Many people have lately been making adverse comments about vernacular schools.
Most of these people point their fingers at the multi-stream school system as the cause of racial polarisation in the country.
It is an indisputable fact that racial polarisation is serious and getting worse. Is the school system the root cause of this sad situation?
Is the Chinese school the reason why 90% of Chinese children go to Chinese primary schools? Why does the Baba community also send their children to Chinese schools where the children face rather hard times as they don’t speak Chinese at home?
The Babas cannot be accused of trying to preserve their Chinese cultural heritage, as theirs is the dondang sayang and keroncong. Besides the Babas, the kampong Chinese in Kelantan have also stopped sending their children to national schools.
I am a Chinese from a Malay kampung in Kelantan. I cannot trace who my first ancestor who came from China was. It could be six or seven generations ago.
All I know is that my great-grandfather was born here. My father went to a Malay school and he used to read the Utusan Melayu in Jawi.
Unlike many of my cousins, I was sent to a Chinese school. I had much difficulty mastering the Chinese language as both my parents did not know the language.
I excelled in Malay. I did not sit for the Chinese language papers in the LCE or MCE and really angered my Chinese teachers.
Instead of Chinese, I opted for the Bahasa Malaysia papers meant for Malay students. I strolled through both exams and came out with a distinction in Bahasa Malaysia.
That was in the 1960s when the non-Malay students did only the National Language papers or Bahasa Kebangsaan. I had no problem with the Malay language, and I have no problem with mixing around thanks to my growing up among my kampung friends.
I am proud to say that I consider myself very Malay-friendly. The Chinese school I went through did not make me a racist.
In fact, many among the Chinese educationists consider me and my kind in Kelantan as not really Chinese.
Despite all the problems we face in Chinese schools, practically all our children are now attending Chinese schools.
Our children are facing the same problems handling the Chinese language besides the subtle rejection from the Chinese educationists.
Why do we want to subject our children to all these?
I sent all my children to Chinese schools because I don’t want any of them to grow up with the idea that they are not born equal to some others.
I don’t want them to grow up with bitterness that the world can be so unfair.
One of my children was chosen to be the head prefect in her school; would she be chosen if she were in a national school?
To all those who blame the school for the serious state of racial divide we have now, please use some sense and try to figure out why people like me and the Babas also support the Chinese schools.
MAKYONG,
Ipoh.
Source
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Unity Forge in Single Stream School?
Written by M.H.Goh
Does unity really can be forge if we implement a single stream school, Sekolah Kebangsaan or 1Malaysia school called it whatever.
The answer to this question is
"Are we really sincere in forging unity?"
"Are we sincere in creating a single stream school?"
A letters reply by S.K.Wong in Malaysiakini towards Dr M's claim Chinese do not mix around has several very important points towards the answer.
Well, what I think the most important is quality of education (Read my earlier posting) . Beside BM and Islamic studies, I do not think Sekolah Kebangsaan can match those from Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan. Not the top creme la creme but the average students or the majority.
Beside as people like a product of KSBR and KBSM has stress that how discriminating and bais the Sekolah Kebangsaan has been promoting. It is not pure poor publicity but true facts.
Is the government doing it or just a faction of racist people doing? What has we done to them? Tan Hoon Cheng must be arrested under ISA for reporting someone said "Pendatang" yet Datuk Ahmad Ismail escaped with suspension. Later our Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar claimed it for her own safety. What a joke?
An article written by Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani titled "BTN taught me the Chinese are the Jews of Asia" and article by Dr Azly Rahman feature in CPIasia titled "Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side" are they lies. I do not think so. Why our leaders just deny yet do not investigate it thoroughly? Either they ignorant, incompetent or are they actually collaborators.
What about the discrimination of non-Malay teacher? How many of them are in high post like Pengarah Jabatan, Headmaster etc? Perhaps only the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan has non-Malay Headmaster. Are the non-Malay teacher really incompetent? And we have those racist teacher who look students through color of skin. What have we do to them? Good quality teachers with dedication and neutrality are key to national unity.
If truly we want to create a single stream school, I suggest the followings
Then we will have a truly 1Malaysia school - a representative of a multi-racial country.
Does unity really can be forge if we implement a single stream school, Sekolah Kebangsaan or 1Malaysia school called it whatever.
The answer to this question is
"Are we really sincere in forging unity?"
"Are we sincere in creating a single stream school?"
A letters reply by S.K.Wong in Malaysiakini towards Dr M's claim Chinese do not mix around has several very important points towards the answer.
- Non-Malays who study in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan are not less patriotic then those from Sekolah Kebangsaan
- Sekolah Kebangsaan is not up to par compare Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan
- Discriminating policy by Government in Education, economy and other hinder unity
- Ideology of Malay Supremacy do not promote
- Everything that unIslamic are told to be shun, ban or look down by the Malay
- Our country political parties are based on race
Well, what I think the most important is quality of education (Read my earlier posting) . Beside BM and Islamic studies, I do not think Sekolah Kebangsaan can match those from Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan. Not the top creme la creme but the average students or the majority.
Beside as people like a product of KSBR and KBSM has stress that how discriminating and bais the Sekolah Kebangsaan has been promoting. It is not pure poor publicity but true facts.
- The best mark does not necessary guarantee in the best class but color of skin do.
- Use school to persuade students to join Islam
- Propaganda that non-Malay are pendatang though for generation you are born, live and die in Malaysia.
Is the government doing it or just a faction of racist people doing? What has we done to them? Tan Hoon Cheng must be arrested under ISA for reporting someone said "Pendatang" yet Datuk Ahmad Ismail escaped with suspension. Later our Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar claimed it for her own safety. What a joke?
An article written by Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani titled "BTN taught me the Chinese are the Jews of Asia" and article by Dr Azly Rahman feature in CPIasia titled "Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side" are they lies. I do not think so. Why our leaders just deny yet do not investigate it thoroughly? Either they ignorant, incompetent or are they actually collaborators.
What about the discrimination of non-Malay teacher? How many of them are in high post like Pengarah Jabatan, Headmaster etc? Perhaps only the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan has non-Malay Headmaster. Are the non-Malay teacher really incompetent? And we have those racist teacher who look students through color of skin. What have we do to them? Good quality teachers with dedication and neutrality are key to national unity.
If truly we want to create a single stream school, I suggest the followings
- Do not implement discriminating quota system - education should be based on merit. The best student should be in the best class regardless of skin color. Worst at the worst class. Those at the worst class must attend additional tuition class after school.
- Do the same merit rate to the Teachers irrespective of skin color in terms teaching quality and dedication.[
- Do not include Islamic study replace it with Culture and Moral Studies for all including Malay - let religion to be learnt at home or at mosque, instead learn about each other cultures and good moral value to forge harmony and unity.
- Establish Chinese, Tamil or other language as option language as official subject on par to Bahasa Malaysia and English just like what in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan. Students can choose 3 language to learn. A Malay can learn Chinese, A Chinese can learn Tamil.
- Do not implement slanted propaganda such as Biro Tata Negara, but true harmony in mind program to really promote unity.
Then we will have a truly 1Malaysia school - a representative of a multi-racial country.
Don't make me laugh - Single Stream Schooling
Written by Product of the KBSR, KBSM
Single stream schooling...
We had that.
It was called the sekolah kebangsaan. "Nice" experience there, I learned all about how Malaysia politics and social engineering worked.
In primary school, I learned about the quota system, how the best marks did not mean you go to the best class, but it was dependent on your race. Learned all about Islam and had some nice teachers want me to join Islam. Learned to say "no" to everything Islam.
In secondary school, I learned that I am not a Malaysian whose family has been in the nation for generations, but I am some kind of "pendatang". Pendatangs are not welcomed, verbal abuse is "fun". New Indonesians immigrants however are welcomed. Also learned that school prizes in various subjects are awarded based not only on your marks in the subject but also how well you score in BM. Learned that non-malays could never beat a malay, because they always had one more subject than you.
So that is the KBSR/KBSM system. And you now know why non-malays have over 25 years withdrawn from our all inclusive sekolah kebangsaan. It is a tough ride. It turns flag waving Malaysian children into strangers.
But it wasn't all bad. I learn that I could be NEAR the top if I worked hard. My BM is good. I learned to look beyond Malaysia for my future. Some Malays are okay people. Just need to show them that most Chinese aren't rich, they won't believe you otherwise.
Related Post
Sekolah Kebangsaan - Failure or Not
Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side
Single stream schooling...
We had that.
It was called the sekolah kebangsaan. "Nice" experience there, I learned all about how Malaysia politics and social engineering worked.
In primary school, I learned about the quota system, how the best marks did not mean you go to the best class, but it was dependent on your race. Learned all about Islam and had some nice teachers want me to join Islam. Learned to say "no" to everything Islam.
In secondary school, I learned that I am not a Malaysian whose family has been in the nation for generations, but I am some kind of "pendatang". Pendatangs are not welcomed, verbal abuse is "fun". New Indonesians immigrants however are welcomed. Also learned that school prizes in various subjects are awarded based not only on your marks in the subject but also how well you score in BM. Learned that non-malays could never beat a malay, because they always had one more subject than you.
So that is the KBSR/KBSM system. And you now know why non-malays have over 25 years withdrawn from our all inclusive sekolah kebangsaan. It is a tough ride. It turns flag waving Malaysian children into strangers.
