MPs: Review education systemSpeaking as a student of the national education system, I couldn't agree more. Everyday, I cannot help but sigh as I walk through the school gates and see the big yellow board that shows the days left before my PMR (the reason why many parents send their kids for tuition) and I'll inevitably end up muttering away under my breath about the education system which requires students to stuff their heads with 3 years worth of textbook-knowledge and finally vomit it all out in 5 days of hell.
MPs want the Education Ministry to re-examine the education system to put less emphasis on tuition.
The trend of sending children for tuition was creating a generation of "soulless robots," said S. K. Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands).
He said he made a study and found that children were spending eight hours at school instead of the usual six.
Apart from the school hours, he said, the students had to do their homework after school ended at 1pm. They then attend tuition classes given by the teacher until 3.30pm before they go for their co-curriculum activities.
"Don't forget about the homework and studies that they have to do at home.
"Are our youngsters humans or machines? We have completely forgotten about the students in our efforts to improve the education system," he said when debating the Supplementary Supply Bill 2007.
Devamany urged the Education Ministry to re-emphasise the importance of the schooling and teaching mechanism, which he said was the basis for the national education excellence.
Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar (BN-Larut) suggested that the school examination system be replaced with a points system.
"Teachers can give grades on the student's personal behaviour and classroom participation in addition to the reduction in the number of examinations," he added.
More than half of my friends go for tuition classes. A few of them have one or two tuition classes for every day of the week! Even I, who only go for one tuition class a week, have to practically drag my feet and sit like a zombie in the car as my mum fetches me to the centre. With the current education system, half the time parents are more worried than their own children are, which usually results in parents sending kids for tuition, tuition, and more tuition in the hope that it will help their offspring get good results. Unfortunately, that is seldom the truth, for sometimes tuition only saps students' time and energy because they arrive half-dead at the tuition centre after school, piano class, and etc.
In school, more often than not we memorize, but seldom really understand. Many students could solve complex mathematical problems in a short amount of time, but few even know what it's used for in the real world. More often that not, students are only taught what is necessary to pass the exams. No more, no less. In a way, we are like robots.
Though I hate to say it, but exams are not completely bad. The pressure of exams does help us build a better person for the future. Exams exist for students, but in some cases, it seems that the students exist for the exams. Some would go to the extreme just to get a line of A's, but as inhabitants of this present world, shouldn't we learn more about what's happening in it instead of always being engrossed in getting A's for our report cards?
For many, failing an exam means getting a hell of a time back home, but the sad thing is, sometimes it even makes the student a failure in the eyes of his peers, and sometimes even his or her own family. However, I still stand by what I believe in: Exams aren't everything.
People, we are students with all our feelings and human limitations. We're not stereotypes that record historical facts and mathematical formulas for hours on end, nor should our worth be judged by mere exams. We're not robots, for goodness' sake, we're students!
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