A I S E H M A N . O R G

Then what? the Malay s go to Metrikulasi/Oversea U with JPA's help and non-Malays go to Form 6/oversea with papa's $? Then what?.....

When I was in primary school all the children had no problem being friends and being 'united' even though we were of different races.My very, very good friend was a chinese girl. And I was also close with some indian girls in my class and hockey team.

One or two chinese boys even had a crush on me!

Sadly, I went to boarding school later and my friends went to various different schools and we were all separated and later stopped contacting each other. If only we were classmates until Form 5, (perhaps) - unity would be guaranteed.

Still, those 6 years of my life shaped me into a person who can tolerate and make friends with all types of people.

I feel, just like any other thing in this world that unity must be sowed from young. Children have no prejudices, they are easily molded. Making national schools compulsory especially from PRIMARY is the nation's best bet for unity.

Why try to unite them when they are young then dis-unite them when they are matured - one going into exclusive Bumiputra education stream and others their way.

This system does not work and the culprit is a system that's discriminatory.

Gee, I thought it was pretty obvious. Do we need political will for this to happen? Or, do we do it with our hearts?

All the racial divide are the works of racist politicians. I don't see any alarming racial issues outside politics in our country.

The key to solve this problem is the CREDIBILITY of the government!

In my entire schooling life, I was told that BAHASA MALAYSIA is our language of unity. What has happen now? No more BAHASA MALAYSIA! Something I spent almost 2 decades learning and very proud of has DISAPPEARED!

So, how many parent will choose National school for their children?

Aisehmen!
ia nya tak akan berlaku sebab teras perjuangan Rakyat Malaysia ialah Politik Bangsa.
Jika perjuangan politik bangsa menjadi bangsat baharulah penyatuan semua Rakyat Malaysia akan berlaku.Masing-msing bangsa ada landasan perjuangan sendiri sehingga soal penyatuan rakyat semakin jauh.

I cannot agree with Zainul completely.

The public school is the lifeline of the nation. That much is true. A lot of our problems can be resolved with quality education, including unity issues.

HOWEVER, it is absolutely imperative we not confuse the importance of education with other secondary goals. A good education would lead to a harmonious plural society, granted with a curriculum of substance. The purpose of a holistic education is not to make smarter children or more intelligent adults. Learning is lifelong, and formal education merely imparts the right tools to guide this noble path - as the application and extension of knowledge is in the hands of the individuals.

Loyal citizens who are blind with no critical faculties are every bit as dangerous as a disunited population.

Do not confuse the primary goals of education - to create thinking individuals, with its derivative benefits.

In primary school, my best friend was a Malay. However, as time progresses, I realised I am '2nd class' when I saw
...the 'positive racial discrimination' being practised blatantly in higher education
...the barriers imposed on the non-bumis while migrants from neighbouring countries are facilitated with the privileged bumi status
...how the politicians from the ruling party serve themselves and their supporter (instead of ALL).

(My 2 children, who are part of the 10% who went thro national schools, provided me much insights re the state of national school.)

Forcing all the children to go National school will NOT solve the problem. The non-Malays will eventually be reminded of their 'non-Malay' tag when..
.. they see the intelligent Malays being transferred to special schools or overseas
.. the school organises religious activities for only 1 religion
.. they receive rejections from the local universities and their parents cannot afford to pay for private
.. UMNO have their annual meetings
.. etc

Perhaps the initial question to ask is "Why the interest among Chinese to go Chinese schools?" I am sure 'race' has very little bearing. Whether the government has the political will to implement some of the positive attributes practised is another matter.

chez1978:

You're right. But our kids need to go to school together.

charis14:

You're right also. I think most Chinese parents who send their kids to Chinese schools do so primarily because they believe such schools provide their children with a better education.

I also feel that the Chinese schools are very good in several educational aspects. But our kids need to go to school together.

Sure, the school is an excellent place to start with. Yet by itself, I think the school is not enough.

My two children went to the same national school in PJ. Students are more or less evenly split between Malays, Indians and Chinese. Socio-economic background is mainly middle-class. No abject poverty, and neither is there ostentatious wealth.
I expected students in this surrounding to identify themselves as Malaysians first, and whatever race, second. But this does not seem the case.

Sometimes school events shocked my wife and I. You see, there’s a bit of relating to one’s race. This extends to impressionable like who they support or voted for in Malaysian Idol.

We seldom talk about race per se at home. My children have school friends from the other two main races coming to our house, be it for schoolwork, tuition or just lazing around.

But why the different behaviour in a group? What led to the herd outlook? It cannot be the teachers for those we have met are so genuinely caring, and from what our children told us, so sensitive to others’ religion and culture.

The parents? The media? The skin pigmentation? Or what? I don’t know. I’m just confused by the contradictions I see all around me. Any insights?

Chex1978 – I agree with the need for quality education. I’m not so sure if we can ever agree on what quality is? If somehow the different races can grow up together, aspiring jointly for unity and harmony, then I agree with Aisehman we are on the right track to a ‘quality’ education.

Asked another way, was education quality higher in bygone years when ‘race relations’ were better?

Are education quality and racial harmony mutually exclusive? Or are they both sides of the same coin?

In theory, I believe in a national school system where students of all races could study and interact with one another.

However, based on experience, our current 'national schools' tend to be biased towards one race where the needs and rights of other races are disregarded. The lack of meritocracy further erode the attractiveness of such schools. I fully agree with charis14 on this.