But it wasn't all bad. I learn that I could be NEAR the top if I worked hard. My BM is good. I learned to look beyond Malaysia for my future. Some Malays are okay people. Just need to show them that most Chinese aren't rich, they won't believe you otherwise.
Related Post
Sekolah Kebangsaan - Failure or Not
Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side
Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side by Dr Azly Rahman
An interesting article by Dr Azly Rahman feature in CPIasia
A very important point is Government policy on championing Malays dominance hinder single stream school.
‘Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence’.
According to government figures, only 7 percent of students in national schools are non-Malays. Parents fear sending their children from their past experience of the government indoctrinating young minds in the guise of an educational setting. Inciting racial sentiments in the classroom and boot camps (BTN, National Service, 1Malaysia) is in fact a big business nowadays.
Language issues come to mind as we speak about identity formation, befitting the notion of “language as culture,” and “culture as the habits we acquire and the tools we use in a house we inhabit in order to create our realties.”
This notion of language runs deeper than merely the need to ‘teach language’ in schools; it is to preserve and transmit culture for the continuing survival of the essential values of the peoples of the same language.
Language, perceived from the social/linguistic anthropological point of view then becomes a political subject and a matter of concern. With this also comes the idea of education that is described by an American educationist Lawrence Cremin as – a “deliberate process of transmitting knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values”.
As society progresses, tensions arise between the new and the old. In the case of Malaysia, the new consciousness signified by the idea of multiculturalism is seemingly in conflict with the idea that ethnocentrism still needs to be championed.
Ironically the current Minster of Education [Editor’s note: This article was written when Hishamuddin Hussein held the post] is also the Chief of the Umno Youth which brings us to the question of value neutrality in policy-making. Can one separate the institution, the individual, and the ideology?
The Minister of Higher Education too is appointed based on his loyalty to the ideology of Malay dominance.
Unless radical changes are made to the governance of the country – and this will also mean a dramatic shift in policies relating to race relations, education, and cultural identity – we will still live with the reality of schooling in Malaysia as being “separate and unequal”.
The task of bringing about an educational ideology that will pave the way for racial integration and genuine intercultural understanding continues to be daunting. The more the demands for racial equality and equal opportunity are made, the more the resistance to these will surface and the more violence – structural, symbolic, or real – may be the outcome.
The fear is that Malaysia will see the Balkanization of its people in the emergence of ‘postmodern tribes’ that will fight for their own rights in an environment that may not be resolvable through dialogue. Education for multiculturalism could offer some hope for reconciliation.
Not given the right info
In an article first published in my blog ‘A Republic of Virtue’ in Malaysia Today (April 24, 2008) titled ‘Thumbs up or thumbs down for Biro Tata Negara?’, I argued for the need to look into the philosophy of the bureau and the dangers of indoctrination.
Flaws in the arguments of the BTN supporters concern the nature of history and the structure of propaganda and mass indoctrination disguised as ‘patriotism’.
I agree we must give credit to those, like BTN, working hard to improve the mental wellness of Malays. This is important. This is a noble act. The question is: in doing so, do we want to plant the seeds of cooperation and trust or racial discrimination and deep hatred? Herein lies the difference between indoctrination and education.
Over decades, many millions of Malays and non-Malays have not been getting the right information on our nation’s history, political-economy, and race relations. History that is being shoved to us or filter-funneled down the labyrinth of our consciousness is one that is already packaged, biased, and propagandized by our historians that became text-books writers.
History need not be ‘Malay-centric’. Special rights for all Malaysians should be the goal of distributive and regulative justice of this nation, not the “special rights of a few Malays”.
History must be presented as the history of the marginalized, the oppressed, and the dispossessed – of all races.
We toil for this nation, as the humanist Paramoedya Ananta Toer would say, by virtue of our existence as “anak semua bangsa ... di bumi manusia”. Malaysia is a land of immigrants. No one particular race should stake claim to Malaysia. That is an idea from the old school of thought, fast being abandoned.
Each citizen is born, bred, and brought to school to become a good law-abiding and productive Malaysian citizen is accorded the fullest rights and privileges and will carry his/her responsibility as a good citizen. That is what “surrendering one’s natural rights to the State” means. One must read Rousseau, Locke, Voltaire, and Jefferson to understand this philosophy. A bad government will not honour this.
The history of civilizations provides enough examples of devastation and genocide as a consequence of violent claims to the right of this or that land based upon some idea of ‘imagined communities.’
Back to BTN.
BTN brainwashing students
Courses devoid of critical treatment and sensibility, and ones that retard student thinking such as ‘Kenegaraan’ in our universities, are designed to tell our mind to live in an imagined past.
BTN is playing this dangerous game of blind nationalism, still passing down packaged information that do not take into consideration the complexities of globalization and the promise of multiculturalism. We need to offer courses such as ‘Multiethnic Malaysia’ that will have students aspire to think like multiculturalists and help this nation evolve better.
The ministries of education and higher education combined have hundreds of experts – many overseas trained and have tasted the ‘spirit of multiculturalism’ and the “beauty of intellectual freedom” in their classrooms abroad – who ought to have engineered a paradigm shift to help dismantle indoctrination agencies such as Biro Tata Negara.
One-dimensional thinking prevails: the thinking that does not allow diversity of ideas and failed to develop cross-cultural perspectives. Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence. Political masters, however corrupt to the core they are, dictate the work of our academicians.
Whoever writes history and turns that into, say BTN propaganda controls the future (or at least they think they do). We must question what is taught during the sessions or during any history lesson.
The BTN as an indoctrinating institution was conceived by ‘intellectuals’ who themselves are trapped in their own cocoon or glass coconut shell of wrongly-defined Malay-ness and in a paradigm that teaches a poor understanding of Malaysian history. These intellectuals are running around in our public universities promoting a more sophisticated and pseudo-intellectual version of racism.
Inciting racial sentiments in classroom and boot camps is big business nowadays – profits made in the name of patriotism. But who’s monitoring the trainers?
What Malay students are taught
The mission statement of BTN reads: “Wawasan: Menjadi sebuah organisasi awam yang unggul dalam memupuk semangat patriotisme serta menjadikan rakyat setia kepada Kerajaan.” (Vision: To become the preeminent public organization that will foster the patriotic spirit as well as [train] citizens to be loyal to the Government.)
My response is based on my personal experience in undergoing the indoctrination programme in the mid-1980s. Over the decades, perhaps millions of Malay students like me were taught the dangerous propaganda song, ‘Warisan’.
One verse concerns the power of the Malays:
Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
yang akan menentukan bangsa
Other lyrics include:
Hasil mengalir, ke tangan yang lain
pribumi merintih sendiri
My loose translation:
Political power is what we are only left with
one that will determine the fate of our nation
Wealth of this nation flows into the hands of others
sons and daughters of the soil suffer in solitude
This song composed by BTN is one based on racist intents. The training programmes that encapsulate the theme of this song are meant to instill fear in the Malays, not of others but of themselves, and to project hatred onto other ethnic groups without realising who the enemies of the Malays really are.
Warisan
Anak kecil main api
Terbakar hatinya yang sepi
Airmata darah bercampur keringat
Bumi dipijak milik orang
Nenek moyang kaya raya
Tergadai seluruh harta benda
Akibat sengketa sesamalah kita
Cita lenyap di arus zaman
Indahnya bumi kita ini
Warisan berkurun lamanya
Hasil mengalir ke tangan yang lain
Pribumi merintih sendiri
Masa depan sungguh kelam
Kan lenyap peristiwa semalam
Tertutuplah hati terkunci mati
Maruah peribadi dah hilang
Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
Yang akan menentukan bangsa
Bersatulah hati bersama berbakti
Pulih kembali harga diri
Kita sudah tiada masa
Majulah dengan maha perkasa
Janganlah terlalai teruskan usaha
Melayu kan gagah di Nusantara (3x)
______________________________
Azly Rahman is a fellow with the Centre for Policy Initiatives. The above article is condensed from an introduction penned by Dr Azly for the chapter ‘Education, Culture and Identity’ in the recently launched book ‘Multiethnic Malaysia – Past, Present and Future’, and from his own essay in the volume on the work of Biro Tata Negara.
Related Post
Sekolah Kebangsaan - Failure or Not
A very important point is Government policy on championing Malays dominance hinder single stream school.
| Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side |
| WRITTEN BY DR AZLY RAHMAN |
| THURSDAY, 05 NOVEMBER 2009 11:53 |
‘Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence’.
According to government figures, only 7 percent of students in national schools are non-Malays. Parents fear sending their children from their past experience of the government indoctrinating young minds in the guise of an educational setting. Inciting racial sentiments in the classroom and boot camps (BTN, National Service, 1Malaysia) is in fact a big business nowadays.
Language issues come to mind as we speak about identity formation, befitting the notion of “language as culture,” and “culture as the habits we acquire and the tools we use in a house we inhabit in order to create our realties.” This notion of language runs deeper than merely the need to ‘teach language’ in schools; it is to preserve and transmit culture for the continuing survival of the essential values of the peoples of the same language.
Language, perceived from the social/linguistic anthropological point of view then becomes a political subject and a matter of concern. With this also comes the idea of education that is described by an American educationist Lawrence Cremin as – a “deliberate process of transmitting knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values”.
