More to education than meets the eye

It is high time Malaysians took a good, hard look at what really constitutes an education.

COMMENT

Over the last few decades, more and more Malaysian parents have been experiencing a tough time trying to obtain a sound education for their children. They are virtually living on a knife-edge as they strived to ensure their offspring secure valid tertiary qualifications, recognised not only by the Malaysian government, but also accepted worldwide especially since this is the era of globalisation.

But has anyone really given much serious thought as to what makes up and goes into a sound and secure education? Believe me, upon reflection, there is a whole lot more that goes into getting an education. In other words, there is more to education than meets the eye.

There are many Malaysians who think that the higher the qualifications a person possesses, the more educated is the person. This is a fallacy, a simplistic thinking that needs to be set right.

Students who go through the education system from nursery to tertiary level are people who generally gather and amass qualifications. It is, in a sense, a form of education. It is also to be considered an important form of education.

But what is even more important is to secure a holistic education, an education that not only involves obtaining qualifications but an all-encompassing knowledge and understanding of life.

A well-balanced and rounded view and learning of life that makes us enlightened individuals able to face up to whatever the vicissitudes and challenges of life.

This is my point – to implore Malaysians to begin to view education and the person who is really and truly educated from the right perspective, and not from the traditional or archaic view of what constitutes an education and, invariably, who is educated as a person.

If a person doesn’t get to go through the entire education system in any country and acquire paper qualifications along the way, does this make the person in question a “failure” in life or an “uneducated” person?

This is a tricky question because from my personal and professional experience over the years, there have been a significant and rising number of highly qualified people who can be considered nothing more than derelicts by nature.

Non-starters in life

These are people, who, for some reason, despite having high qualifications, are non-starters in life: they have been unable to get their act going and end up as real failures. These are highly qualified persons who are stuck along the pathway of life.

Conversely, there are many who will testify that there are people with lesser or hardly any paper qualifications, and despite the odds stacked against them, have managed to become enormously successful and happy in life.

Some of the richest people in the world, some of the most powerful persons and some of the world’s most gifted artists, scientists, writers and musicians have had very little formal education.

There are these characters in the past and present that were and are brilliant beyond belief. Yet these people have little to show by way of paper qualifications or certifications. Why is this so?

On the one hand, we have quite a number of highly qualified derelicts, and on the other, we have these geniuses who are brilliant in more ways than one but who have not had any formal education.

Please, for a moment, do not think that just because you possess highly-prized and highly-valued qualifications, you have arrived.

Many people have failed to achieve success and happiness because they think they have arrived merely by virtue of having obtained a formal education and begin to start to think dangerously that the world owes them a living.

This is what has caused quite a number of qualified people to meet their downfall. Please let us all learn never to take anything in life for granted.

Life-long learning

This is because in terms of education there can never be too much of a good thing. Education is really a continuous life-long learning process. It is never ending. From cradle to grave, we learn something each day. This is how we grow as persons to develop and mature. Perhaps life itself can sometimes be considered nothing more than a learning curve.

While learning in the classrooms and lecture halls is important, we must not forget that real learning also takes places in the outside world.

Unfortunately for Malaysians, the government, parents and even teachers seem to put a lot of emphasis on being results-oriented.

Many adults of the older school will testify that there are many “high achievers” who graduated from the current education system who are not fluent in spoken or written languages. They come across as having a shallow understanding and knowledge of the subjects taught in schools.

This lack of depth is due to the fact that students go through a regimented schooling system that fits them into certain pigeon holes; they are denied the opportunities to discover their true talents, skills and abilities.

Conformity and uniformity are important, but only to a certain extent. More crucial is for students to learn to break out of the regimen of traditional learning and be able to think out-of-the box, engage and relate with others and to discover, through experience and role play, the realities of life.

Emphasis should be placed on apprenticeship, sandwich courses or training and the opportunity to master skills in real-life situations that should fit the students well not only in the job market but in being of practical use and help in the real world.

Revamp education system

The growing numbers of students who have acquired qualifications deemed irrelevant in real life are now beginning to be far too many. Churning out graduates annually who eventually end up unemployed or who have to be re-trained is waste of government and private sector funds.

Therefore, there is a need to address the education system in Malaysia: the focus must be on producing students of calibre and who have the moral fibre to be the leaders of tomorrow.

This might mean revamping the education system in line with prevailing realities: the major shift should be on personal development of the students to build their character and personality and to instil in them values that are beneficial, noble and worthy. The present system of education produces numbers but does not produce individuals of quality and substance.

The Education Ministry, teachers and parents are all stakeholders who should discuss and put into place pragmatic and effective policies that will take our education system to a higher level.

These stakeholders should sincerely carve out a better education system and not be lulled into believing that the current system of education has earned the accolade of being world class in quality.

Malaysia still lags far behind many developing countries in this era of globalisation and has failed to come to terms with the overall changing education landscape of the world.

The inertia and false sense of contentment which the present system of education has created will cause us to produce students who in the future are likely to become “square pegs trying to fit into round holes”. This is something all stakeholders in the education system must take note of and address quickly.

Christopher Fernandez likes this quote by John Stuart Mill on education: “The object of universities is not to make skilful lawyers, physicians or engineers. It is to make capable and cultivated ‘human beings.’