to Malay pride, he did not foresee that those who were facilitated to become Malays through Article 160 on Malay’s definition did not consider it their obligation to upkeep.
Bakri explains that merit is more than examination score. That is debatable. It depends on what aspect of merit one wishes to measure. Surely examination serves to test whether those who have gone through the courses have done credit to what they intend to pursue, academically. As regards to other quality and calibre of students, if they could be trained, then special guidance courses could be provided. When assessment of such non-academic matters could be subjective, Malaysians who have seen all variation of psedomeritocracy practised in university admission and equating HSC with Matriculation examination score do not believe that current JPA scholarship award has been on merit ground.
Bakri commented that the award might be computerised if it based solely on examination results. That might be possible in a different environment. The examination scripts in Malaysia carry the name of the candidate, and that differentiate race and religion. That raises suspicion on the objective marking standards. Who knows how the computer programs have been drawn up to ensure it is race-blind?
The actions of government do not induce confidence among the citizens. It is because policies as implemented are not race-blind. Actions of government would remain suspect so long as government policies are race-based.
//That law lecturer is actually proud of the fact that only 4 out of her 157 students passed her test//
Now, if a teacher conducting UPSR/PMR/SPM/STPM classes with 157 students and only 4 out of them actually got through, he/she will be called up by the principal and education office to explain 153 failures. And the parents of the 153 failures will descend on the school to demand his/her immediate transfer.
//A fourth-year student just does not drop out…The university could have granted her leave of absence.//
Now, imagine yourself to be in that hapless unmarried mother’s shoes. She had to drop put, or risk her pregnancy being exposed and then being sentenced by the syariah court for zina and possibly death by stoning. And the irresponsible father of the aborted child, most probably her university mate, is heaving a big sigh of relief that her death had saved his miserable skin.
The only way out for 1 lecturer and 157/161 drop-out incident is to close down the law faculty in this institution. Both teaching staff and students are not the material of law profession. Anyway we are in excess of lawyer. With judicial lethargy, many lawyers have reduced to deal brokers.
For the 4th-year decease, let us proffer our highest condolences. Apart from condolences, what else can we do? In a country of no social welfare net for single mother, family honour at stake, whole moral weight on her shoulders, there is no alternative path for her to choose. In a society who refuses to acknowledge the difference between sexuality and morality, woman surely is the victim.
The broken system in education is simply the culmination of the continuous failure of the education system to maintain consistent standards.
It all started when they first switched to Bahasa Malaysia and left English as a language subject without major importance.
Then I remember the Education Minister (think it was Najib) who elevated the status of the Mara colleges to university level and henceforth we produced a steady stream of thousands of unemployable graduates who were usually absorbed by the civil service.
So those graduates who cannot find useful work should know where the blame lies.
Forget talking logic on our education system.
UMNO keep using it to play politics.
For example..it is so easy to have all schools teaching everything in Bahasa…and impose English and Bahasa as compulsory language subjects to pass…in all classes.
That will give Muslims better chances to pass Maths And Science in Bahasa….and it is much easier to master the English language than to apply English for maths and science..when the weakness starts from Std One…..and with at least 50% of the unqualified teachers.
UMNO keep playing politics with educations…cover up upon cover in education ..afraid to loose votes…..which is the greatest sin to all muslim Malaysians.
Many pro UMNO voters may not know it. It is their own future..that are at stake..for the UMNO ministers and crooked rich buggers.. will send all their children overseas….and come back..to be like God send beings… over them..appear so smart…which in actual fact….lies in the education system.
Granted not easy to have education system as high as Britain…….but for the English language…they keep playing race issues…making Bahasa most important…and ignore advancements…moving forward…while they keep saying…lets move forwards……which is actually backwards all the time.
I watched a very old movie produced in India recently (decades before Bollywood came into existence) with Indian actors and actresses but the dialogue was all in English. British English I mean! Not a single westerner or foreigner was cast in that movie! Not a single colloqial English or an American slang was uttered! I truly enjoy the movie. All the shooting locations and content of the dialogue are all from the Indian cultures and philosophies.
And I began to wonder. The movie is so rich in Indian cultures, heritage, works of art in stones, Indian traditional music and dance, beliefs, etc., but the delivery was in simple English … so perfectly spoken, communicated and easy to understand. Why is it that the Indians in India can master English so well but don’t feel that English may threaten their national identity, culture and heritage?
I think the answer lies not so much in how we combat its wrongly perceived “threat” but how we inculcate the love for our Malaysian Identity into the minds of our future generations.
We reap what we sow. But we can sow depends on the environment we build for them.
///Why is it that the Indians in India can master English so well but don’t feel that English may threaten their national identity, culture and heritage?///– poor dad
There are more heroes in Malaysia than in India. When they cannot find real threat, they have to imagine some so that the heroes can show they are the defenders. They had to fight English to show Malay nationalism. With that the country is divided between Malays and non-Malays. Then they created the concept of economic threat, as though they can pull their wealth together. Then the concept of 30% corporate ownership was born. Having achieved that, UMNO is sending representatives to fight the world stage. We never heard that Bill Gates got any support from the US government, but Najib will soon help capable and bright Malays to become billionaires to take part at world level competition. Those funds could have been used to wipe out poverty in one stroke. But then, how to use poverty as excuse for NEP to continue?
Malaysia is a breeding ground for unemployable graduates, most of them are \handicapped\ with low IQ
Smart brain will breed smarter brains
The offspring of stupid idiots will be even more stupid!