As society progresses, tensions arise between the new and the old. In the case of Malaysia, the new consciousness signified by the idea of multiculturalism is seemingly in conflict with the idea that ethnocentrism still needs to be championed.
Ironically the current Minster of Education [Editor’s note: This article was written when Hishamuddin Hussein held the post] is also the Chief of the Umno Youth which brings us to the question of value neutrality in policy-making. Can one separate the institution, the individual, and the ideology?
The Minister of Higher Education too is appointed based on his loyalty to the ideology of Malay dominance.
Unless radical changes are made to the governance of the country – and this will also mean a dramatic shift in policies relating to race relations, education, and cultural identity – we will still live with the reality of schooling in Malaysia as being “separate and unequal”.
The task of bringing about an educational ideology that will pave the way for racial integration and genuine intercultural understanding continues to be daunting. The more the demands for racial equality and equal opportunity are made, the more the resistance to these will surface and the more violence – structural, symbolic, or real – may be the outcome.
The fear is that Malaysia will see the Balkanization of its people in the emergence of ‘postmodern tribes’ that will fight for their own rights in an environment that may not be resolvable through dialogue. Education for multiculturalism could offer some hope for reconciliation.
Not given the right info
In an article first published in my blog ‘A Republic of Virtue’ in Malaysia Today (April 24, 2008) titled ‘Thumbs up or thumbs down for Biro Tata Negara?’, I argued for the need to look into the philosophy of the bureau and the dangers of indoctrination.
Flaws in the arguments of the BTN supporters concern the nature of history and the structure of propaganda and mass indoctrination disguised as ‘patriotism’.
I agree we must give credit to those, like BTN, working hard to improve the mental wellness of Malays. This is important. This is a noble act. The question is: in doing so, do we want to plant the seeds of cooperation and trust or racial discrimination and deep hatred? Herein lies the difference between indoctrination and education.
Over decades, many millions of Malays and non-Malays have not been getting the right information on our nation’s history, political-economy, and race relations. History that is being shoved to us or filter-funneled down the labyrinth of our consciousness is one that is already packaged, biased, and propagandized by our historians that became text-books writers.
History need not be ‘Malay-centric’. Special rights for all Malaysians should be the goal of distributive and regulative justice of this nation, not the “special rights of a few Malays”.
History must be presented as the history of the marginalized, the oppressed, and the dispossessed – of all races.
We toil for this nation, as the humanist Paramoedya Ananta Toer would say, by virtue of our existence as “anak semua bangsa ... di bumi manusia”. Malaysia is a land of immigrants. No one particular race should stake claim to Malaysia. That is an idea from the old school of thought, fast being abandoned.
Each citizen is born, bred, and brought to school to become a good law-abiding and productive Malaysian citizen is accorded the fullest rights and privileges and will carry his/her responsibility as a good citizen. That is what “surrendering one’s natural rights to the State” means. One must read Rousseau, Locke, Voltaire, and Jefferson to understand this philosophy. A bad government will not honour this.
The history of civilizations provides enough examples of devastation and genocide as a consequence of violent claims to the right of this or that land based upon some idea of ‘imagined communities.’
Back to BTN.
BTN brainwashing students
Courses devoid of critical treatment and sensibility, and ones that retard student thinking such as ‘Kenegaraan’ in our universities, are designed to tell our mind to live in an imagined past. BTN is playing this dangerous game of blind nationalism, still passing down packaged information that do not take into consideration the complexities of globalization and the promise of multiculturalism. We need to offer courses such as ‘Multiethnic Malaysia’ that will have students aspire to think like multiculturalists and help this nation evolve better.
The ministries of education and higher education combined have hundreds of experts – many overseas trained and have tasted the ‘spirit of multiculturalism’ and the “beauty of intellectual freedom” in their classrooms abroad – who ought to have engineered a paradigm shift to help dismantle indoctrination agencies such as Biro Tata Negara.
One-dimensional thinking prevails: the thinking that does not allow diversity of ideas and failed to develop cross-cultural perspectives. Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence. Political masters, however corrupt to the core they are, dictate the work of our academicians.
Whoever writes history and turns that into, say BTN propaganda controls the future (or at least they think they do). We must question what is taught during the sessions or during any history lesson.
The BTN as an indoctrinating institution was conceived by ‘intellectuals’ who themselves are trapped in their own cocoon or glass coconut shell of wrongly-defined Malay-ness and in a paradigm that teaches a poor understanding of Malaysian history. These intellectuals are running around in our public universities promoting a more sophisticated and pseudo-intellectual version of racism.
Inciting racial sentiments in classroom and boot camps is big business nowadays – profits made in the name of patriotism. But who’s monitoring the trainers?
What Malay students are taught
The mission statement of BTN reads: “Wawasan: Menjadi sebuah organisasi awam yang unggul dalam memupuk semangat patriotisme serta menjadikan rakyat setia kepada Kerajaan.” (Vision: To become the preeminent public organization that will foster the patriotic spirit as well as [train] citizens to be loyal to the Government.)
My response is based on my personal experience in undergoing the indoctrination programme in the mid-1980s. Over the decades, perhaps millions of Malay students like me were taught the dangerous propaganda song, ‘Warisan’.
One verse concerns the power of the Malays:
Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
yang akan menentukan bangsa
Other lyrics include:
Hasil mengalir, ke tangan yang lain
pribumi merintih sendiri
My loose translation:
Political power is what we are only left with
one that will determine the fate of our nation
Wealth of this nation flows into the hands of others
sons and daughters of the soil suffer in solitude
This song composed by BTN is one based on racist intents. The training programmes that encapsulate the theme of this song are meant to instill fear in the Malays, not of others but of themselves, and to project hatred onto other ethnic groups without realising who the enemies of the Malays really are.
Warisan
Anak kecil main api
Terbakar hatinya yang sepi
Airmata darah bercampur keringat
Bumi dipijak milik orang
Nenek moyang kaya raya
Tergadai seluruh harta benda
Akibat sengketa sesamalah kita
Cita lenyap di arus zaman
Indahnya bumi kita ini
Warisan berkurun lamanya
Hasil mengalir ke tangan yang lain
Pribumi merintih sendiri
Masa depan sungguh kelam
Kan lenyap peristiwa semalam
Tertutuplah hati terkunci mati
Maruah peribadi dah hilang
Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
Yang akan menentukan bangsa
Bersatulah hati bersama berbakti
Pulih kembali harga diri
Kita sudah tiada masa
Majulah dengan maha perkasa
Janganlah terlalai teruskan usaha
Melayu kan gagah di Nusantara (3x)
______________________________
Azly Rahman is a fellow with the Centre for Policy Initiatives. The above article is condensed from an introduction penned by Dr Azly for the chapter ‘Education, Culture and Identity’ in the recently launched book ‘Multiethnic Malaysia – Past, Present and Future’, and from his own essay in the volume on the work of Biro Tata Negara.
Related Post
Sekolah Kebangsaan - Failure or Not
Brain Drain
An very interesting article by Mr Koon Yew YIn that published in CPIasia
The Great Malaysian Brain Drain
WRITTEN BY KOON YEW YIN
Personal Note:
Readers may be interested to know that I have four children all of whom are accomplished in their respective fields. Three of them are part of the brain drain and have elected to settle down abroad; only one is back in Malaysia.
My son who has double degrees in civil engineering and chartered accountancy is an investor in Canada. He could be here to create hundreds of jobs to enrich Malaysia but he has been so disgusted with our policies and their implementation that he has chosen not to return.
I am sure that there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of similar young Malaysians that our country has lost, no thanks to our short-sighted education and NEP policies. And yet the Government is so keen to attract foreign investors. Where is the logic and rationality?
The Great Malaysian Brain Drain
WRITTEN BY KOON YEW YIN
There is a boy, I know who scored 10 A1s. His mother is a primary school teacher and Andrew has two younger brothers. His father, a civil servant, had already passed on by the time the son sat SPM in 2006.
Armed with his excellent result, Andrew applied for a scholarship to study mechanical engineering. The government rejected his application. Petronas rejected his application too. Can you imagine how disappointed and frustrated he was?
As soon as I learned of Andrew's difficulty, I offered him financial assistance to do accountancy in Utar. He has been scoring top marks in every exam to earn a scholarship from the university. Although Andrew is now exempted from paying fees, I still bank him RM400 a month to cover cost of living.
I have given assistance and allowances to more than 40 poor students to study in Utar in Kampar, Perak. Andrew is typical of their calibre; he prefers to get what is his due on merit, and his university has deservingly waived his fees.
On my part, I expect nothing from those that I've supported except for them in future to help young people in similar circumstances, and to hope that they will all stay back in Malaysia so that they can lend their talents to building up our nation.&
Asean (mainly M'sian!) Scholarships: Our brains, their gain
There are others that have deeper pockets who have extended a helping hand to our youngsters. One of them offers the cost of school and exam fees, hostel accommodation, RM5,800 a year for expenses, RM1,200 settling-in allowance, and transport/air ticket. Furthermore, the recipient is not bonded. Or in other words, the giver asks for nothing back.
I'm talking about the pre-university Asean scholarship extended to Malaysians by 'the little red dot' Singapore.
