Emily's journal
Today marked the official start of our journey of discovery into Malaysian education. It was also the first time the group would be completely united.
First on the agenda was a visit to SMK Damansara Utama, Sunshine’s school where we would host a discussion based on the the topics initiated as posts on the Facebook page. I was really looking forward to making face to face connections with these people whom I had previously only known as pictures on a screen, representing our collective mission. The group sat in on an extended assembly, where the students sung a host of anthems before a performance of cak lempong and several drama skits played out with much enthusiasm, from the audience as well as the stage. It is interesting to consider the Malaysian student’s perspective of Westerners; despite all the action on the stage, 1003 pairs of curious eyes were set on us, especially Duncan and I, who are the closest in age but the farthest in appearance from the SMK DU students. One student even said that we were looked on as “beauty queens”.
We were then invited to breakfast with the head teachers, and viewed a powerpoint presentation that they had compiled to promote their school. The school is defined as a cluster school for the high levels of achievement that its students reach in areas of academia and the opportunities it provides with its involvement in the niche programs, uniform bodies and cak lempong. During the session, the teachers spoke of their goal to be internationally recognised for these achievements, as this would spark more interest for their school and in turn, fund these programs and ensure their stability for future learning.
Following on from this was the discussion. The group was prepared to talk about issues related to both an Australian and a Malaysian experience of secondary school and so we started off bouncing our ideas and opinions of subjects and choices off each other before moving into more specific discussion about connotations attatched to certain subjects which influence their personal choice. I thought it quite sad that the “arts stream” of subjects that include literature, history and economics were disregarded as classes left over for the students who could not score highly enough to earn a place in the “science stream”. This meant that before students could pursue what could potentially be their dreams, they are forced to consider the social stigma of being considered of a lower academic standard. It was interesting also to see that all of the students chosen to speak with us today were studying in the science stream, as is, I am told, the preference of the majority of the school. I had to wonder if the school themselves (although the streaming is a government initiative) take preference in their science - streamed students over those deemed to have less difficult study schedules.
Another area of Malaysian education which is totally foreign to Australia is tuition. From today’s discussion, it became clear that this is regarded as a necessity for all students of SMK DU as the focus of tuition is to teach the technique of top performance in examinations. From a student’s account, examination performance skills and content must be memorised rather than learnt and understood as marks are only given when a strict criteria is followed. I think this mentality comes from the heavy emphasis that is placed on science and formula based subjects, as these subjects only exist within a set structure. From my own experience, a more satisfying and inspiring education can be formed by relenquishing one’s own independence and identity through performing to the best of one’s ability in an area picked out of one’s own desire.
Farhan's journal
5th of April
After months of research and numerous online discussions, gaining more and moreabundant knowledge on issues on the education system both in Australia andMalaysia, the time has finally come for the Australian panellists to be workingtogether with us, the Malaysian panellists despite aspiring for a bettereducation system. So, before I move on further I would first like to express myheartfelt gratitude to those who have made this massive project involving notonly two nations but also acquaintances with variety of people regardless ofraces and backgrounds, possible. Malaysia has always had fairly good relationswith Australia as it is going to be for a much longer period of time. Theproposal of this programme was simply genius. It is not often students ,especially in Malaysia are offered this kind of opportunity to voice their opinion on things they are affected by, considering the fact that we’re going tobe having direct verbal contact with prominent, leading decision makers of ourcountries. So as much as it excites us all, I was quite nervous to begin with.
Our first learning journey began with a visit to Sunshine’sCluster School of Excellence, SMK Damansara Utama. The outcome of the visit hadus all excited as we had new topics to investigate pertaining the system of oureducation system due to brilliant inputs by the students of the school itself.Our visit started off with the student assembly and the launch of Language month. It was kind of an epic moment as we enteredthe assembly hall which is already full of students, we happened to be theircentre of attention and their gazes were all on us, but mostly are on Stephen andboth the Australian panellists, they were awed by their presence. We sat at the side of the hall as the assembly and launching of Language monthtook its course. It was really interesting as there were many presentationssuch as drama, which I personally think was interesting and as much as it washilarious it did manage to catch my attention and so many others, publicspeaking by a student who did surprisingly well on his topic which revolvesaround the language itself ‘ English’ and even traditional music was playedwhich is called ‘Cak Lempong’. As soon as it has ended, we were thenbrought to the discussion room to discuss the topics with a talented bunch ofstudents after having a scrumptious breakfast which had been kindly provided bythe school. The discussion first started off with a slide show presentation tobriefly introduce to us the involvement and achievement of the students bothacademic and co-curricular wise at national and international level.
