M H Harun
15 December 2009
I refer to the letters SPM Limit: Why Not Pick Japanese and French Too and SPM: 'History', 'Moral Education' Should Be Optional.
Many years ago in the University of Western Australia, Perth, a final year philosophy undergraduate was sitting for his final exam.
One of the questions asked was: 'What is bravery?'. Many students wrote pages and pages of elaboration citing theories and case studies but he only wrote two words: 'Bravery is.'
He raised his hand after the 15-minute compulsory minimum attempt time and left the examination hall. He scored an A. The others didn't.
Can this happen in Malaysia? Sorry, never in a 100 years. I was skimming through some sample STPM history papers the other day and was shocked to see that our A-level equivalent questions rewards memorisation instead of understanding.
Good questioning should apply the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy such as "discuss", "predict", or even "analyse". Learning history should be about reading between the lines.
In my opinion a good question would go: "Discuss the implications if the Malayan Communist Party succeeded in its struggle to gain independence from the British."
Answer should go like, "If the Malayan Communist Party succeeded in its struggle to gain independence from the British then this would end the era of the Malay sultanate as what had happened to the last Chinese emperor, Pu Yi after World War II. Malaya would have become a republic".
Continue writing until you exhaust your capacity to answer intelligently.
In most cases our education syllabus is as good as those of developed nations but the assessment method especially examinations are somewhat disappointing.
For example, writing a formal letter is an essential communication skill and thus should not be an optional question in the Bahasa Malaysia and English papers. It should be an assignment that carries 10 percent weightage.
Remembering historical facts is good but it would be better to assess it in the form of a multiple choice test that carries 20 percent weightage. And I agree that some compulsory SPM subjects are not worth taking.
The ten SPM subject limit is a good move by the government. But students should have the liberty to choose which subjects he or she wants to take.
In my opinion, the only compulsory exam subject (to take) is Bahasa Malaysia. Students choose the other eight or nine subjects based on certain rules.
For example, you shouldn't take both Pendidikan Islam and Pendidikan Moral and you must take at least one mathematical subject.
Perhaps it is time the government reintroduce examination fees. If you want to take more subjects by all means take them. But you have to pay. That's one way of making sure that students don't overload unnecessarily.
As a teacher, I do not fancy the exam-oriented approach in our education system. I'm probably biased in this view but that's probably because I have been teaching indigenous kids for many years.
No matter how much effort I give, their exam results do not reflect my sacrifices and dedication throughout the whole year.
I was screaming my lungs out in frustration while driving home the day we obtained their UPSR transcripts. I tried to look at the positive; these people grow up to be excellent fishermen and farmers.
They barely have any criminal records. They are never arrogant. Some managed to gain employment in the public sector. My colleagues and I might have done something right somewhere.
You see the master product of our national education philosophy isn't that astronaut with pinup boy looks. And by far it's not those kids who took 10 extra SPM subjects and "coincidently" scored As in every one of them.
Success in school does not equate to success in life. And failure in school does not equate to failure in life.
15 December 2009
I refer to the letters SPM Limit: Why Not Pick Japanese and French Too and SPM: 'History', 'Moral Education' Should Be Optional.
Many years ago in the University of Western Australia, Perth, a final year philosophy undergraduate was sitting for his final exam.
One of the questions asked was: 'What is bravery?'. Many students wrote pages and pages of elaboration citing theories and case studies but he only wrote two words: 'Bravery is.'
He raised his hand after the 15-minute compulsory minimum attempt time and left the examination hall. He scored an A. The others didn't.
Can this happen in Malaysia? Sorry, never in a 100 years. I was skimming through some sample STPM history papers the other day and was shocked to see that our A-level equivalent questions rewards memorisation instead of understanding.
Good questioning should apply the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy such as "discuss", "predict", or even "analyse". Learning history should be about reading between the lines.
In my opinion a good question would go: "Discuss the implications if the Malayan Communist Party succeeded in its struggle to gain independence from the British."
Answer should go like, "If the Malayan Communist Party succeeded in its struggle to gain independence from the British then this would end the era of the Malay sultanate as what had happened to the last Chinese emperor, Pu Yi after World War II. Malaya would have become a republic".
Continue writing until you exhaust your capacity to answer intelligently.
In most cases our education syllabus is as good as those of developed nations but the assessment method especially examinations are somewhat disappointing.
For example, writing a formal letter is an essential communication skill and thus should not be an optional question in the Bahasa Malaysia and English papers. It should be an assignment that carries 10 percent weightage.
Remembering historical facts is good but it would be better to assess it in the form of a multiple choice test that carries 20 percent weightage. And I agree that some compulsory SPM subjects are not worth taking.
The ten SPM subject limit is a good move by the government. But students should have the liberty to choose which subjects he or she wants to take.
In my opinion, the only compulsory exam subject (to take) is Bahasa Malaysia. Students choose the other eight or nine subjects based on certain rules.
For example, you shouldn't take both Pendidikan Islam and Pendidikan Moral and you must take at least one mathematical subject.
Perhaps it is time the government reintroduce examination fees. If you want to take more subjects by all means take them. But you have to pay. That's one way of making sure that students don't overload unnecessarily.
As a teacher, I do not fancy the exam-oriented approach in our education system. I'm probably biased in this view but that's probably because I have been teaching indigenous kids for many years.
No matter how much effort I give, their exam results do not reflect my sacrifices and dedication throughout the whole year.
I was screaming my lungs out in frustration while driving home the day we obtained their UPSR transcripts. I tried to look at the positive; these people grow up to be excellent fishermen and farmers.
They barely have any criminal records. They are never arrogant. Some managed to gain employment in the public sector. My colleagues and I might have done something right somewhere.
You see the master product of our national education philosophy isn't that astronaut with pinup boy looks. And by far it's not those kids who took 10 extra SPM subjects and "coincidently" scored As in every one of them.
Success in school does not equate to success in life. And failure in school does not equate to failure in life.
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