Of course, Singapore is not doing it for purely altruistic reasons. The country is giving these much coveted Asean scholarships to build up her national bank of talent. Some Malaysians accuse them of 'poaching' the creme de la creme of our youngsters. I don’t look at it as poaching. Their far-sighted government is doing it in their national interest.
And why not? Singapore can afford it. It has three times our GDP per capita. On another comparative note, the GDP per capita of Taiwan and South Korea are 2.5 times and double ours respectively. Before the NEP's introduction in 1970, the four countries were at parity.
The big question is why are we surrendering our assets which Malaysian parents have nurtured but the state neglected?
Tens of thousands of young Malaysians have left our shores on the Asean scholarship. I am not sure if Singapore is willing to give out the figure. But I am pretty sure the Malaysian authorities do not give two hoots about this, whatever number they may have arrive at. If they do, there seems to be no policy change to stem the outflow.
Malaysia is optimistically indifferent to the continuous brain drain, little caring that it is detrimental to our aspiration of becoming a developed country (I hate to say this) like Singapore.
Behaving like a failed state
Consider this startling statistic: There are more Sierra Leonean doctors working in hospitals in the city of Chicago than in their own homeland. More Malawian nurses in Manchester than in Malawi. Africa's most significant export to Europe and the United States is trained professionals, not petroleum, gold and diamond.
The educated African migration is definitely retarding the progress of every country in Africa. Today, one in three African university graduates, and 50,000 doctoral holders now live and work outside Africa. Sixty-four percent of Nigerians in the USA has one or more university degrees.
If we carry out a study, we are likely to find a very large number of non-Malay graduates emigrating to Singapore, Australia and other countries that is proportionately similar to the African exodus. However the compulsion is different, seeing as how some African countries are war-torn and famished which is certainly not the case with Malaysia.
The push factors for our own brain drain lie in NEP policy and this needs to be addressed with urgency.
State Ideology: Be grateful you're Malaysian
Try putting yourself in the shoes of an 18-year-old. This young Malaysian born in 1991 is told that Umno was very generous in granting citizenship to his non-Malay forefathers in 1957. Thus as a descendant of an immigrant community – one should be forever grateful and respect the 'social contract'.
Gratitude is demanded by the state while little is reciprocated. Under the NEP – and some say this policy represents the de facto social contract – every single Vice Chancellor of every single Malaysian public university is Malay.
Promotion prospects for non-Malay lecturers to full professorship or head of department are very dim, hence we have the dichotomy of non-Malays predominant in private colleges while correspondingly, the academic staff of public institutions proliferate with Malays.
The civil service is staffed predominantly by Malays too, and overwhelmingly in the top echelons. The government-linked corporations have been turned into a single race monopoly. Hence is it any surprise that almost all the scholarships offered by government and GLCs seem to be reserved for Malays?
Youngsters from the minority communities see that Malays are the chosen ones regardless of their scholastic achievement and financial position. Some are offered to do a Master even though they did not even apply (but the quota is there to be filled, so these disinterested Malays are approached).
Our lesson today is ...
How the government apparatus conducts itself and the consequences of its policy implementation will upset an individual's innate sense of justice.
The government pays about RM1.8 billion in annual salaries to teachers. A child is taught moral studies in class but he learns in life that adults condone and conspire to immorality by perpetuating the unfairness and injustice which impacts on Malaysia's young.
On the other hand, the favoured group is given more than their just desserts without either merit or need. When one is bred to think that privilege is only his rightful entitlement, we would not expect this young person to pay back to society in return.
Our Malaysian education system has been flip-flopped, pushed and pulled this way and that until standards dropped to alarming levels. The passing mark for subjects in public exams have fallen notoriously low while the increasing number of distinctions have risen fatuously high with SPM students notching 14As, 17As and 21As.
With top scorers aplenty, there will not be enough scholarships to go around now that the Education Ministry has decided to put a cap on the SPM, limiting takers to 10 subjects.
The human factor
It's unrealistic that the education system can be effectively overhauled. Even tweaking one aspect of it, such as the language switch for Math and English, created havoc.
It's not that our educational framework is so bad as after all, a lot of study and planning did go into it. It's only when the politicians dictate from on high and overrule the better judgment of the educationists – Dr Mahathir Mohamad being case in point – that we slide deeper into the doldrums.
The politicization of education and the hijacking of the country’s educational agenda has clearly cost us heavily in terms of policy flip flops and plummeting standards, and the loss of a good part of our young and talented human resources.
Matters become worse when Little Napoleons too take it upon themselves to interfere with teachers. For instance, the serial number assigned candidates when they sit public exams. Why is a student's race encoded in the number? What does his ethnicity have to do with his answer script?
There is further suspicion that the stacks of SPM papers are not distributed to examiners entirely at random (meaning ideally examiners should be blind to which exam centres the scripts they're marking have originated from).
A longstanding complaint from lecturers is that they are pressured to pass undergrads who are not up to the mark, and having to put up with mediocre ones who believe they are 'A' material after being spoilt in mono-racial schools.
Letting teachers do their job properly and allowing them to grade their students honestly would arrest the steep erosion of standards. And unless we are willing to be honest brokers in seeking a compromise and adjustment, the renewed demonizing of vernacular schools is merely mischievous. Either accept their existence or integrate the various types of schools.
But are UiTM and its many branch campuses throughout the length and breadth of the country, Mara Junior Science Colleges and the residential schools willing to open their doors to all on the basis of meritocracy if Chinese, Tamil, and not forgetting religious schools, were abolished? Not open to a token few non-Bumiputera but genuinely open up and with the admission numbers posted in a transparent manner.
Finally, there are teachers genuinely passionate about their profession. There are promising teachers fresh out of training college who are creative and capable of inspiring their students. It's not only Form 5 students who have been demoralized. Teachers are human capital that we seem to have overlooked in the present controversy.
Conclusion: Ensuring fairness for the future well-being of our young
A segment of Johoreans cross the Causeway daily to attend school in Singapore. Many continue their tertiary education in Singapore which has among the top universities in the world. Eventually, they work in Singapore and benefit Singapore.
Ask around among your friends and see who hasn't got a child or a sibling who is now living abroad as a permanent resident.
I can't really blame them for packing up and packing it in, can you? It's simply critical at this juncture that we don't let our kids lose hope and throw in the towel. The system might be slower to reform but mindsets at least can be changed easier.
It starts with the teachers, the educationists and the people running the education departments and implementing the policies. Please help Malaysian youngsters realise their full potential. Just try a little fairness first.
Armed with his excellent result, Andrew applied for a scholarship to study mechanical engineering. The government rejected his application. Petronas rejected his application too. Can you imagine how disappointed and frustrated he was?
As soon as I learned of Andrew's difficulty, I offered him financial assistance to do accountancy in Utar. He has been scoring top marks in every exam to earn a scholarship from the university. Although Andrew is now exempted from paying fees, I still bank him RM400 a month to cover cost of living.
I have given assistance and allowances to more than 40 poor students to study in Utar in Kampar, Perak. Andrew is typical of their calibre; he prefers to get what is his due on merit, and his university has deservingly waived his fees.
On my part, I expect nothing from those that I've supported except for them in future to help young people in similar circumstances, and to hope that they will all stay back in Malaysia so that they can lend their talents to building up our nation.&
Asean (mainly M'sian!) Scholarships: Our brains, their gain
There are others that have deeper pockets who have extended a helping hand to our youngsters. One of them offers the cost of school and exam fees, hostel accommodation, RM5,800 a year for expenses, RM1,200 settling-in allowance, and transport/air ticket. Furthermore, the recipient is not bonded. Or in other words, the giver asks for nothing back.
I'm talking about the pre-university Asean scholarship extended to Malaysians by 'the little red dot' Singapore.
Of course, Singapore is not doing it for purely altruistic reasons. The country is giving these much coveted Asean scholarships to build up her national bank of talent. Some Malaysians accuse them of 'poaching' the creme de la creme of our youngsters. I don’t look at it as poaching. Their far-sighted government is doing it in their national interest.
And why not? Singapore can afford it. It has three times our GDP per capita. On another comparative note, the GDP per capita of Taiwan and South Korea are 2.5 times and double ours respectively. Before the NEP's introduction in 1970, the four countries were at parity.
The big question is why are we surrendering our assets which Malaysian parents have nurtured but the state neglected?
Tens of thousands of young Malaysians have left our shores on the Asean scholarship. I am not sure if Singapore is willing to give out the figure. But I am pretty sure the Malaysian authorities do not give two hoots about this, whatever number they may have arrive at. If they do, there seems to be no policy change to stem the outflow.
Malaysia is optimistically indifferent to the continuous brain drain, little caring that it is detrimental to our aspiration of becoming a developed country (I hate to say this) like Singapore.
Behaving like a failed state
Consider this startling statistic: There are more Sierra Leonean doctors working in hospitals in the city of Chicago than in their own homeland. More Malawian nurses in Manchester than in Malawi. Africa's most significant export to Europe and the United States is trained professionals, not petroleum, gold and diamond.
The educated African migration is definitely retarding the progress of every country in Africa. Today, one in three African university graduates, and 50,000 doctoral holders now live and work outside Africa. Sixty-four percent of Nigerians in the USA has one or more university degrees.
If we carry out a study, we are likely to find a very large number of non-Malay graduates emigrating to Singapore, Australia and other countries that is proportionately similar to the African exodus. However the compulsion is different, seeing as how some African countries are war-torn and famished which is certainly not the case with Malaysia.