The real national schools will only exist the day rakyat Malaysia do not think in terms of race, our politics are not race based and all rakyat Malaysia are not being unfairly discriminated.

the conclusion then? for everyone to go to chinese schools.

They say they would rebalance the national schools with greater sensitivity to non-malay elements. How is that possible when the record stands that even in the simple thing of chinese language education, they've fouled up. Too many of the teachers of these classes in national schools are temps, or are poorly motivated and taking the task as stand-ins. How many chinese students in national schools are taking as strong an interest in their chinese classes in contrast to chinese students in chinese schools?

The matter doesn't end there. Noor and company of the MOE should check whether invigilators for exams, for instance the current STPM, have been exercised monoracial tendencies. There is a clear example of one from an indonesian origin doing it. If in such a thing they can do that with impunity, what trust do you think the other communities will have in a malay-run ministerial enterprise with a big budget and little to show for the finer objectives of even rudimentary education let alone national solidarity?

The key to national unity should be pointing in the opposite direction - not create mistrust by aligning all to one community, but by supporting diversity in all its natural fecundity.

And the first step to that is to honestly admit that chinese education, quality and standards aside, is pragmatically important to the future development of this country's competitive edge.

The majority of the chinese community in this country is completely fed-up with the national education system. In the circus of the recent Umno GA, they had seen for themselves its product. Do you for one minute think they will now accept anything that this government will say? If you say yes, say also why.

My 10 year old niece attends a Chinese school in our hometown Melaka.

On a recent visit, I found her sembanging, sharing snacks with 4 Malay classmates (there are many, many Malays there, though i don't know how many) while waiting for respective transportations (they were conversing in mandarin).

In a coversation that followed, my niece told me that all her closer friends are, in fact, Malays. I asked her why, and she just shrugged, so I guess it was a stupid question to her. (my dad is a hardcore nurtured racist, you see, so i thought it might have rubbed off a bit)

So, on this issue, I'd agree with Aiseh, that before anything else, it is going to school together.

During the 70s at my kampung, children of all races were attending Sekolah Kebangsaan (J) English, the Chinese, Malay and Tamil types school were dying, hardly anyone was going ... then came the ruling all subjects in BM, within 2 years everyone sent their kids out of Sekolah Kebangsaan!

Parents want what is best for their children, right now the Chinese schools are winning the branding war with increasing enrollment even among the Malays and Indians.

Remember, McDonalds does NOT have the best burger.

Going to school together is a start. but only a start.
As some have already mentioned here, it is the discriminatory policies that drive people, kids included, apart.
I studied in a chinese primary school, but had Malay and Indian neighbours. Mixing with kids of other races was no problem when I entered secondary school.
But then 'issues' stirred up feelings of marginalization. Like, classes were divided based on racial quota; by my younger brother's time, whole classes were set up to cater to one race. Debate/quiz teams were selected based on racial quotas; 'insignificant' to us now, but huge for an idealistic kid. School prizes based on racial quotas, with marks 'adjusted' to justify it. Boarding schools of a particular race, with 'special' preparations for major exams. Teachers classifying 'kafirs' as haram and dirty. Last but not least, scholarships.
So don't bang us for being cynical. It is no wonder to me why our society is so brutish, unhelpful and ugly now. When the young is exposed to injustice and lack of fairplay, cynicism is the endproduct. And that results in a selfish, decaying society. The thinking goes: Since my interests are not looked after, instead my rights are going to be trampled all over, I am not going to play nice.
To expect studying together, without other changes in policy, to bring about beneficial changes is naive at best. As naive as my perpetual hope for a better future for Malaysia.

Aisehman,
I have 2 kids studying in Chinese school now. The reasons why we chose Chinese school over national were highlighted by Hasilox and Charis 14. Almost all subjects in national school are taught in BM and we just don't see the important of BM in their future especially in business world? Only when our government recognises all races should be given the equal opportunity then national school issue will see the light at the end of the tunnel. I happened to know a few Malays who were on government scholarships during my school days in U.S. It made me so mad and sick after hearing how easy they were offered the full scholarships even with passing results!

Today, many schools are headed by Muslims Malays and school teachers are also predominantly Malays. That is the main reason why non Muslims parents are not keen to enroll their children in government schools. School activities are also bias in favour of Muslims like Islamic prayers during school assemblies. Or beef are allowed in the canteen without considering the feeling of the Indians. Or certain attire are not allowed in the schoold. Education has to be freed not only from politics but also religions. We should start addressing these issues by appointing more non-Muslim headmasters and teachers before talking about attracting non-Muslims.

quote hasilox "All the racial divide are the works of racist politicians."

yeah and to begin with, we now have a very racist keris wielding education minister, so apa macam?

Clabond wrote "Today, many schools are headed by Muslims Malays and school teachers are also predominantly Malays. That is the main reason why non Muslims parents are not keen to enroll their children in government schools..."

I doubt this is the reason for MOST Chinese. Personally, some of the following problems at national schools may have contributed...
.. teachers' quality, commitment and productivity during school hours - many seem to wake up when they teach tuition
.. quality of principals - are they driving the school to glory or down the drain?
.. school discipline
.. perceived lack of total commitment towards education - curricular activities cannot be an excuse for substandard education
.. quota system which, while intended to help slower ones, also slows down the better students

Parents should realize that they have an important role in their own children's education.

