Malaysia's education system a laughing stock!

WHAT IS THE QUALITY STANDARDS OF EDUCATION IN THE GOVERNMENT OF
MALAYSIA UNDER UMNO-BN?

Food for Thought: Top 10 universities in South-East of Asia..!

According to Webometric Ranking of World Universities, the Top 10
universities in South-East of Asia are:


1. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

2. NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, SINGAPORE

3. KASETSART UNIVERSITY, THAILAND

4. CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY, THAILAND

5. PRINCE OF SONGKLA UNIVERSITY, THAILAND

6. ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY THAILAND

7. CHIANG MAI UNIVERSITY, THAILAND

8. THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY, THAILAND

9. ASSUMPTION UNIVERSITY OF THAILAND

10. KHON KAEN UNIVERSITY, THAILAND

Out of the top 10 ranking South East Asia universities, 2 are from
Singapore, and the balance 8 universities are from Thailand . Also, on
the Top 100 list, Thailand has 41 universities, Myanmar 18, Indonesia
14, the Philippines 13, and Singapore 7.

In Asia , the Top 10 universities are:

1. UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

2. NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY

3. KYOTO UNIVERSITY

4. BEIJING UNIVERSITY

5. KEIO UNIVERSITY

6. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

7. UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

8. CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

9. NATIONAL CHIAO TUNG UNIVERSITY

10. NAGOYA UNIVERSITY

Out of the Top 10 ranking universities in ASIA, 4 are from Japan, 5
are from China, and the remaining 1 is from Singapore. We are also
nowhere near the Top 100 universities in Asia. In terms of Global
Ranking, None of Malaysia 's universities are anywhere near the TOP
1000 universities.

Well, the fact speaks for itself ! Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia,
Philippines, and Singapore are way ahead of Malaysia. Despite all our
constant shouting of Malaysia Boleh this and that, and all the
emotional rhetoric of SYOK SENDIRI and self denials, we are already an
academic backwaters nation in South East Asia , I shake my head...

I have always personally railed against Man's dependency on numeric
evidence as proof of superiority but before I get too ahead with this
argument, let me explain.

'Numeric evidence' means the use of numbers to represent one's status.
If you have $500,000 and I have $100, you are wealthier than I or so
the numeric evidence suggests. If you have a 5-liter engine motorcar,
it is definitely a better car than my 1.6-liter car or so the numeric
evidence suggests.

If you have 10 titles bestowed on your life by the Sultan and the
King, you are most assuredly a better person than most of us are. And
so it goes that if a student scores an exemplary number of
distinctions (A's in Malaysia ) in a public exam, he/she is considered
the pinnacle of what the country's education system is capable of
producing. He/she is expected to go through tertiary education
anywhere in the world with flushing success. So what could possibly
have happened if she fails abroad?

Malaysia's education system has always been a laughing stock. Based
purely on numeric superiority and mindless rote learning methods that
even the British has long abandoned decades earlier, Malaysia
continues to believe that the more A's a student attains, the better
equipped he/she is. It doesn't matter how he/she gets the A's so long
as the aim is to get them and get as many in the process. So if the
student were to labor over numerous past year exam papers in the
library, memorize the answers and focus only on what the teacher
'suggests' are likely to come out for the exam, that's alright by
everyone.

The education system doesn't teach the students to UNDERSTAND the
material. It doesn't encourage proactive teaching methods that
encourage students to discover knowledge but to merely be taught. When
a student with 17 Distinctions fail in the real world, it is not a
surprise. Perhaps it is to many Malaysians, but it's a system that is
waiting to reward its students with spectacular failure when they
leave the shores and compete overseas or when they enter the
workforce.

Many organizations in the private sector have continued to be
horrified at the performance of such students during interviews.

Communication skills are absent. Standard ethics are absent. Common
courtesy codes are absent. Presentation skills as well as personal
grooming are absent. What has the education system taught them?

If Malaysia continue to embark on the road of plain numeric
superiority instead of to challenge the students to think, provoke
them to create their own opinions and to communicate expressively, to
eloquently define their standing in the world, there can never be an
international leader in any field or industry emanating from Malaysia.
It never produced one in the last 20 years. It never will for the next
100 years.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2009

The Failure of Nur Amalina (who scored 17As)

I was really shocked and speechless to be informed about Nur Amalina Che Bakri.

Nur Amalina had held briefly the record of the most A's scored in the
Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia. Upon the announcement of results of SPM 2004
on 26 March 2005, she received 17 1As - a record for number of A's
received by a student in the history of Malaysian education back then.
She was sponsored by Bank Negara Malaysia to study medicine in the
United Kingdom, and did her A-levels at the Cheltenham Ladies College
in the UK.

I was informed that she had failed her second year medical study at
the University of Edinburgh. I really hope this is not true......if it
is, what went wrong?

Could the English language be the problem? WE'RE GOING BACK TO MALAY
MEDIUM AGAIN AND THAT'S MEAN TROUBLE......!

By Joseph Wilfred