The push factors for our own brain drain lie in NEP policy and this needs to be addressed with urgency.
State Ideology: Be grateful you're Malaysian
Try putting yourself in the shoes of an 18-year-old. This young Malaysian born in 1991 is told that Umno was very generous in granting citizenship to his non-Malay forefathers in 1957. Thus as a descendant of an immigrant community – one should be forever grateful and respect the 'social contract'.
Gratitude is demanded by the state while little is reciprocated. Under the NEP – and some say this policy represents the de facto social contract – every single Vice Chancellor of every single Malaysian public university is Malay.
Promotion prospects for non-Malay lecturers to full professorship or head of department are very dim, hence we have the dichotomy of non-Malays predominant in private colleges while correspondingly, the academic staff of public institutions proliferate with Malays.
The civil service is staffed predominantly by Malays too, and overwhelmingly in the top echelons. The government-linked corporations have been turned into a single race monopoly. Hence is it any surprise that almost all the scholarships offered by government and GLCs seem to be reserved for Malays?
Youngsters from the minority communities see that Malays are the chosen ones regardless of their scholastic achievement and financial position. Some are offered to do a Master even though they did not even apply (but the quota is there to be filled, so these disinterested Malays are approached).
Our lesson today is ...
How the government apparatus conducts itself and the consequences of its policy implementation will upset an individual's innate sense of justice.
The government pays about RM1.8 billion in annual salaries to teachers. A child is taught moral studies in class but he learns in life that adults condone and conspire to immorality by perpetuating the unfairness and injustice which impacts on Malaysia's young.
On the other hand, the favoured group is given more than their just desserts without either merit or need. When one is bred to think that privilege is only his rightful entitlement, we would not expect this young person to pay back to society in return.
Our Malaysian education system has been flip-flopped, pushed and pulled this way and that until standards dropped to alarming levels. The passing mark for subjects in public exams have fallen notoriously low while the increasing number of distinctions have risen fatuously high with SPM students notching 14As, 17As and 21As.
With top scorers aplenty, there will not be enough scholarships to go around now that the Education Ministry has decided to put a cap on the SPM, limiting takers to 10 subjects.
The human factor
It's unrealistic that the education system can be effectively overhauled. Even tweaking one aspect of it, such as the language switch for Math and English, created havoc.
It's not that our educational framework is so bad as after all, a lot of study and planning did go into it. It's only when the politicians dictate from on high and overrule the better judgment of the educationists – Dr Mahathir Mohamad being case in point – that we slide deeper into the doldrums.
The politicization of education and the hijacking of the country’s educational agenda has clearly cost us heavily in terms of policy flip flops and plummeting standards, and the loss of a good part of our young and talented human resources.
Matters become worse when Little Napoleons too take it upon themselves to interfere with teachers. For instance, the serial number assigned candidates when they sit public exams. Why is a student's race encoded in the number? What does his ethnicity have to do with his answer script?
There is further suspicion that the stacks of SPM papers are not distributed to examiners entirely at random (meaning ideally examiners should be blind to which exam centres the scripts they're marking have originated from).
A longstanding complaint from lecturers is that they are pressured to pass undergrads who are not up to the mark, and having to put up with mediocre ones who believe they are 'A' material after being spoilt in mono-racial schools.
Letting teachers do their job properly and allowing them to grade their students honestly would arrest the steep erosion of standards. And unless we are willing to be honest brokers in seeking a compromise and adjustment, the renewed demonizing of vernacular schools is merely mischievous. Either accept their existence or integrate the various types of schools.
But are UiTM and its many branch campuses throughout the length and breadth of the country, Mara Junior Science Colleges and the residential schools willing to open their doors to all on the basis of meritocracy if Chinese, Tamil, and not forgetting religious schools, were abolished? Not open to a token few non-Bumiputera but genuinely open up and with the admission numbers posted in a transparent manner.
Finally, there are teachers genuinely passionate about their profession. There are promising teachers fresh out of training college who are creative and capable of inspiring their students. It's not only Form 5 students who have been demoralized. Teachers are human capital that we seem to have overlooked in the present controversy.
Conclusion: Ensuring fairness for the future well-being of our young
A segment of Johoreans cross the Causeway daily to attend school in Singapore. Many continue their tertiary education in Singapore which has among the top universities in the world. Eventually, they work in Singapore and benefit Singapore.
Ask around among your friends and see who hasn't got a child or a sibling who is now living abroad as a permanent resident.
I can't really blame them for packing up and packing it in, can you? It's simply critical at this juncture that we don't let our kids lose hope and throw in the towel. The system might be slower to reform but mindsets at least can be changed easier.
It starts with the teachers, the educationists and the people running the education departments and implementing the policies. Please help Malaysian youngsters realise their full potential. Just try a little fairness first.
Personal Note:
Readers may be interested to know that I have four children all of whom are accomplished in their respective fields. Three of them are part of the brain drain and have elected to settle down abroad; only one is back in Malaysia.
My son who has double degrees in civil engineering and chartered accountancy is an investor in Canada. He could be here to create hundreds of jobs to enrich Malaysia but he has been so disgusted with our policies and their implementation that he has chosen not to return.
I am sure that there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of similar young Malaysians that our country has lost, no thanks to our short-sighted education and NEP policies. And yet the Government is so keen to attract foreign investors. Where is the logic and rationality?
Friday, November 20, 2009
Malaysian Universities and the NEP - Article by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
Another great article from Dr Lim that I pick up from CPIasia. But I think our government who not hear his view
On September 25, I wrote on the recent Time Higher Education- QS Ranking of World Universities which rated our Malaysian public universities poorly in the region and world.
Unfortunately, the sec-gen despite acknowledging the need for drastic change in the nation’s universities, totally ignored the issue of the NEP and its race related policies and how these are related to the decline in standards.
The role of the NEP in the decline in public university standards goes back at least 40 years when following the May 13 racial violence, the Government launched a policy aimed at rapid expansion of bumiputera human resources, especially at the higher levels. A key component of this policy was to increase the number of Malay and other bumiputera graduates, especially from local universities.
Expansion of higher education opportunities
Only two universities had been established in the country prior to 1969 (University of Malaya and University of Penang (later renamed Science University of Malaysia). Between 1969 and 1999, nine new universities were established. Subsequently, another nine public universities have been set up, giving the country today a total of 20 public universities.
Please see the list below of public universities in Malaysia as of now.
Outcomes of racial policies
In Malaysia, the opposite to this merit-driven and autonomous process has taken place with the Umno dominated Barisan Nasional government over the years tightening control instead of liberalizing control over the universities. For the past 30 years, we have had BN/Umno politicians play the dominant role in managing and executing higher education policies and consigning independent-minded academics to an insignificant role.
As a result of Umno’s domination in BN, Malay preferential policies have become the key policy thrust in public higher education since the 1970s.
Some of the important impacts of these policies include:
Government domination in the universities has also been exercised through a host of other laws and regulations such as the Statutory Bodies Discipline and Surcharge Act 2000 which makes it an offence for staff to publicly criticize government policies without ministerial permission; the unpopular University and Universities Colleges Act; and recent requirements such as the Pledge of Loyalty (Aku Janji).
All these university specific-laws and rules as well as the national laws restricting freedom of expression such as the Sedition Act (1969), the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, and the Official Secrets Act 1972 have had a chilling effect on academic autonomy, morale and standards.
They have also directly affected the way in which staff and students function and perform in the universities. In particular they have served to inhibit any free discussion or independent analysis (including by academicians themselves!) on what is taking place in the universities, especially in relation to NEP-related policies and programmes.
Perhaps the most critical channel of control exercised by Government over public universities which has facilitated the primacy of NEP and related ethnic policies has been through its power and influence over appointment of the key higher management staff of universities that implement policy. This includes the appointment of Vice Chancellors, Deputy Vice Chancellors, deans or heads of faculties, departments and centres of learning, as well as senior administrative positions such as the Registrar, Deputy Registrar and Bursar.
What is the way out of the dead end that Malaysian public universities face resulting from the continuation of NEP type policies?
According to Arshad, the declining academic standards “can be reversed by an administration that is transparent, accountable, non-racial and free of corrupt practices… . We cannot be seen as promoting the goal of ending racism unless we are also seen to be people who act in [a] just and non-racial manner.”
Urging academic staff to take advantage of universities to promote racial integration and instill good values in students, and to be vocal on important issues, he argued that only merit-based promotions carried out in an honest and transparent manner could account for every cent of public funds, and that anything less would be an abuse of power and corrupt act.
The good Tan Sri did not mention the NEP and its race orientation directly in his unprecedented analysis. That may have been too much of a taboo topic and too sensitive even for someone of his standing to broach.
However, he also pointed out that “[a] silent culture is not an ethical culture in academia”. Stressing the need to stamp out corruption and racism” and to be seen as clean and trustworthy, he argued that “[w]e need to govern in a non-racial and transparent manner if we hope to get our students to understand the values of justice and accountability.”
As far as I am aware, no other senior university official has come remotely close to Tan Sri Arshad in terms of the critical tone and frankness of his appraisal with respect to the major challenges facing the universities – at least not in a public forum.
