|
A leading 'Opposition' veteran and MP has published the claim that Malaysian Universities have fallen way off the the radar of the 2008 international university ratings.
According to the claim, Malaysia has also lost to Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines. For the second consecutive year, the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) - Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ratings indicates that Malaysians universities fell far off the world's top 200 universities. That also places us nowhere near Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. In response, the public have been reacting to the report, bordering from absolute rubbish to some substance. Along with it we are also getting to read arguments bordering on racial sentiments and party politics. Our education system given its track record lead in the past and the huge budget allocations these past fifty years, should rightfully be a model for the developing world. Instead of blaming race and political parties for the decline in our international standing, we need to have the courage, ability and learned disposition to see the problem in the eye. We need to look at this problem by being focused on nation building through the raising of a human capital that serves Malaysia first. If Malaysia is successful, all Malaysians will be the beneficiaries. Only with such an un-blinkered view can we appraise the problem with a resolute will to effect change. Malaysians as a whole have to take the blame. Leaders have to feel the guilt. Leave politicking and race out for the moment. Malaysians generally are not interested in the pursuit of knowledge. What matters is how much money one can make. How much influence one can have over those that matter. And merely getting A-grades through spotted questions seems to be the only passion. Listen to how parents parrade about their children having obtained so many "straight A's". No one says my child is pursuing higher education. In universities, speculating on what the exam questions are likely to be seem to be the narrow perspective among students. Reading, research and intelligent debates are not our way of life. Just take a look at the blogs. The content, comments and articles are often so narrow and speaks volumes about our intellectual maturity. At the workplace too, intelligent articulate reasoning and having a broad knowledge about things around us is often sneered at. To be "pandai" is a sin seemingly. Take stock of what transpires within Parliament. The exchanges and antics re-affirm our bankrupt state of mental capacities. Hear what politicians blurt out through the media all so often? It is also void of articulate, intelligent and honorable thoughts most often. School going children are not taught to think, critically appraise and reflect. Learning by rote and regurgitating in whole is the safe and predominant approach taken by teachers, students and schools. Tuition is a clear benchmark of the state of education in this nation. Hence, what goes into the university is short of being garbage. Yes we have many JPA 'scholars' entering institutions of higher learning. But what is their attitude towards learning? "Pass the exams" seems to be their only attention. There is nothing wrong with wanting to pass exams. One has to be graded at the end of the day to know if he or she qualifies. But the problem is they do not read and research outside of their study area either. It is not a question of no time; on the contrary it is all about "why waste time". Pas the exams. Get a job. Earn and enjoy. That is the national mantra. Then how would you expect better substance to enter universities? And leaders are not able to revolutionize our education system. We lack courage and will to act decisively in the long term interest of the nation. Party politics and interest are more important than having a world class education system in place. And voters patronize anything as long as it meets their immediate selfish personal interest. Therein lies our dilemma. Perhaps it would take a miracle for us to pull ourselves out of this rut. - J. D. Lovrenciear, Semenyih
 |
The Blogs 
