About Me

My photo
Hi. I am Professor Puan Sri Dr. Rohaty Mohd Majzub. Currently I am a Professor in Faculty of Education.I love to interact with everyone and learn something new. I believe in meeting a new friend everyday.However at times i am disheartened when other bloggers used my website to advertise their websites on google or abuse my website by changing the content of my articles.This is an unprofessional act. I hope this will stop. Thanks to those who participate in this website.I really appreciate your time and ideas.You are invited to visit my other websites: http://rohaty.edu.my http://rohaty-school-readiness.com http://rohaty.keciciran.edu.my

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI & SALAM TO ALL

I am looking forward to share my personal and professional knowledge and experiences related to social-educational issues and challenges locally and internationally. I believe that much can be generated and learn cross culturally deriving from the varied diversity found in the education systems. Thus i welcome any thoughts, ideas, opinion and feedback on any educational issue which can contribute to both understanding theories and building educational implications. Issues can be very controversial but we have to address them open mindedly and creatively.My present interests are in child development, adolescent psychology,educational governance and policies and the science and art of teaching and research.Once again you are most welcome!!!!


Monday, June 8, 2009

LIMIT OR UNLIMITED????

Recently the Ministry of Education announced that Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia candidates will only need to take ten subjects for the exams. This proposal creates controversial discussion citing pros and cons.The Minister of Education cited that the reasons being(a) the need for students to focus on ten subjects thereby giving opportunity for other aspects of development (b) a more systematic criterion for entry to universities(c) a more varied evaluation or grading (d) deployment of teachers to overcome shortage and (e) reducing urban-rural gap.While i must say there's some form of standardization and streamlining and that the reasons are themselves commendable we also have to look at the implications of such proposal when implemented. This is to ensure we can be ready with countermeasures.One point that needs to be taken is that the country is now pursuing the philosophy "the child is the jewel of the nation" and that academically talented children need to be given every opportunity to excel.This proposal would be regressive in the sense that we are not championing the said philosophy of the academically gifted. Secondly only 10% were said to have taken more than ten subjects ; they must be the superbly academically talented . Even if we limit to 10 subjects the normal curve will still appear with 10% achieving very good grades and 10% achieving extremely poor grades.We must also consider the group that has been taking more than ten subjects such as from the religious schools who will be left with no choice but to choose ten subjects.Definitely in terms of knowledge acquisition in a knowledge based society this group will be so deprived except if they venture outside the system to gain more knowledge.We do need statistics to show that indeed the 10% who took extra subjects did indeed tip the balance in terms of university entrance or they did not. If it is the latter then it would not be fair to deduce that the 10% who took more subjects created an upper elitist strata. If we believe in democratization of education we should allow flexibility in choosing the number of subjects.Parents being very demanding and aggressive nowadays will always looked forward to furnishing extra input for their children especially from the higher affluent groups. Yes indeed the same vicious cycle of the better will be best will be maintained. I should stress here whether one should indeed practice a more differentiated curriculum to cater a more varied group. I believe that the Ministry has the best of intentions but it is of paramount importance to determine the criterion of selecting ten most preferred subjects . In other words the Ministry will have to establish both the theoretical and working framework to establish this. Uniformity and homogeneity can be the order of the day but it should not stifle creativity in the long run after all the Vision 2020 takes care that all child will be given the fullest opportunity to excel in their own right.

2 comments:

  1. I AGREE THAT THE NUMBERS OF SUBJECT SHOULD BE LIMITED FOR SEVERAL REASONS;
    1. ALLOW THE STUDENTS MORE TIME TO DEVELOP AS A PERSON NOT JUST FOCUSING ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS.
    2. BE FAIR TO STUDENTS WHO ONLY TAKE THE COMPULSORY SUBJECTS WHEN SELECTION TO IPTA IS MADE. THE STUDENTS SHOULD EVALUATE ON THE COMPULSORY SUBJECTS, NOT THE ADDITIONAL SUBJECTS. IF NOT, THE MORE SUBJECTS YOU TAKE THE HIGHER THE CHANCES FOR YOU TO BE SELECTED TO IPTA.
    3. MUST FOCUS ON QUALITY NOT QUANTITY.
    HAVING SAID THAT, FOR ME IF THE STUDENTS WANTS TO TAKE EXTRA SUBJECTS THEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BUT THE SUBJECTS SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE IPTA SELECTION. I AGREE WITH YOU THAT THE MINISTRY SHOULD MAKE CAREFULL SELECTION OF THE SUBJECTS THAT THE WANT TO MAKE COMPULSORY SUBJECTS.
    DR. NORZAILIN ABU BAKAR (PTK 5)

    ReplyDelete
  2. i also agree that the subjects taken at schools should be limited. my point here is, why should burden the students with sujects that will not help them advance? we should focus on producing students who are creative and innovative, and will be able to manipulate what have they learnt at school, not just to memorize all the textbooks content and syllabus..as said earlier by dr norzalin, quality plays better roles that quantity. those who get 21As or even 30As surely are good with quatity, but some of them will fail when it comes to quality, and even those who get little As are better from them in some way...A118958 -Siti Kamala Abd Razak

    ReplyDelete