That “silent culture” he spoke about has become the norm in academia as well as in the official printed mass media. Can that culture of silence and denial finally be broken?
Can the NEP and race-related policies be put back on the agenda and its pros and cons discussed and dissected without the accompanying threats and attempts at political blackmail? The answer to this question will be the crucial factor determining whether Malaysian universities can take that vital step forward in improving their standards and in regaining the respect of their peer group and the international ranking agencies.
A final concern: if these issues cannot be raised in the appraisal of our universities which is the apex of our educational system, what hope is there for the rest of the country’s society and economy that we can escape from the pervasive racial paradigm that dominates policy-planning, policy-making and policy implementation?
The wisdom of recent historical hindsight and empirical experience has decisively shown that the continued practice of the NEP’s racial restructuring prong is not only counter-productive but is also inimical to Malay and national interests. Can this truth be finally grasped by those in power and lead to changes that are long overdue?
Related Link
Malaysia’s International Competitiveness: Sliding - Article by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
On September 25, I wrote on the recent Time Higher Education- QS Ranking of World Universities which rated our Malaysian public universities poorly in the region and world.
By coincidence, the following day, the secretary-general of the Higher Education Ministry, Dr Zulkefli Hassan, had an article in The Star (Sept 26, 2009) titled 'Towards a path of excellence' which blurbed "To achieve the Government’s aspirations of Malaysian becoming a world-class educational hub, both the ministry and the institutions have to embrace drastic change.”
Screenshot from The Star dated Sept 26, 2009
Unfortunately, the sec-gen despite acknowledging the need for drastic change in the nation’s universities, totally ignored the issue of the NEP and its race related policies and how these are related to the decline in standards.
The role of the NEP in the decline in public university standards goes back at least 40 years when following the May 13 racial violence, the Government launched a policy aimed at rapid expansion of bumiputera human resources, especially at the higher levels. A key component of this policy was to increase the number of Malay and other bumiputera graduates, especially from local universities.
Expansion of higher education opportunities
Only two universities had been established in the country prior to 1969 (University of Malaya and University of Penang (later renamed Science University of Malaysia). Between 1969 and 1999, nine new universities were established. Subsequently, another nine public universities have been set up, giving the country today a total of 20 public universities.
Please see the list below of public universities in Malaysia as of now.
However, there are a number of important requirements if the full benefits of this 'massification' process in higher education are to be realized. Chief is the need to maintain -- if not enhance -- academic standards and outcomes.
If higher education expansion is accompanied by a lowering of standards, then the process can become a double edged knife. Not only is the investment in higher education not optimized but a time bomb is created in which the great mass of graduates produced becomes unemployable or is unsuitable for the needs of the labour market. Instead of developing the young to their full potential, these graduates end up with glorified paper qualifications and skills and mindsets that are below par when compared with their peer group from other universities.
Another key requirement is that the entire process of higher education expansion must bring in the best minds -- irrespective of race -- to formulate policy as well to manage and execute the process. The recent course of higher education management and policy-making from other countries shows that outcomes are best when the process of higher education is transparently managed and executed and involves independent academicians with support from enlightened members of the public as the key stake holders and players. Outcomes of racial policies
In Malaysia, the opposite to this merit-driven and autonomous process has taken place with the Umno dominated Barisan Nasional government over the years tightening control instead of liberalizing control over the universities. For the past 30 years, we have had BN/Umno politicians play the dominant role in managing and executing higher education policies and consigning independent-minded academics to an insignificant role.
As a result of Umno’s domination in BN, Malay preferential policies have become the key policy thrust in public higher education since the 1970s.
Some of the important impacts of these policies include:
- Race, and not merit, has been the main criterion of entry of students and recruitment of academic staff in universities.
- Ethnic quotas system and other forms of Malay ethnic preference have been pursued in various forms and permutations often discreetly hidden from the public.
- Bright non-Malay talent has been marginalized often through outright exclusion. When recruited into the staff, they have little incentive to do their best or to stay in service in a Malay-dominated system.
- Teaching and research performance and standards have fallen because a system of meritocracy is only partially in place and is secondary to race and political-based criteria.
- Most academics in the public universities are resigned to the fact that race (and political connections) is a critical -- and often the major -- factor determining recruitment, promotion prospects, and access to perks and opportunities that are part of the academic system.
Government domination in the universities has also been exercised through a host of other laws and regulations such as the Statutory Bodies Discipline and Surcharge Act 2000 which makes it an offence for staff to publicly criticize government policies without ministerial permission; the unpopular University and Universities Colleges Act; and recent requirements such as the Pledge of Loyalty (Aku Janji).
All these university specific-laws and rules as well as the national laws restricting freedom of expression such as the Sedition Act (1969), the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, and the Official Secrets Act 1972 have had a chilling effect on academic autonomy, morale and standards.
They have also directly affected the way in which staff and students function and perform in the universities. In particular they have served to inhibit any free discussion or independent analysis (including by academicians themselves!) on what is taking place in the universities, especially in relation to NEP-related policies and programmes.
Perhaps the most critical channel of control exercised by Government over public universities which has facilitated the primacy of NEP and related ethnic policies has been through its power and influence over appointment of the key higher management staff of universities that implement policy. This includes the appointment of Vice Chancellors, Deputy Vice Chancellors, deans or heads of faculties, departments and centres of learning, as well as senior administrative positions such as the Registrar, Deputy Registrar and Bursar.
In all of these senior staff appointments – academic, management and administrative - the criterion of race figures prominently (though surreptitiously) in the selection process. As a result, only a few non-Malays have ever been appointed to these senior positions during the past four decades of the existence of public universities in the country.
It can be argued that the inclusion of more non-Malays in the senior management and administrative staff may not necessarily result in an enhancement of standards. Whilst this may be true (though unlikely) the decoupling of race from other acceptable criteria used in the selection process would improve morale, help bring about a more representative and diverse senior staff and reduce the unhealthy racial polarization that is found in the universities.
Finally, execution of the pro-Malay agenda of public universities has been exercised through Government control of all the major management and advisory bodies such as the University Councils. In these bodies, government influence is exercised through the appointment of selected leaders of the larger society (mainly Malay but including a few token non-Malays).
These appointees have for the most part preferred not to rock the boat on key policies -- especially NEP-related ones. Instead they have mainly served to legitimize policies, even bad ones that have failed to deal with the issue of merit and diversity or that have undermined the universities as autonomous and independent institutions supposedly leading the way in advancing knowledge and learning in the society.
Need for honest appraisalWhat is the way out of the dead end that Malaysian public universities face resulting from the continuation of NEP type policies?
Three years ago, in a frank admission of why standards have declined in the premier university in the country, various key issues were raised by Tan Sri Arshad Ayub, Chairman of the University of Malaya’s board of directors, when he addressed the university’s academic staff association. In his address carried in a Malaysiakini article, he asked:
- "Are we colour blind in our dealings with students, or do we show preferential treatment to students we consider ‘our own kind’?
- Are we providing a working environment where academic integrity is paramount and the path to professional satisfaction and reward? Or are we creating an environment based on feudalistic practices that can bring about nothing but dissatisfaction?
- Are promotions and appointments based on merit? Are we ensuring that the most qualified academics are selected for promotion and to lead our departments, faculties and research institutions, regardless of their ethnic background? Or are we undermining morale by appointing academics based on factors other than merit?”
According to Arshad, the declining academic standards “can be reversed by an administration that is transparent, accountable, non-racial and free of corrupt practices… . We cannot be seen as promoting the goal of ending racism unless we are also seen to be people who act in [a] just and non-racial manner.”
Urging academic staff to take advantage of universities to promote racial integration and instill good values in students, and to be vocal on important issues, he argued that only merit-based promotions carried out in an honest and transparent manner could account for every cent of public funds, and that anything less would be an abuse of power and corrupt act.
The good Tan Sri did not mention the NEP and its race orientation directly in his unprecedented analysis. That may have been too much of a taboo topic and too sensitive even for someone of his standing to broach.
However, he also pointed out that “[a] silent culture is not an ethical culture in academia”. Stressing the need to stamp out corruption and racism” and to be seen as clean and trustworthy, he argued that “[w]e need to govern in a non-racial and transparent manner if we hope to get our students to understand the values of justice and accountability.”
The Government in denial mode again
As far as I am aware, no other senior university official has come remotely close to Tan Sri Arshad in terms of the critical tone and frankness of his appraisal with respect to the major challenges facing the universities – at least not in a public forum. It has been close to 20 years since the NEP was to have ended. In 1990, a full, fair and transparent stocktaking should have been undertaken and new policies should have been devised to replace the obsolete and counter-productive ones.
At the very least, this review should have taken place with respect to the universities – our citadels of knowledge and truth where the best minds in the country should be able to find, and not grovel for a place, where dispassionate and fact-driven discourse is supposed to be the norm, and where the focus should be on recruiting the best students and staff available.
If this independent review had taken place it is possible that the pernicious impact of racial and political factors simultaneously driving university policies and resulting in mediocrity, a subsidy mentality, under-achievement, and a corrosive entitlement culture amongst Malay students and staff may have been more openly and widely discussed.
| UNEMPLOYED GRADUATES* |
|
*Government response to Question by MP William Leong In Parliament recently
It is also possible that new policies based on rational and less divisive merit-based and competitive as well as class or social background-based criteria (where appropriate) could have been devised in their place.