In the mid 1980s, when it was time for me to be enrolled in a primary school, my parents decided to send me to St. Paul, a sekolah mubaligh. Naturally, at that point in time, these schools are no longer predominantly English speaking and certainly religious influences pertaining to Christianity is absolutely zero.

However, what was obvious at that time was a healthy emphasis on English despite the other subjects being taught in Malay. I don't speak English at home, and my early preference was Bahasa rather than English. English is very much a second language to me. My parents are both products of the Chinese schools, including my brother who attended Chung Hwa primary. They have provided me with reasons for their choice, and it did not troubled me greatly that the two of us attended different types of primary schools.

I grew up witnessing and experiencing the differences in both SRJK(C) and SRK (including co-ed and single sex schools). When my brother and I reached secondary level, we both managed to get into English College - a national secondary school. At this juncture, awareness of the competition from the Independent Chinese Schools is present, and their mathematical prowess was well known.

From my personal experience, readings and understanding of the parallel education system in our country (at a totally amateurish level), we can discern several key characteristics of good schools, regardless of whether it is public or private. While school administrators and teachers form the obvious pillars, parents make the absolute difference in fine-tuning the performance of the school, vis-a-vis their children.

Things might have changed nowadays. Some Independent Chinese Schools, by the demand of their paying clients, i.e. parents, began to infuse more English as the medium of instruction. Of the many things I realized, including from my early tertiary studies, is that children are able to absorb huge amounts of information and knowledge. Therefore, our curriculum is really invisible bar we set for them. While it is clear that learning has to be progressive, we are underestimating how much could be taught.

If we have solid foundations at primary level, and we have taught young children the languages and abstraction of ideas, a firm grasp of arithmetic principles, thought-formation and expression - then we have given them an early start in life. Stories containing abstract concepts of justice, dilemma, reality are more than just moral tales. They impart, at best, socialization terms and conditioning, at worse, social cunning and superficial conformity.

Parents must realize that what they do for their children at home and in the schools matter. The latter can have a huge impact on the quality of a school. It is not a coincidence that good schools can rely on a steady stream of parents who are willing to go the extra mile in making it better, distinct from the ones trying to serve selfish purposes. Good schools have a strong Parents-Teachers Association, in which its influence extends to the School Administrators, including the Principals and sometimes District Education Offices.

The emphasis on putting all our children in the same classroom is really a pretext for a UNIFIED education system where ONE medium of instruction and a SINGLE standard curriculum is adhered to. The United States suffered from a harsh disegregation period to force the White and Black students together, but in our country, the opposite seems to be catching on. There cannot be a public education system where ethnic differences are physically reinforced and communally divided.

I agree in principle with the need for our children to be together. This however, implies that children studying in schools with predominantly or overwhelmingly lopsided ethnic distribution will emerge as bigoted and calculated racists (in greater odds). I, for one, support the need for having vernacular PRIMARY schools, and they must be accorded equal treatment and similar opportunities for success. However, at the SECONDARY level, it is absolutely imperative that these children come together at public schools. Note that private enterprises can do what they like, but our foremost concern should be improving the quality of public education that affects generations of Malaysians to come.

I realize that the word "quality" could be subjective. It would be so if we imbue the word with narrow and communal goals. The setting of universal goals such as excellence in the field of sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities are not race-bound. Schools must learn to reward and foster achievements, not merely great exam scorers. Even in my time, students have exhibited characteristics that are a direct result of familial emphasis. For example, the boys who focused on their academic results and exams did not participate actively in extra-curricular activities. Naturally, when you focus on mugging, you get better results for your tests. These are personal choices, and does not (in my school at least), stem from the above allegations of quota-setting. There is no concious act of bring-up or pull-down students on the basis of ethnicity in my school by fixing academic outcomes, and with the departure of top Malay students to MARA after PMR/SRP, the remained good students were predominantly Chinese. All of us knew that this is a skewed reality due to the different opportunities along the different public education pathways. It did not foster strong resentment as claimed, but it did remind us of our differences, something previously very much hidden.

Henceforth, we need to empower the public schools by not taking away a significant share of its brightest crop in the name of communal uplifting. The result is an immediate relegating the public schools as backwater institutions for the academically poorer Malays with their fellow students who have no where to go. This reinforced the everyday prejudices that the Malay community suffers from. Just imagine the crop of students in the upper secondary level at a public secondary school... the best and brightest Malays (for those who chose to go) are in MARA/special boarding schools, while real academic competition would be between the other students left behind who continued their studies in the same institution.

If anything, the upper secondary situation in many of the public schools is the very scenario we wanted to avoid. Incorrect solutions have been offered, such as to open 10% to non-Malays in MARA. This has further crippled the incentive to improve the public schools. If the elites and the ones who can afford it opt for Independent Chinese Schools and private/international schools, what's left of the public schools?

It is the precise short-sighted thinking of the parents that has led to this situation. To be fair, most parents only care about the kind of education their children is getting, and that is always the best barometer. It explains why some Malay parents started to send their children to vernacular primary schools (specifically SRJK(C)). Technically, this shouldn't be a problem. However, when the underelying reason is that there is a qualitative difference between the vernacular primary schools and the public primary schools (SRJK(C) and SRK), this raises a fundamental question - What is it in the administration of the SK that has resulted in its loss of luster as an equal educational institution in comparison to its SRJK(C) counterpart? It cannot be the medium of instruction as SRJK(T) is not doing well. What is that extra value that the consumers (i.e. parents) saw in the SRJK(C) that has to be incorporated into the SRK and SRJK(T) so that the entire primary education experience is more equitable?