So thediscussion began in a much informal way, started by Stephen himself. Studentsand friends of Sunshine’s gave excellent view on the current issue that hadbeen happening basically relating to education being too exam oriented. Coming froma daily school, it is apparently quite a different environment as it is in aboarding school. When they talked about how they are being pressured withhomework and studies yet still having to balance between co-curricular activities. Students are also strongly advised to go to tuition centres for further understandingof a particular subject. Basically, MOST students go for tuition and those whodon’t are just 3% of the population of students there, which leads us to anotherissue on the education system, the ‘ tuition phenomenon’. The main reasonstudents depend on these tuition centres is that they don’t only provide betterunderstanding on a certain subject, but specific methodology in answering examquestions. Students seem to think it is vital to know how to answer correctly,as even if they understand a concept taught, but if for e.g. they got thedefinition of a term/word having quite the same meaning to the ones in thetextbook but not as similar, they will be marked wrong and that is veryunfortunate. These tuition centres, not surprisingly take advantage of students to gain more profit.
Another thing, I think it is sad that students who take ‘accounts’as an additional subject, do not have a specified teacher to teach them thesyllabus they need to know in school hence, leaving them with no choice but togo for tuition classes.
Despite the tuition factor which personally attracted me,the class of students were very animated as they were curious to know more aboutthe Australian students, Duncan and Emily, the pressure their education system places on students and how it compares.
As the discussion goes on, I could see that the studentswere interested and absorbed in the topics that had been brought up, leading usto a much newer perspective and topic that we should take intoconsideration which is the streamlining of students into either Arts or Science. The main problem isbasically, post PMR(public examination at year 15) students get to choose thestreams and course they are interested in, basically its either arts or sciencebut the problem is, there seems to be a stereotype towards the artsstudents being labelled as the ‘less capable’ students just because those whoattained bad results for their PMR examination are not allowed to take upscience streams and left with no choice other than arts. But whatabout those who are actually capable and deeply interested to studyarts but change their mind and limit themselves due to the mindset of today’ssociety?
It’s a fairly new topic we will be investigating soon.
In conclusion, the discussion went really well and it wasgreat as we needed more young minds to contribute and give us some sort of anew perspective on things. I’m looking forward to tomorrows discussion whichwill be in my school, I’m sure they have a lot to share after hearing me babblemost about the issues with them.
Duncan's journal
5th of April
Let me begin by saying how grateful I am for this opportunity. I’d like to thank Stephen Cutting, his daughter Lucie and the Australian High Commission in Malaysia for their tremendous organisation and vision. I’m just so excited to see where we can take our investigations and, of course, to immerse myself in the vibrant Malaysian culture!
Today confirmed to me how much you can learn by first-hand experience. In the morning, the team had a wonderful experience visiting Sunshine’s school. We couldn’t have received a warmer reception – walking into a packed school assembly to cheering and applause is something I’ll never forget. We were kindly shown a PowerPoint presentation illustrating the school’s broader goals and mission, which seemed to revolve around the idea of a well-rounded, holistic education. The school is extremely proud of their graduates who pursue tertiary education overseas and showed us an image of the world that highlighted a great number of universities in Australia, the UK, Europe and the US at which their students obtained degrees. The resounding popularity of overseas tertiary education among Malaysian students was soon to be revealed.
What was most enlightening was a delightful conversation with eight students following the presentation. I had done some research on topical issues within the realm of Malaysian education before arriving, however today really allowed me to come to terms with basic educational policies and the controversy that surrounds them. Just hearing the opinions of such intelligent, well-spoken individuals made it clear to me how very quickly new government policy can cause a shift in the grassroots landscape.
Here I allude to the recent decision to make compulsory the learning of maths and sciences in Bahasa Malaysian, as opposed to the previous conduct of teaching in English. Reasons why many would welcome the change are clear – there perhaps exists better opportunity to grasp the concepts of complex subjects in one’s mother tongue and to better respond to questions which require specific wording and explanation. However, many if not all students today found this new system limiting. They pointed to the idea that learning subjects in Bahasa makes them less global or hinders them from pursuing overseas education which is conducted in English. In fact, a student in the assembly delivered an entire speech revolving around the advantages of learning English in our globalised world. Many aptitude or specific knowledge tests for major universities like Harvard and Yale obviously require responses in English. It is this sort of vision that many Malaysian students share, with these sorts of universities that they all have their hopes and dreams firmly set upon. My thoughts on this issue are that perhaps a choice is needed – for students with international ambitions learning subjects in English is a great stepping stone, but for those who have immediate local plans then Bahasa-taught subjects are more practical. They can of course still develop their proficiency in English in normal English classes. The extent to which how much the learning of English should be re-enforced would surely depend on the individual. I look forward to hearing the opinions of more students on this issue.
