"Stupid is as Stupid does"

My favourite phrase from Forrest Gump - "Stupid is as Stupid does".  Our educators and the relevant authorities may think we are doing great but if we continue to compare ourselves, not with the best, but with mediocres we will never progress.   Much has been written about English studies and our education system.

My six year old son had been asked by his teacher to write sentences using adjectives to describe two pictures of night skies.

He wrote and read this to me :

 "They look like they are cold and hot but never falling, only shooting across the sky.  They always can make a constellation.  They just look like little lights in the sky."

When I heard the word “constellation”,  I went “Huh? Do you know what that word means?”  He had very proudly explained it means a group of stars forming different shapes like bear, triangle and more. He is free to write what he wants and is encouraged to express himself.

Likewise in school last week, he and his classmates were taught to create their own investigations to find out if using different toy cars would affect the distance that they travel down a ramp. The children thought about how to make their investigation fair, what to keep the same and what thing needed to be changed.  After carrying out the investigations, they wrote what they did and their results. 

All the above are done with the great encouragement from his teacher.  He is encouraged to think and express his opinions independently.  I must say it cost us a fortune to enroll him in private school but our current local school system is sadly so lacking that we had no choice.

The above, I must say sadly, is in contrast to our local school system in general where children are taught to memorize the text books. In most cases, come exam times, they are to regurgitate what they have memorized, not learnt. 

Take the recent case of Nicol Paul Miranda where his teachers had allegedly lodged a police report against him for questioning ‘celebration of independence’ and the tenets in the Rukunegara.  Everything that is deemed to be incorrect are now tagged with “provocations that may harm racial harmony”.  The school later came out to defend themselves saying that Nicol had defaced his exams papers. Yes, the evidence they produced showed that but couldn’t the teachers have handled this trivial matter without having to lodge a police report? Is Nicol's inquisitive mind too much for them to handle?

I remembered during my school days I had fantastic teachers - of the highest quality with great dedication to their profession.  I am not saying there isn’t anymore around but far and few in between.  Teachers like Mdm Ruth Cheah who took initiative to take over a class where the teacher had left, was punished!  Has politics infiltrated our education to a point of no return?  So much so we have teachers who only choose teaching as their profession because they have no other options?  Isn’t this a reflection of the standard of our education system or rather the lack of it?

Whilst neighbouring countries' youth and graduates are improving their English, our local graduates  can hardly string a sentence in English correctly! For one of our Minister to say using English at work is 'weird', where do we stand in progressing!?  Don't they know proficiency in English language is vital and is one of the top three leading language in international discourse?

Singapore's teaching is notable for their outstanding Math and Science scores internationally.  In contrast, our teachers made headlines not for academic excellence but increase in rates of assault cases in school.  For Singapore, just across the causeway, their prospective teachers are selected from among the top one-third of high school graduates.  From which percentile rank of the education sections are our prospective teachers from?  You may ask why compare?  I say why not compare and compete with the best?  

A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.   ~ Horace Mann ~