These are long-term questions that must be addressed now so that the continued slide is stopped. Having more SRJK(C) is not the answer as the original purpose of vernacular schools is to prepare students who does not speak the national language as their native mother tongue to catch-up with the rest. The success of the Chinese education movement is that it preserved its reputation of academic excellence amidst the gradual rot of the quality of education in Malaysia. I said "preserved", because vernacular Chinese primary schools (public funded or partially public funded) and Independent Chinese High Schools (private secondary schools) have not escaped the stagnation and rot that is eating up the national education system. If the Chinese community thinks that it can escape the long-term disintegration of the national education system, they can think again.

The national education system is a complex ecology that includes the supply of teachers, administrators and its physical infrastructure and curriculum development. The younger crop of teachers have to come from somewhere, and most will be products of previous generations of the national education system. Hence, if the breakdown occurs at all stages, gradually, it will also affect the teacher training institutions (now mostly universities) and the quality of administrators it employs. With more and more parents relegating the task of education to the schools - imagined professionals who know better, as well as dual-income households, it will appear as if good quality education can be bought.

For now, at least, that is the assumption. The United States have been there. It greatly encouraged private educational institutions from the higher to lower levels, but what it has really resulted in is piss poor overall education for the population greatly divided by socioeconomic class. Pockets of great excellence sustained the image of the US as a great education mecca of success, but we must remember that Harvard and the Ivy League are all private enterprises. The state education system in the US is liberal and generally abhors standardized testing, but is now forced to accept some measures and assessment of its performance, ironically more for a school's report card than than highlighting individual achievement with the tie-in of school funds and teacher incentives. This resulted in more entrance exams administered/recognized by the respective institutions that can afford them at higher levels, which eventually benefits students with the resources to sit for them. It is no surprise why attrition rate is so high. Drop-out trends in the US have shown that key junctures, such as the 9th Grade, is where circumstances for such decisions are reached.

After the lengthy rambling, it is not that I disagree that our children should go to the "same" schools. The problem is in the fact that the vernacular primary schools (SRJK) and the Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan SHOULD BE similar with its equal ratio of within group differences (i.e. its own share of lousy SRJK and SRK schools). However, the real issue here, at primary level at least, is not the medium of instruction, but the quality of instruction, teaching and learning, that has led to a divergent in perceived quality. Henceforth, the solution is actually to iron out the differences by improving the SRKs and SRJK(T) to par with the SRJK(C) and to make the SRKs the school of choice - not by choking the SRJK(C) to death but by elevating the SRKs with the recipes of success in the Chinese primary schools. This does not automatically mean more pouring of federal funds or special treatment for SRKs but perhaps a more stringent watch over its administration and quality, in which the SRJK(C) has strong school boards that defends the interest of the parents and students.

I actually prefer a unified medium of instruction at a secondary level. However, as I have said earlier, the medium of instruction is not the solution for a continued decline in the quality of education we are witnessing today. We must intervene at different areas, from the curriculum to the teaching personnel, school administration to parental participation, to make things work better. We have a sound system, with the exception of the oddities at upper secondary level onwards (including STPM and matriculation evaluative benchmark) that needs to be reworked.

I hope that illuminates some of my personal thoughts on the issue.

To say that the school system is the problem is not looking at the root cause. Its a symptom, the schools may exagerate the symptom at best.

The real symptom to examine is why is it a NST journalist and educated person such as yourself see it as the cause?

How many people remember that 30 some years ago, when all schools used English medium and there was meritocracy in education, that vernacular schools was losing popularity?

Force the students to study together? Its a layman educational idea. Studies after studies in school integration show that if students are put into competitive environment where the rules are different for different students, situation actually become worst. Gangs forms, students lose focus on study and other activities take higher priority.

Such talk of fixing the unity problem with a patching solution is a national disease that has corrupted the idea of compromise with mediocrity. Yes we are not in good shape but we would not do better with a patching solution (thank god!!). What is dire is the future we are heading to and that does not require a short-sighted approach.

My grandfather taught me long time ago. if you are going to do something, do it well or don't do it at all. Otherwise, it comes back to bite you in the ass..

1, many chinese parents send their children to singapore schools, where all races mix together n where minimal chinese language or things related to chinese identity, if any, is taught.

y? just like every single parent on this planet, they want their kids to receive GOOD EDUCATION, not to learn to b political n play race game.

so, i fully agree with chez1978 that parents choose schools primarily based on the quality of education given, not bcos they dont want their children mix with other races.

fyi, 10% of chinese primary school children r NON-CHINESE, n some schools have more than 50% NON-chinese, yet the chinese community as a whole still doesnt mind donating to their schools n subsidizing these non-chinese students' education. they take pride in practising 'in education, there's no categories' (you jiau wu lei), as taught by confucius. but our bloody racist government of all races has practised NONE of that in the funding of schools, building of new school buildings, awarding scholarships n uni places...

so, aisehman, though i agree that 'our kids need to go to schools together', i think u might b POLITICISING this education issue, just like Kerishamuddin. nobody can blame those parents who dont want to RUIN THEIR CHILDREN'S FUTURE by sending their children to NAZI political training camps - our national schools, where the supremacy of 1 race, 1 culture n 1 religion is emphasised from first minute of school till the last.

if anyone is to b blamed, it has to b the racist government.

