I have lived in Malaysia for a couple of years now, and am getting
reasonably used to it. But some things keep boggling my mind, and today
was one of those days.
We went to a “academic information day” at my step-sons school, the
St John’s Institution in Kuala Lumpur, to be informed by the principal
and teachers about their mission and vision, and how they intend to make
our children and students into excellent academic achievers.
However, what I got instead (in the one hour I could muster before I
had to leave, my bullshit-meter being completely off the charts), was
the most highly condensed delivery of pathological, paramoralistic,
delusional, and sadistic nonsense I’ve ever heard. And I’ve been to the
school before, so I had some idea of what to expect.
Since we know from experience that when we as parents voice concerns
our children get punished, let me be perfectly clear: we have no
concerns. This school is great. Our son is learning things that he could
never learn in any other place, other than possibly a mental asylum,
which we deeply appreciate. When he leaves St John’s he will know
everything about dick-fu, and other such useful skills, necessary to
combat real life in full force.
Instead of boring you with the nitty gritty details of what was
delivered, here’s sort of my conclusion of it all, from four different
perspectives.
For westerners:
You know how we look at Malaysia as a third world country, full of
uneducated and low-cost labour? Based on what I have seen and heard
today, that is ensured to continue for at least one more generation, so
you can use Malaysia for this purpose, as you have in the past. No
change at all. Malaysians graduating from these kinds of institutions,
like the current prime minister for example, are guaranteed to not ask
any questions, not think for themselves, and not question corporate
policies, of any sort. If you need to keep your employees in a box, and
have predictable outcome based on what you tell them to do, Malaysians
are for you!
For parents:
If you have a child at St John’s, they are guaranteed to learn such
useful skills as bullying, brown nosing, cheating, and more, fully
endorsed by the school’s policies. The statements from the principal and
discipline teacher today on how they view students and their
interactions makes me confident that this will happen, predictably. It
always does. If you want your children to gain creative and critical
thinking skills, communication skills, problem solving skills, and any
such things, this school is not for you. If you want them to learn how
to cheat maximally at tests to get A’s, without getting caught, since
that is a very valuable skill in real life, then this place is what you
want!
For residents of Malaysia:
You know how some of the politicians out of St John’s can’t seem to
understand the difference between right and wrong? How they tend to use
language to make you feel bad for something you didn’t do? Well, turns
out they are not really “bad apples”, they are just doing what they
have been trained and educated to do. You wanna be angry at anyone, be
angry at the governors of this school, for allowing it to degrade into
this mess. Or maybe this is what they want? Who knows!
For employers in Malaysia:
If you are looking for highly skilled employees that can think for
themselves and solve problems without having to ask you all the time for
guidance, Johannians are not for you. They simply wouldn’t know what
you are talking about, as any such concepts have been kept far away from
them. If instead you want another braindead foghead to use as the
office servant, then this place offers the best that there is. Just
watch out during the performance reviews, because these guys have been
trained to fake those A’s as best they can, and you bet they are going
to try and do the same with you. You have been warned.
And that just about sums it up I think.
KUALA LUMPUR: Graduates emerging from the national education system are failing to meet the expectations of prospective employers due to a lack of critical thinking skills and poor communication.
This has resulted in employers having to provide additional training to fit them into their respective job scopes while many graduates have to accept employment that does not correspond with their qualifications.
Malaysian-based education, human resource and recruitment consultants feel there is a need for a sound foundation in critical thinking to be incorporated into the education system to prepare future generations for the employment market.
The above is exactly what I have noticed. Not only are the students
not taught critical thinking, they are actively punished if they try, at
least at St. Johns. So it would seem that rather than being an isolated
case, this is indeed a systemic problem.
There is a ton of reasons for this, as I have found out talking to
other parents, ex-teachers, principals, journalists, and more. It all
starts however with the policies of the Ministry of Education (which is
such an awesome doublespeak name, as it is anything but), which then
filters down to principals, some of which are well-intended but tied
down, which then filters down to teachers, and finally our poor students
that have to put up with this nonsense.
In the end, all of Malaysia gets to see the effect as outlined in the
article, with graduates coming out having no useful skills whatsoever
that applies to successfully performing any real job. Which, in the end,
will indeed ensure that Malaysia will stay a third world country for a
long time, no matter what the politicians say.
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