New policies in place of the NEP would not necessarily mean less access to higher educational opportunities for deserving or poor Malays. However, in pushing Malays to compete on the basis of merit against other groups, these policy reforms would have been the most effective way of raising their standards and achievement levels as well as those of the universities as a whole. Can the NEP and race-related policies be put back on the agenda and its pros and cons discussed and dissected without the accompanying threats and attempts at political blackmail? The answer to this question will be the crucial factor determining whether Malaysian universities can take that vital step forward in improving their standards and in regaining the respect of their peer group and the international ranking agencies.
A final concern: if these issues cannot be raised in the appraisal of our universities which is the apex of our educational system, what hope is there for the rest of the country’s society and economy that we can escape from the pervasive racial paradigm that dominates policy-planning, policy-making and policy implementation?
The wisdom of recent historical hindsight and empirical experience has decisively shown that the continued practice of the NEP’s racial restructuring prong is not only counter-productive but is also inimical to Malay and national interests. Can this truth be finally grasped by those in power and lead to changes that are long overdue?
Related Link
Malaysia’s International Competitiveness: Sliding - Article by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
Malaysia’s International Competitiveness: Sliding - Article by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
A very interesting article from Dr Lim which I found at on the net.
Source
No Escape from International Comparisons and Rankings
First of all: a reality check. We are in a new globalized era in which everyone – whether an individual, a business, an organization or the nation state - has to compete against everyone else, with competitors coming not only from the neighbourhood but from the rest of the world. Even a simple informal sector business such as a char kway teow stall is competing against other businesses ranging from other noodle stalls to the fried chicken or burgers served by global franchises such as McDonalds.
Today, no person, organization or country can avoid being compared with others in the quality of their product, service, productivity, innovativeness or some other variable. Comparison on quality, pricing, satisfaction and other key consumer concerns is done on a constant basis by all consumers - whether the consumer is looking for lunch, buying a service or seeking to invest his money.
Technological advances and the widespread proliferation of ranking surveys also mean that large organizations are constantly evaluated in terms of the quality of the work or the product or service provided. Together with it, comparisons are also made with other organizations offering similar products or services.
Ten or even five years ago, many organizations could exist in their cocoons or comfort zones of incompetence or inefficiency because there was little way of knowing how their products or services compared with those being offered by similar organizations. Today this lack of comparative information has disappeared.
Information is everywhere and often instantaneously available. The acceleration in migration to the new generation of information technologies has reinforced and proliferated new buying habits and behaviors as consumers exercise more control over where, when, what and how they buy
Scams, shoddy work, over pricing, outrageous claims – these can be gotten away for some time but eventually, sooner rather than later, the truth emerges. There is no place to hide in the global market place.
Even universities and the civil service so long hidden from public scrutiny are no longer immune from being analyzed, evaluated and compared. Two recent reports show how unimpressed foreign experts engaged in international ranking work are with Malaysia’s current institutional reform drive to excel. In the first part of this two part article, we shall deal with the international ranking of our public universities that have received tens of billions of ringgit of public funds and see how they compare with universities of other countries in the region.
THE- QS Ranking of World Universities
The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication that ranks the "Top 200 World Universities", and is published by Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The full listings feature on the QS website and on the THE website. These rankings have been available since 2004 and are broken down by subject and region.
As with ranking systems, the QS rankings have attracted both criticism as well as praise. Some critics have argued that the QS methodology is too subjective, places too much emphasis on peer review and is opaque in the way it constructs its sample for its reputational ranking. In its place, the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University has been put forward as a more superior ranking system, although it is generally perceived as being biased towards achievement in the natural sciences.
Despite the inevitable criticism, the THE-QS rankings have generally been well received world-wide and are widely followed. Amongst universities in the UK and the Asia-Pacific region that have commented on the rankings, the Vice-Chancellor of Massey University has commented that the THE-QS ranking is a “wonderful external acknowledgement of several University attributes, including the quality of its research, research training, teaching and employability.“ She is also on record to say that she sees the rankings as a true measure of a university’s ability to fly high internationally.
Asian Universities Ranking in the QS System
So how have the public universities of Malaysia fared in our international ranking given all the talk about building a culture of excellence and merit and our ambitions to become a global hub of higher education? In the 2008 global university ranking, no Malaysian university appears in the first 100 top universities, although three Hong Kong and two Singapore universities are ranked (University of Hong Kong at no. 26, National University of Singapore at no. 30, HK University of Science and Technology at no. 39, Chinese University at no. 42 and the Nanyang Technological University at no. 77).
More recently, there has been the announcement of the 2009 Asian rankings for which the QS methodology for assessment is provided in detail. According to the press statement, 4 main criteria have been used to determine the ranking, namely
1. Research quality (60%)
2. Teaching quality (20%)
3. Graduate employability (10%)
4. Internationalization (10%)
Each main criterion is in turn broken down into several areas with weights given for each as shown in the chart below.
Table 1: Criteria Used for ranking Asian Universities and their Weights
Unfortunately, even if we only use the regional, and not the global setting as our basis of comparison, Malaysian universities also do not come out well. This is clear from the chart showing the top 30 Asian universities below.
Table 2: The Top 30 Asian Universities 2009
So if Malaysian universities have failed to crack the top rankings of Asian universities, where do they actually stand? University of Malaya appears at No. 39; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia at No. 51; Universiti Sains Malaysia at No. 69; Universiti Teknologi Mara (UTM) at No. 82; Universiti Putra Malaysia at No. 90 and Multimedia University appears at no. 171
Clearly, there’s nothing to be proud of in terms of how the academic world assesses our public universities. In fact, we should be concerned that our rankings continue to lag behind even when compared with universities only from this region.
What are the main factors determining the poor performance of our universities and what can be done about it? From my own experience as a former Professor in the University of Malaya and also drawing on the analyses of other professionals, scholars and academics who have studied the topic, the main reason standing in the way of improving our public universities is the government’s insistence on persisting with the NEP racially biased approach to running the universities in all its key aspects: leadership, staffing, promotion, student enrolment, etc. In fact, this race-oriented approach should have ended in 1990.
In the next part, we will examine how the NEP’s race-oriented policies have contributed to the low standards of our public universities. We will also discuss what can be done to reform the universities so they can be more competitive in the global education market place.
Note
This article initially appeared as an article in Chinese in the Red Tomato, 25 September 2009
Related links
Malaysian Universities and the NEP - Article by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
Source
First of all: a reality check. We are in a new globalized era in which everyone – whether an individual, a business, an organization or the nation state - has to compete against everyone else, with competitors coming not only from the neighbourhood but from the rest of the world. Even a simple informal sector business such as a char kway teow stall is competing against other businesses ranging from other noodle stalls to the fried chicken or burgers served by global franchises such as McDonalds.
Today, no person, organization or country can avoid being compared with others in the quality of their product, service, productivity, innovativeness or some other variable. Comparison on quality, pricing, satisfaction and other key consumer concerns is done on a constant basis by all consumers - whether the consumer is looking for lunch, buying a service or seeking to invest his money.
Technological advances and the widespread proliferation of ranking surveys also mean that large organizations are constantly evaluated in terms of the quality of the work or the product or service provided. Together with it, comparisons are also made with other organizations offering similar products or services.
Ten or even five years ago, many organizations could exist in their cocoons or comfort zones of incompetence or inefficiency because there was little way of knowing how their products or services compared with those being offered by similar organizations. Today this lack of comparative information has disappeared.
Information is everywhere and often instantaneously available. The acceleration in migration to the new generation of information technologies has reinforced and proliferated new buying habits and behaviors as consumers exercise more control over where, when, what and how they buy
Scams, shoddy work, over pricing, outrageous claims – these can be gotten away for some time but eventually, sooner rather than later, the truth emerges. There is no place to hide in the global market place.
Even universities and the civil service so long hidden from public scrutiny are no longer immune from being analyzed, evaluated and compared. Two recent reports show how unimpressed foreign experts engaged in international ranking work are with Malaysia’s current institutional reform drive to excel. In the first part of this two part article, we shall deal with the international ranking of our public universities that have received tens of billions of ringgit of public funds and see how they compare with universities of other countries in the region.
THE- QS Ranking of World Universities
The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication that ranks the "Top 200 World Universities", and is published by Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The full listings feature on the QS website and on the THE website. These rankings have been available since 2004 and are broken down by subject and region.
As with ranking systems, the QS rankings have attracted both criticism as well as praise. Some critics have argued that the QS methodology is too subjective, places too much emphasis on peer review and is opaque in the way it constructs its sample for its reputational ranking. In its place, the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University has been put forward as a more superior ranking system, although it is generally perceived as being biased towards achievement in the natural sciences.
Despite the inevitable criticism, the THE-QS rankings have generally been well received world-wide and are widely followed. Amongst universities in the UK and the Asia-Pacific region that have commented on the rankings, the Vice-Chancellor of Massey University has commented that the THE-QS ranking is a “wonderful external acknowledgement of several University attributes, including the quality of its research, research training, teaching and employability.“ She is also on record to say that she sees the rankings as a true measure of a university’s ability to fly high internationally.