2, of all public institutions (receiving financial support from government), chinese primary schools r THE ONLY ones which r run n controlled by chinese. put yourself into the shoes of chinese, or imagine this is your last islamic institution for u immigrant in foreign land, u'll know how precious it is.

which means, this is the ONLY institution where QUALITY can b assured, bcos ALL OTHER public institutions r run by racist crooks, where nobody can vouch for their quality anymore. i'm not saying that bcos it's run by chinese, so its quality is assured - it's the AUTONOMY FROM GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE, from the interference of our RACIST government, which has allowed it to maintain its quality n to prosper.

3, like so many have said, to blame education is to forget about the root cause of our unity problem. no matter how hard u teach them to love each other when they r KIDS, kids WILL GROW UP.

when they c how they r being treated as an adult, they'll come to realise that all they were taught in schools r a bunch of DIRTY LIES, or at least 'ancient memory'. n they'll even begin to HATE the system which has brought them up. then, national unity will just BACKFIRE in the most vicious fashion.

so, let's not take a simplistic view of national unity, please?? i expected something much better than this from u, of all people.

4, but if u really insist that our kids should all go to the same school, fine:

a, take ALL schools AWAY from government control. let them run by chinese (or whatever race) educationalists who have run their schools so successfully DESPITE DELIBERATE, SYSTEMATIC OFFICIAL FINANCIAL STARVATION, ie those from chinese schools.

but do u think any malay supremacist can stand having a chinese running their kids' school even though quality is assured????
there u go - it's not about education anymore, is it??

b, BAN the teaching of religion of ANY kind, including the reciting of quran, not even during school assembly. let the parents/family take care of that.
but do u think any muslim supremacist can stand having a kafir running their kids' school 'secularly' even though quality is assured????
there u go - it's not about education anymore, is it??

until that day, i'll have to disagree with the following.

"We can't expect everything to be perfect before we tackle this.
If we did, we would never do it.
We need to do this now."

bcos i don't think even YOU would want to let your kids ROT in Nazi training camps just for the sake of 'national unity', would u?

I am from an era where almost everyone went to National School. In fact, Chinese schools were looked down on....I was what we called Banana Chinese...White outside and Yellow inside. Now after 49 years, do I feel more united? Years passed and I am begining to forget the beautiful faces of all my good Malay friends because ONMU is continuouly painting a picture of an aggressive and intolerant race. Unity will start not with the youngs if the parents don't want to begin.

My 2 kids went thru Chinese school and subsequently placed into a private school. Despite all the extra expenses incurred such as transportation and school fees, we simply had no other choice. All these years, our leisure time had to be sacrificed to earn a secondary income to meet these extra expenses. All these due to racially discrimatory practices in National schools. Believe me, its certainly not fun !

Easy, Scrap off the gnikcuf NEP...threat everyone as equal...unity will be achieved when everyone is busy counting their money, believe me, national schools or what, people from OTHER races will feel them being neglected by the gahmen headed by the Malays when someone of the privileged ones taking for free what they have to work their ass for.

and heck, Chinese, indians and lain lain aren't the ones waiving keris, you expect unity from a minister from MOE waiving keris at other races?

The Chinese are very pragmatic (including the Indians, I supposed?). You have to convince them the advantage of the national primary school over the Chinese school.
The standard of our national primary schools up to the public universities are declining over the years. What's the use of forcing all Malaysian to national primary schools when come to tertiary education, the non-Malays would go for private colleges/universities either locally or oversea?

Then, when come to working life, you have the "segregation" where majority of Malays go for government/public organisation while non-Malays (little or no choice?)go for private companies.

If you intend to join politic, UMNO for Malays, MCA/MIC/PBS etc for the respective races.

There are just too many hurdles or race "segregation" in our daily life. Not as simple as the primary school as you suggested. National unity seems to be an impossible task, what more we have those clown politicians promoting race disunity.

Seriously, the problem with our education system now is what we've all known for years; it's politically-oriented. We have one minister who wants Science and Maths to be taught in English (without taking into account that the pioneer batch had science taught to them in Bahasa), and then the compulsary 11 years of education. Remember the time when SRP/PMR was the ultimate border of formal education? Those who were not academically inclined can opt to improve their manipulative skills and eventually may become succesful entrepreneurs/craftsmen/skilled workers. And those who are academically successful may go on for their SPM and tertiary education.... Look at what's happening now; students are not given the chance to choose after PMR; they HAVE to complete SPM, and this has led to a LOT of disciplinary problems in school, thus interupting lessons and valuable school time, not to mention the teachers' responsibilities towards education rather than being the "police" in schools.

And then there's Kerishamudin...need i say more? He is too busy with the UMNOputras' "perjuangan" that his education Ministry post comes second (or perhaps at the most bottom rung). Heck, he wasn't even a teacher before. That post needs to be filled with someone who was a teacher, who knows what's going on..not some self-preserving politician!

Just my 2 cents!

I am a product of the Chinese Independent School. Local universities didn't recognize my UEC (A Level Equilvalent), and I'm thankful for that. For without their rejection (I knew it even before I graduated from Secondary school), I wouldn't have studied harder. Though my English sucked (because it's a Chinese school), my Maths and Science is way superior than my peers who studied in the SMJK. Believe it or not, my Maths and Science level for my form 3 syllabus is equivalent to that of SPM.

