Too many subjects can kill

Too many subjects can kill   16/9/2013

        Why do our children need to study so many subjects?  Go to Finland, Norway, Demark, Switerzland and Sweden to find out how many subjects their pupils in the Primary Schools study and how frequently they have the tests and examinations in a year?    It is definitely unwise to “stuff” our pupils with so many things without thinking that whether they can “digest” or not.    It is the fact /truth we witness in Malaysia.

        Almost all our pupils/ students studying in school in morning/afternoon session go to the tuition school in the afternoon /evening session to practice exam-oriented exercises.    How many % of our Chinese students are trapped up in this “vicious cycle” in the mad-rat race for nothing much but the good results.   How many % of the students who can attain the requirements to get scholarships to study overseas or get admitted to the few national universities in the country?

The rest, well, if they still want to go for higher education.  Yes, we have  plenty of private universities around with PTPTN loan ever ready for them to apply.  Hee……………………………….  This is the education pattern and practice in our country.  Those Malaysians who have migrated to Australia/ elsewhere mainly because of the good quality of education there.

        My second younter sister / S2 and her husband have 2 children and they both go the school there.  They don’t have tuition at all.   They follow the lessons and do some exercises in school and maybe study an hour or two at home.  That’s it.  He finished his Year 12 last year and enrolled to a national university in Melbourne doing the Computer programming course this year.  

        Why do we study so many subjects when they serve little purposes in their life?   The Moral subject can be incorportated in the languages.  Learning the moral values through stories is much much more effective and impressive.    Why not just study 3 languages, Science and Mathematics for primary school pupils and let them have plenty of time to do reading.  Allocate at least an hour or so a day for extensive reading graded /geared to their levels  in different languages to get reinforcement for their intensive learning.  

        For languages, especially, they are for practising, not to teach all the time to learn.    Yes, just spare 10 minutes to teach a grammatical item or 2 a time and some touches on phonics for primary and phonetics for secondary.   For the rest of the period(s), let them practise orally and in written form.   These languages are learnt as a second language and so some teaching of the rules and regulations is necessary.   Who taught you to speak mother tongue?  

        For secondary school, limit the subjects to 9 like my School Certificate that I got in 1977 and the “subjects graded 6 or better 5”.   Encourage reading at all cost to make up for insufficiency of learning in school.   Reading good and inspiring books would provide a strong mental base for a person to face the downs in life in time of emergency.  

        Exam-oriented education is fragmented learning and also too shallow.   There is little meaning and it can be really boring and frustrating.    It is because the learning is not based on a well-organised solid foundation and prior knowledge as well as going in a progressive manner.   Am I right?

        Going to school and for tuition have left our students little time for themselves to do reading and other activities at all.    The exam-oriented examination is just like taking capsulated tablets for vitamins, minerals and other nutrients instead of eating vegetables, fruits, chicken, fish and the like to enjoy for the required food nutrients for health.  

        Having knowledge in depth and width fosters creativity and innovation.    Studying so many subjects in so exam-oriented ways kills all the ingenuity of a person.    It is time to change for the good of the  development of a person as a whole.