Response to the responses to my article on MRSM as a "successful failure"
Seriously all,
We must be aware of the changes happening politically and culturally. Because I proposed changes the way we view MRSM, many are quite upset without really understanding what I am proposing. Amuk and latah are the reaction to my proposals. It is good I believe to radically change the way MRSM is run and to redefine "success" so that it will not continue to be successful yet failing.
Many in ANSARA and in this forum are "too Malay" in their thinking and being so for the wrong reason. Why not allow competition and collaboration in MRSM system by rigorously recruiting applicants so that the composition will be 50 percent Bumiputra and 50 percent non-Bumiputra by whatever definition of these false racial/ethnic categorization MARA is using?
Why not let meritocracy rule the educational airwaves. MRSM is well funded to redefine itself and to show that country what 1Malaysia actually means, although I prefer the idea of Malaysian Malaysia better. MRSM has been and is still rooted in ultra-Malayness and the innovations in teaching and learning over the decades are good from a curricular reform point of view but not in promoting a culture of diversity.
Many times, reflecting upon my almost 15 years of involvement with the MRSM system, as as student, and educator, and later as a researcher-consultant I think not only of possibilities of cultural understanding through such restructuring but also about the racial composition of MRSM faculty.
Not only that the system is too Malay-centric and unhealthy for the child's development in a multiculturally-demanding world, but it also breeds the excesses of Malay pseudo-authoritarianism. It breeds the culture of totalitarianism in schools. deBono's CORT thinking skills help develop creativity superficially but do not teach children to mingle cross-culturally simply because the school system is too Malay-centric. Renzulli's Triad model is good for the Gifted and Talented Enrichment model but does it develop cross-cultural competency when almost 100 percent are Malays themselves struggling for control right there in the confines of the boarding school?
True MRSM has produced successful people, a few of them illustriously successful, but what is the meaning of success of a nation when the supposedly creme de la creme and handpicked Malay kids are going to be groomed and showcased as more sophististicated ultra-Malay who are actually persona anathema to the trumpeted slogan of 1Malaysia?
Forget about the campaign of "One School Fits All" (Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua) when this very system of social engineering for national development called MRSM that is supposed to create "a breed of human beings different from government-owned boarding schools" cannot even get its philosophy of education right and trapped in the contradictions of educational reform.
The One School Fits All proposal could well turn out to be yet another totalitarian design that will make it easier to control the young Malay minds; minds that ought not to be shackled by any political forces out to turn those children into beings happy to reproduce the style of racism and the genre of racial insensitivity of their fathers and mothers.
These are my initial thoughts on ANSARA's response to my article. I welcome reasoned arguments and an engaging dialogue framed intellectually.
Very truly yours.
We must be aware of the changes happening politically and culturally. Because I proposed changes the way we view MRSM, many are quite upset without really understanding what I am proposing. Amuk and latah are the reaction to my proposals. It is good I believe to radically change the way MRSM is run and to redefine "success" so that it will not continue to be successful yet failing.
Many in ANSARA and in this forum are "too Malay" in their thinking and being so for the wrong reason. Why not allow competition and collaboration in MRSM system by rigorously recruiting applicants so that the composition will be 50 percent Bumiputra and 50 percent non-Bumiputra by whatever definition of these false racial/ethnic categorization MARA is using?
Why not let meritocracy rule the educational airwaves. MRSM is well funded to redefine itself and to show that country what 1Malaysia actually means, although I prefer the idea of Malaysian Malaysia better. MRSM has been and is still rooted in ultra-Malayness and the innovations in teaching and learning over the decades are good from a curricular reform point of view but not in promoting a culture of diversity.
Many times, reflecting upon my almost 15 years of involvement with the MRSM system, as as student, and educator, and later as a researcher-consultant I think not only of possibilities of cultural understanding through such restructuring but also about the racial composition of MRSM faculty.
Not only that the system is too Malay-centric and unhealthy for the child's development in a multiculturally-demanding world, but it also breeds the excesses of Malay pseudo-authoritarianism. It breeds the culture of totalitarianism in schools. deBono's CORT thinking skills help develop creativity superficially but do not teach children to mingle cross-culturally simply because the school system is too Malay-centric. Renzulli's Triad model is good for the Gifted and Talented Enrichment model but does it develop cross-cultural competency when almost 100 percent are Malays themselves struggling for control right there in the confines of the boarding school?
True MRSM has produced successful people, a few of them illustriously successful, but what is the meaning of success of a nation when the supposedly creme de la creme and handpicked Malay kids are going to be groomed and showcased as more sophististicated ultra-Malay who are actually persona anathema to the trumpeted slogan of 1Malaysia?
Forget about the campaign of "One School Fits All" (Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua) when this very system of social engineering for national development called MRSM that is supposed to create "a breed of human beings different from government-owned boarding schools" cannot even get its philosophy of education right and trapped in the contradictions of educational reform.
The One School Fits All proposal could well turn out to be yet another totalitarian design that will make it easier to control the young Malay minds; minds that ought not to be shackled by any political forces out to turn those children into beings happy to reproduce the style of racism and the genre of racial insensitivity of their fathers and mothers.
These are my initial thoughts on ANSARA's response to my article. I welcome reasoned arguments and an engaging dialogue framed intellectually.
Very truly yours.
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