I went abroad to get my university degree and now I wouldn't want to go back to pay my taxes to the bunch of politicians that might used my money to make teh tarik in space.

My parents chose Chinese school because of the LEVEL of Eduction, although we are not eligible for local university but guess what? I've got nothing to lose. If I were to enrol in SMJK, I would need to fight for my quota to squeeze into a local university, get to study something that I don't like, and will need to fight hard for a JPA scholarship even if my results are much better.

So you tell me, will going to the same school solve the problem? Should we sacrifice education quality for the sake of unity? Would any parents want to do that?

well said, juslo, sympathies, bus uncle, & thanks for the topic, aisehman.

I send my kids to a public school. It's near the house.

The wife and I check on their homework and the things they've learned when we have the time.

The kids are doing ok.

Me, I don't remember much of what I was taught in school. Not because it was so long ago, but because I found the lessons and textbooks boring.

The thing that I remember most about school is that I had a great time with my friends. We shared common interests - football and music.

Most of the guys I knew at school turned out ok. A few have not done so well, so to speak, but you knew then that these guys were heading for trouble.

Looking back, I don't think I would be wrong to say that the bulk of knowledge that I needed for the jobs that I've had and the one I'm in now, I could have learned on my own.

The most important thing that school and university (I went to a local U) gave me was social experience and understanding.

You not only learn a lot of things by interacting with other people, but also by observing their actions and understanding the reasons behind those actions.

Some of the views I read above are very strong and strongly-held, but I understand why they are so.

Since criticism and protest have hardly changed anything in this country, it would seem that we need to change our government to change things.

I don't see any other way.

Aisehman,

i c your point, but i guess for an above-average student like u, academic school works would have taken very little efforts, hence the value of/the opportunities for inter-racial/social interaction looms larger now. n i agree that it's very important too.

1, but your case is exceptional. for most kids (from chinese schools or others), they need to go to school FOR SCHOOL WORKS. coming from average families which cannot afford tuition which completely duplicate school lessons (or their parents simply dont have enough time to send them there), their parents DEPEND on the teachers to really EDUCATE the kids. so, the main criteria for these parents when choosing a school is the ACADEMIC STANDARD.

2, most chinese parents nowadays dont have much time to spend with their kids, most of them both work full-time (those running their own businesses work 100 hours a week, including weekends. dont know much about malay parents who work government jobs though, maybe, as raja petra said, they work only 1/3 of that time.)

so, the 2nd most important criteria for these chinese parents is DISCIPLINE, bcos they have basically 'subcontracted' their parental responsibility to discipline the kids to the schools.

my parents as well as those among my peers who have become parents always told the school teachers to "BEAT n SCOLD the kids AS U WISH, DON'T BE POLITE/SHY" n the first reaction any chinese parent would have when they learnt that her kid is beaten by the school teacher is - beat the kid 2nd time, bcos there MUST have been the KID'S fault.

i dont know whether the malay parents have the same (or stronger?) attitude towards school discipline or trust in school teachers, but i'm just telling u that that's how much chinese parents respect n trust theirs.

**NONE of the above could b bought by better fundings, hardwares n facilities of any school - national or otherwise.

**ALL of the above r, rightly or wrongly, perceived to b absent from national schools today.

further, chinese have this idea that it's better to b stupid but honest n upright, than b clever n cunning but a crook or menace to society. if the son is a criminal, the parents will blame themselves n teachers - there's a saying that:
"bring up kids but don't educate them is the father's fault; educate them but not strict enough is the teacher's fault." (yang bu jiau, fu zi guo; jiau bu yan, shi zi guo)

by contrast, the general impression (I MIGHT BE WRONG, it's JUST STEREOTYPE; take it as a CRITICISM IF it's true, but accept my apology if it's wrong) about malay parents is that they dont seem to place AS MUCH (not saying they dont give 'any') attention n care into the academic performance n discipline of their children. maybe there r simply too many of them so they cant focus on each. n the impression is that that's how they run 'their' schools, or 'allow' their schools to be run, too.

whether these stereotypes r true or not, (n 2b fair, u HAVE acknowledged that national schools might have problems, but u think we can't wait for it to b 'perfect',) national schools is far from 'imperfect'. for many parents who care first n foremost about their kids' education, it's not even within the neighbourhood of 'acceptable'. hence the current preference for non-national schools.

but there is a win-win option, what economists call 'the comparative advantage' (david ricardo??).

IF it is indeed true that the chinese run schools with both better academic results n discipline, n since the knowledge of chinese language is becoming a global asset nowadays, why not CONVERT all national schools INTO chinese schools, run by the chinese in the chinese/confucius way???

that way, 'all kids go to the same schools', AND 'all schools r as good as each other'. wouldn't that be THE IDEAL FIX???

or would it be too hard for malays/muslims to swallow the fact that chinese DO run better schools/education system????? would malays & muslims be willing to put practicality above pride, 'let china come to them' if they cant all go to china?? or is the fear of 'reverse chinese/confucius takeover of nusantara' too scary to contemplate????

sometimes, it's not that we don't know how to think out-of-the-box, it's bcos we DON'T WANT TO.

Aisehman,
Could you please elaborate further on your concept of unity in the Malaysia context before you draw the conclusion on the national school education?

What about the unity of the Malay race that divide by theirs own version of interpretation of religion? I mean Pas and UMNO. Would your solution be the same?