Asian Universities Ranking in the QS System
So how have the public universities of Malaysia fared in our international ranking given all the talk about building a culture of excellence and merit and our ambitions to become a global hub of higher education? In the 2008 global university ranking, no Malaysian university appears in the first 100 top universities, although three Hong Kong and two Singapore universities are ranked (University of Hong Kong at no. 26, National University of Singapore at no. 30, HK University of Science and Technology at no. 39, Chinese University at no. 42 and the Nanyang Technological University at no. 77).
More recently, there has been the announcement of the 2009 Asian rankings for which the QS methodology for assessment is provided in detail. According to the press statement, 4 main criteria have been used to determine the ranking, namely
1. Research quality (60%)
2. Teaching quality (20%)
3. Graduate employability (10%)
4. Internationalization (10%)
Each main criterion is in turn broken down into several areas with weights given for each as shown in the chart below.
Table 1: Criteria Used for ranking Asian Universities and their Weights
| Criteria | QS.com Asian University Rankings In association with Chosun Ilbo | |
| Indicator | Weight | |
| Research Quality | Asian Academic Peer Review (academics with knowledge of research in Asian institutions) | 30% |
| Papers per Faculty | 15% | |
| Citations per Paper | 15% | |
| Teaching Quality | Student Faculty Ratio | 20% |
| Graduate Employability | Asian Employer Review (employers with experience of recruiting from Asian institutions) | 10% |
| Internationalisation | International Faculty | 2.5% |
| International Students | 2.5% | |
| Inbound Exchange Students | 2.5% | |
| Outbound Exchange Students | 2.5% | |
Unfortunately, even if we only use the regional, and not the global setting as our basis of comparison, Malaysian universities also do not come out well. This is clear from the chart showing the top 30 Asian universities below.
Table 2: The Top 30 Asian Universities 2009
| 2009 rank | School Name | Country |
| 1 | University of HONG KONG | Hong Kong |
| 2 | The CHINESE University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 3 | University of TOKYO | Japan |
| 4 | HONG KONG University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong |
| 5 | KYOTO University | Japan |
| 6 | OSAKA University | Japan |
| 7 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology | South Korea |
| 8 | SEOUL National University | South Korea |
| 9 | TOKYO Institute of Technology | Japan |
| 10 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore |
| 10 | PEKING University | Japan |
| 12 | NAGOYA University | Japan |
| 13 | TOHOKU University | Japan |
| 14 | Nanyang Technological University (NTU) | Singapore |
| 15 | KYUSHU University | Japan |
| 15 | TSINGHUA University | China |
| 17 | Pohang University of Science and Technology | South Korea |
| 18 | CITY University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 19 | University of TSUKUBA | Japan |
| 20 | HOKKAIDO University | Japan |
| 20 | KEIO University | Japan |
| 22 | National TAIWAN University | Taiwan |
| 23 | KOBE University | Japan |
| 24 | University of Science and Technology of China | China |
| 25 | YONSEI University | South Korea |
| 26 | FUDAN University | China |
| 27 | NANJING University | China |
| 28 | HIROSHIMA University | Japan |
| 29 | SHANGHAI JIAO TONG University | China |
| 30 | Indian Institute of Technology Bombay | India |
| 30 | MAHIDOL University | Thailand |
So if Malaysian universities have failed to crack the top rankings of Asian universities, where do they actually stand? University of Malaya appears at No. 39; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia at No. 51; Universiti Sains Malaysia at No. 69; Universiti Teknologi Mara (UTM) at No. 82; Universiti Putra Malaysia at No. 90 and Multimedia University appears at no. 171
Clearly, there’s nothing to be proud of in terms of how the academic world assesses our public universities. In fact, we should be concerned that our rankings continue to lag behind even when compared with universities only from this region.
What are the main factors determining the poor performance of our universities and what can be done about it? From my own experience as a former Professor in the University of Malaya and also drawing on the analyses of other professionals, scholars and academics who have studied the topic, the main reason standing in the way of improving our public universities is the government’s insistence on persisting with the NEP racially biased approach to running the universities in all its key aspects: leadership, staffing, promotion, student enrolment, etc. In fact, this race-oriented approach should have ended in 1990.
In the next part, we will examine how the NEP’s race-oriented policies have contributed to the low standards of our public universities. We will also discuss what can be done to reform the universities so they can be more competitive in the global education market place.
Note
This article initially appeared as an article in Chinese in the Red Tomato, 25 September 2009
Related links
Malaysian Universities and the NEP - Article by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Sekolah Kebangsaan - Failure or Not
We often read and hear a lot people talked about have a single stream school in Malaysia. For the sake of unity in a multiracial nation like Malaysia a single stream school is not bad.
For those who not native to Malaysia education system. We have two forms of primary school (in US or Japan Elementary school) - National School and Vernacular School.
The so called national school or SK (Sek
olah Kebangsaan) or SRK (Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan) is supposed to be the official national, its main language medium is Bahasa Malaysia. For Vernacular School or SRJK (Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan) is also a national school but it main language medium being Chinese and Tamil.
Our Government financial support both but more emphasis on SK or
SRK. Therefore if you are in Malaysia or an Malaysian sometimes you see some school children in uniform ask you for donation or contribution for their school. They are normal from the SRJK.
Supposing SK or SRK are the national school it should be the most popular where most parents would send their children there. But why are there still stubborn parents still perfers to send their children to SRJK. Why?
Our leader think it is the educationists especially the Chinese educationists. They are stubborn and go against every efforts of the government try to create a single stream school for all Malaysian.
The question here is why so? Are the educationists not patriotic or are they traitors? Are the parents so?
We must see this from another angle of the problems.
Vernacular school, why it is still preferred choice of parents? I, myself send my child to SRJK.
If you are me, the answer is simple - quality of education.
I am not a product of SRJK but I was in fact from SK. I can speak Chinese but I cannot read or write. It is a disadvantage but it is not the main reason.
In my school days, in SK, I mix around with children of various races. My good friend is a Indian. He is a Christian. I have many others friends that are not from my race. Though it is difficult to communicate especially at first in year one. We are from difficult background, culture, ethhic and mother tongue. But it does hindrance building of friendship bond. I hope my children can be same as me. But I chosen SRJK for them. Why?
In my days the SK student are comparable to SRJK if not better. We definite excel in Bahasa Malaysia and English. When I am in form one, thought not the top of my school I command a strong foundation in primary, I am as good as those from SRJK. But they have their strength, I cannot deny it - maths. But overall SRJK and SK student as comparable.
In fact many SRJK student need to undergone 1 year additional prior to form one (remove)
But let see today, how may SRJK student need to add additional 1 year. Most of them in their UPSR, score better than their SK fellow student. Their Bahasa Malaysia & English if not better are comparable to SK. In additional they can read & write in Chinese or Tamil (no so sure SRJK Tamil is same but at least SRJK Chinese is so).
So, what is wrong with SK. SRJK student is getting smart? Their teachers are better? Whatever the real reasons be, one thing we cannot deny here is SRJK quality is getting better.
Being parents, what will you do? I certain try my best to gave the best education to my children.
I can't afford those pricey International school. Having the choice SK or SRJK, I choose SRJK for my daughter. She brag to me, she have much homework. Her teachers been strict for not submitting homeworks etc. My wife getting called from the teachers if she fail to complete her homeworks. See, the SRJK teachers initiatives.
My daughter, thought seldom speak English or Malay. But if I said something in English and Malay. She can understand them. She now can read Chinese Newspaper. Image a 9 years old.
Even during my time I still can read newspaper until nearly 12.
I think the quality of SRJK really improve a lot or the SK are lacking too much if not maintain.
In is not the Chinese Educationists that against the single stream school, its the parents.
Why? It just not up to standard.
--------------------------------
S.H.I.T
--------------------------------
Memo to all students
In order to assure the highest levels of quality work and productivity from students, it will be our policy to keep all students well taught through our program of SPECIAL HIGH INTENSITY TEACHING (S.H.I.T.).
We are trying to give our students more S.H.I.T. than any other schools. If you feel that you do not receive your share of S.H.I.T. on the course, please see your lecturer. You will immediately placed at the top of the S.H.I.T. list and our lecturers are especially skilled at seeing you get all the S.H.I.T. you can handle.
Students who don't know S.H.I.T. will be placed in DEPARTMENTAL EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION PROGRAMS (D.E.E.P. S.H.I.T.). Those who fail to take D.E.E.P. S.H.I.T. seriously will have to go to EDUCATIONAL ATTITUDE TRAINING (E.A.T. S.H.I.T.). Since our lecturers took S.H.I.T. before they graduated, they don't have to do S.H.I.T. anymore, as they are all full of S.H.I.T. already.
If you are full of S.H.I.T., you may be intersted in a job teaching others. We can add your name to our BASIC UNDERSTANDING LECTURE LIST (B.U.L.L. S.H.I.T.). For students who are attending to pursue a carrier in management and consultancy, we will refer you to the department of MANAGERIAL OPERATIONAL RESEARCH EDUCATION (M.O.R.E. S.H.I.T.). This course emphasizes on how to manage M.O.R.E. S.H.I.T. If you have further questions, please direct them to our HEAD OF TEACHING SPECIAL HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING (H.O.T. S.H.I.T.)
Thank you, BOSS IN GENERAL SPECIAL HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING (B.I.G. S.H.I.T.)
Quote:
" Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future" - John F. Kennedy
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