Education - why bother to try and improve...

when the people responsible for it, do not wish to?

If even examination questions for Standard Six have many grammar mistakes, what do we expect from the students?

Blow to whistle-blowers
R. Nadeswaran

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=37252

(Excerpts):

Now, to the issue of education. I have read and scrutinised the answer scripts of at least 20 wannabe lawyers which was the subject of this column last Wednesday. I described them in some detail. At least 18 of them will fail the simple test we have for those wanting to become a journalist. I wouldn’t even employ them as our office boy! Malaysians have a right to be worried. Are these the qualities of future magistrates who are going to sit and decide on our fate? Are these the people you turn to for justice and fair play? It is a frightening scenario indeed. Everyone I talked to washed his hands by saying: “This involves the national education policy. No one can do anything.” But this policy, although giving priority to sections of the community, does not encourage the setting up of “sure-to-pass” universities. Neither does it specifically state that incompetent students must be made to pass by altering marks or lowering standards. Are our educationists interpreting this policy wrongly? I don’t know and answers must be forthcoming.

Last Monday, I wrote about the Mathematics preparatory examination paper for Standard Six pupils and the amount of grammar mistakes in it. I did get a response – a call from the Selangor Education Department. All the caller wanted to know was where I got the examination paper.

“Yang hantar itu guru atau ibubapa?” (Who sent it to you, a teacher or a parent?) she asked. I had to explain to her that it arrived in a brown envelope, sent anonymously. Is there going to be an official response? “Itu Pengarah akan jawab. Saya hanya ditugaskan untuk mengenal pasti macam mana kertas soalan boleh dapat diedarkan.” (It is for the director to reply. I have been tasked to establish how the examination paper was circulated.”

Thirty-three mistakes were identified in 40 questions and all the authorities are worried about is finding out how it ended up in the hands of this writer! Someone should explain how the mistakes came about; someone should trace the teachers responsible for the mistakes and the supervisor who is responsible for the lapse. All they are interested in is nabbing the whistle-blower!

At a time when our leaders are going on lawatan sambil belajar to make Malaysia the regional education hub, we have subordinate officers making our standards a laughing stock.

How many officers do you need to investigate the source of the mistakes? A dozen – 11 to find the source of the leak and one to sign the disciplinary note against the whistle-blower. So much for an integrated learning system!
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