I am one who never believes that unity would be a major consideration when decision is made on the option to go to a SRK or SRJK, a hypothetical question, if your son has a scholarship to Oxford…opps sorry, not suppose to mention cheap racist breeding U, I mean between Harvard and UM, would you choose UM in the name of integration and unity? Or may I say anyone who chooses Harvard which English are used instead of Malay doesn’t care for unity?

If one day the enrollment of Malay into SRJK is more that the non Malay who enroll into the SRK, and the Chinese educationist start to implement a truly multi-language school to cater for this needs as we might achieve your so call common interest, social experience and understanding, would you support this free choice that have no compulsory feature?

Let us ask this simple question. Why is it easier for us to mingle with each other back in the 60s and early 70s and not now? The answer: We need a neutral language in our education system to unite us again, and like it or not, it is "English". Even our former PM has acknowledged this fact and went on to make a press statement that if the rakyat wish to have the schools reverted to the old system, i.e. English stream, he would go along with. But it took the UMNO Supreme Council to shoot it down, and there went the future of our kids. Let us not go to far. Look at our every day lives. Turn on the radio. If it is a Malay channel, you get Malay listeners calling in. If it is a Chinese or Tamil channel, you get the Chinese and Indians responding to their respective stations. Never have I heard a Malay calling in a Chinese radio station and neither have I heard a Chinese calling in a Tamil radio station to participate. Now, turn to the English channel and you'll get people from all races participating speaking in our typcial everyday Manglish. A few years ago, I went to see the Deep Purple concert. The show was attended by fans of all races. After the show as I was walking to my car, I heard an Indian guy telling his Malay friend, "Do you realise that it took an English rock group to bring us together?" His Malay friend slapped him on his back and gave a big smile. Singapore a few years ago (I believe in the 80s) tried to make Mandarin as the main stream language in schools. After a few years, finding that the policy did not work, they decided to revert to English and look where they are today. I rest my case!

I studied in a small-town national school back in the late 70's. Those days a sizable minority of non-Malay parents still sent their children to national schools, especially the former "English schools" as they still maintained a reasonable level of English and educational standards. My group of friends was made up of all races. It was a rural town and we often bicycled around and dropped by each other's homes. I remember my parents had a pretty prominent altar of the Buddha in our living room, it didn't bother my Muslim schoolmates then.

I would not have hesitated to send my children to the kind of national school I attended as a kid - good standard of English, well administered and run as a true National school where all races were welcome.

30 years later - my wife and I had serious discussions about sending our two daughters to a Chinese SRJK or a national school. I had several important criteria - academic standards, an inclusive environment and I also wanted them to have the opportunity to learn Mandarin.

Most national schools today just don't meet that criterion - many are poorly administered, and simply run as Malay-Muslim institutions.

Its a real pitty. Chinese SRJK have important drawbacks - overcrowding, lack of facilities for co-curricular activities and overwhelmingly Chinese environment. I would have preferred my children to experience and treasure the rich cultural diversity which is Malaysia.

We ended up sending both them to a Chinese school.

In short, until some form of meritocracy is introduced or a fairer NEP for all races, the Chinese will not gamble on their only advantage - education.

Although the Chinese are gamblers intrinsically, they know never to roll that dice called "education".

And because they have to parry the keris, their only defense for survival is called self-sufficiency, much to the chagrin of the swordsmen. It would be suicidal if MOE were to force a national school policy down the Chinese throat. They may keep quiet with the NEP, but to further deprive them their education the way they see fit, you'll see flying guillotines crossing swords with the keris.

A lot of you here are parents, and like my parents many years ago, they have made their choices based on circumstances and what they felt we all need to work on.

I cannot really find any fault with all the personal experiences shared by many in this thread, and I agree with some of the point made.

However, I believe it is absolutely simplistic to argue that putting your child in Chinese schools (SRJK(C) or ICS - with are either public, partial public or private institutions) will automatically render it better than sending them to national schools. Some of our national schools are very well run and they produce excellent pupils due to the hardwork of the teachers, parents and school administrators.

What we can agree on is that Chinese school has some unique characteristics which are emphasized upon. The school board is a permanent feature which, claimed to be represented by the Dong Zong, forms the last line of defence against complete take-over of the schools by the government. In addition, its harsh discipline and insane workload and test-heavy way of teaching is a form of regimental drilling. You cannot have everything, and in most cases, linguistic developments are constrained.

I cannot agree with English as a neutral medium of instruction. Anyhow, neither the DJZ / chinese education movement nor the Malay supremacists can agree on that too. Besides, what is a national language when nobody uses them? Japan, Thailand, China, Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, and many other nations did not anglicize their schools because the language is a medium, a tool that facilitates instruction. How well the teaching and learning is only hampered by language when one or both parties are not proficient in it. A language of knowledge must be accessible to all, not exclusive to the elites. We have already made a mistake to push a generation of Malaysians to shift from English to BM, and two wrongs doesn't make a right.

Many parents recognize the drawbacks from the different schools, and the decision is theirs to cope with the choices made. This is the sacrifice of the parents for their children, whether it is private schools, chinese schools or national schools.

The reality our children will have to confront when they step into the world, and Malaysia is a multicultural society. If we launch our children into the society with deep-seated prejudices and suspicion of one another, no amount of education will be able to overcome that form of bigotry.