I should take time at this stage to discuss what I found most alarming (although perhaps expectedly) – the profound emphasis on overseas education. It seems that Malaysian schools and colleges are merely a starting point for most aspiring students. It’s a way for them to get a solid educational grounding but, more than anything, a means to an end. This end being the Ivy League, UK or Australia. When I asked why Australian students would want to study in Malaysia, there was complete silence! It seems that unfortunately most in the Malaysian education sector don’t have confidence in their own tertiary institutions. The typical boasting that I’m used to hearing about Melbourne, Monash, Sydney or ANU was nowhere to be seen. At the top end of academic achievement, Malaysian education is focused at a secondary level. From there, Malaysian students look to the rest of the world as their oyster. The prestige of other universities and the competition for jobs seem to underpin the decision to source tertiary education elsewhere.
Finally, I was made aware of the streaming program in Malaysian schools. When students are academically strong, they are automatically placed in a science stream. If they don’t achieve the necessary marks, they are placed in the arts stream, which focuses on the humanities and commerce subjects. What this system unfortunately does is to create an unhealthy stigma surrounding arts and science subjects. Science subjects are elevated to a position of superior academic authority whilst arts subjects seem somewhat downgraded. As an arts student myself, I naturally wasn’t too happy about this. I studied Chemistry and two mathematical subjects at school, and while I admit their difficulty, I find it sad that they are promoted to a level well above those of equally challenging and demanding subjects. The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) duly rewards the study of languages, history and politics with a scaling system. If a brilliant Malaysian student finds himself more passionate towards the arts, he has to concede a bit of prestige by dropping out of the science stream. Whilst this happens, I don’t think the system should make it so difficult to do so. It’s almost as if somehow tries to mould the educational direction of students, pointing them towards the sciences by association with strong academic results. I hope more freedom comes to Malaysian education vis-à-vis the idea of intelligence. In Australia, a student can receive a perfect ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) without the study of sciences – and this is certainly not frowned upon.
There’s a lot of material to delve into, and I’m looking forward to another school visit tomorrow!
Sunshine's journal
5th of April
Today was a very relaxed yet somewhat tiring day. We kick-started our Learning Journey together in Malaysia with a visit to my school, SMK Damansara Utama after the Easter weekend homestay.Emily and I met Stephen,Lucie , Farhan and Duncan shortly after arriving. We left our luggage in safe storage before going to the hall to witness the Monday morning formal assembly as well as the launch of the school's Language Week. The students had prepared a series of performances for us to enjoy, beginning with the 'cat-lempong' band(a music band using local Malaysian music instruments) as well as humorous performances from both the English and Malay drama teams.
After that, we headed down to the conference room for breakfast of local food and a multimedia presentation of the school's achievements before my personal favourite event of the day; discussions with the students. It was rather astounding to see how passionately some of my friends and schoolmates expressed themselves when discussing the topic of Education in the 21st Century. Stephen gave us four panelists the chance to run the discussion with the eight students whilst he mediated the whole thing. We discussed streaming in local Malaysian schools and how students are streamed into Science, Sub-Science or Arts stream depending on their grades for the PMR public exam. Many, if not all of the students there, myself included, find it disappointing how the mindset of society and peer pressure are the reasons why many arts inclined students opt for the science stream instead. One thing led to another, and from there we branched out into my choicest topic that we're investigating, which is exam orientation and how the focus on exams has brought about the need for private tuition after school. The vast majority of students in my school take private tuition for the purpose of learning answering techniques. My inquiry to that though, is if the techniques of answering questions in exams play such an important role in determining your grades, then why don't teachers teach it in school along with the syllabus?
Moving on, another thing that really jolted us Malaysians was when Stephen asked the question " Why would Australians students want to further their education here in Malaysia?". There was a stunned silence that followed and one student even said "Well, they wouldn't". This brought to light various opinions as to why studying abroad is more beneficial than studying locally. It was sad to see how little faith students had in our local tertiary education, but it was pointed out too that Universities in Malaysia host students from countries in the Middle East and Africa which are also developing nations. My observation is that Australia being a developed nation with prestigious education has become somewhat a target for Malaysian students in terms of furthering education, but in the eyes of other developing nations, our Universities have got something to offer.
The "hot-potato" of the forum, which is the teaching of Math’s and Science in English made me realise how when the subject was initially changed from Malay to English, the implementation of it was probably not very well structured or organised and this led to the drop in the results of both subjects, hence the decision to change back to Malay.
Although most of us were hyped up and excited about the discussion, we had to end it right before 11a.m. as our ride to the Rainforest BnB was coming. After a few more pictures and long goodbyes, we left the school with our bags for Kuala Lumpur. We had lunch at a food court above BB Plaza and then had some time off to wander around the streets of KL, which was tremendous fun. All in all, today was a agreat start to the Learning Journey here in Malaysia, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow and the days to come!