Education is not what the institution of learning provides, it is what you make out of it. It starts from the home, and it doesn't end in schools. My parents recognized the weaknesses of the national schools, and they made sure we get the tuition help we needed in our respective areas of weakness. They are particularly supportive of extra-curricular activities, but made sure do not distract us from our goals. My parents hoped that we will be able to get into the local university as they do not have the means to afford private colleges or send us overseas. Both of us were lucky (maybe because we didn't all want to be doctors), and one ended with an engineering degree and the other in social sciences, both our respective first options. Of course, I could be biased as I am also a recipient of government scholarships.

This is the modest story of many Malaysians who are just trying to find ways to cope in life and carve out a meaningful existence. Success is not all diamonds and riches, although not all will agree. Parenting styles or philosophical leanings, everyone has different ideas but all parents want their children to be able to live the good life. But there are many parents who hope that their children can be happy without being caught in a world where money is more important than love, peace and harmony. A good quality of life is not necessary big cars and huge mansions, but perhaps we forget that, once in a while.

All I am saying is that not all Chinese or Malay or Indian think alike. People have different ideas, and the differences are legitimate and we all have to live with the choices we made. It is not wrong to support more Chinese schools, but we must not forget that a disproportionately larger number of Malaysian children study in national schools. Accusing these parents of not caring about education just because they didn't send their children to Chinese schools is an unfair and unjust accusation.

My parents cared, and they thought long and hard about it, giving both SRK and SRJK(C) a chance for both their sons. They decided that we both should attend national secondary schools, not only because of financial issues, but with the ultimate aim of getting us into public universities and really understand this society we will be stepping into. I will always remember what they try to teach me, and that is to count on our own efforts to do our best, be honest and to know that the world does not owe you a living. They wanted us to be Malaysians, not overseas Chinese. They knew, as many now know, the Independent Chinese School path will take us down another road altogether.

I believe kittykat speaks for many Malaysians when he said that "I would have preferred my children to experience and treasure the rich cultural diversity which is Malaysia... (but) We ended up sending both them to a Chinese school".

It is a hard decision, and in cases like this, trade-offs have to be accepted. Just like what my parents have to do many years ago.

"Since criticism and protest have hardly changed anything in this country, it would seem that we need to change our government to change things." - Aisehman

Absolutely right. We can't continue to live in a place where thieves operate in bright daylight, where one set of laws apply to one political party, and another set of laws apply to the rest of us. We can't live in a place where crooks go free because of political affiliations, and social policies are hijacked for political expediency. We can't live in a place where it is so evident that the leadership is out for short-term gain and the tinkering of policies are made to AVOID meritocracy.

Don't talk about changing the education system without having a fundamental shift in the political process of Bolehland.

Mr Aisehman

- I applaud you dire desire for national unity.

- Can you get unity when

- there is still catagorisation by Government on Bumi / non-bumi, Malay / non-Malay.

- Non-Malay parent earning Rm2,000 a month his children is not eligible to government text book loan scheme.

- Malay parent (especially UMNO member) are almost all given free school text book.

- all you aware of the above in the first place.

On the other hand, we have the Education Minister who is the racist that using his Keris on non-Malay. Yet you wish to have unity through school. - RIDICULOUS

If Malaysian want true national unity
1-get rid of UMNO
2-get rid of BN (all political party must be opened to Malaysian. Not party shall organised only along race or religion).
3-the rest is easy.

The Education Ministry portfolio is a must for aspiring Prime Ministers, right?

Why?

I think the portfolio is just a chance for the ministers to prove themselves an ultra racist (what the UMNO calls "nationalist").

Cynical, right?

But I think you agree.

"Non-Malay parent earning Rm2,000 a month his children is not eligible to government text book loan scheme.

- Malay parent (especially UMNO member) are almost all given free school text book."

- Vote to Change

There are lies, and then there are damned lies, when repeated often enough, becomes the truth.

I am in no way alluding to national politics and the freedom to vote, but merely on the SPBT (Skim Pinjaman Buku Teks).

http://www.aisehman.org/archives/2005/08/when_it_rains.html

I have written about this before. If our SPBT is awarded by ethnicity nowadays, please let me know. Idiots who believe in rumours without verifying them deserve to be called as such.

Before the 9th Malaysia Plan, there were proposals to make textbooks available free to all students regardless of school type and parental income (the two primary variables in the present schemes).

I will appreciate it if somebody can tell if that got off the ground.

I heard that even our Kerismuddin & DPM have sent their children to international school instead of Natioanal School...if this is true, wat do we expect from the natioal school project?

Actually if you compare us to the States, we're going through what they've gone through, the integration stage.

Sad thing is, we don't have any Martin Luther king back then and all of us are divided by the faith we practise. The political party that is formed by this same principle accentuates that divide between the races.

Back in the states, it's easier for them to integrate because they have the blacks going to church togehter with them, they share the same faith and in a way, they share the same culture.

I guess Malaysians will always be Malaysians. Until we can look each other in the eye beyond the faith we practise and stop comparing whose heaven is better, then we can call ourselves a true Malaysian.

Sadly, I dun think that would happen in my generation. I think there are already exodus of non-Muslims from Malaysia into places where their brains can be used to greater cause. I think Malaysian will only unite when BN doesn't need anymore votes from the Chinese, Indians and Lain-Lain Kaum, and the only Malaysians left are Malays.

Sad, but potentially true.