Merit Or Quota? Last couple of weeks, it was widely reported in local mainstream media as well internet, an academician’s comment on current merit policy in our education system, that he claimed has led to racial inbalanced in university’s intake. I don’t really know from where they got the data, that is not what I am looking at, but rather to this merit system itself. The New Economic Policy (NEP) came into being after 1969; that’s about forty three years ago. One of the things NEP tried to achieve is a ‘level playing field’ in education. That resulted in quota system being introduced, giving special previlages to the so called under-priveledged bumiputera students. I am one of the products of such system. The question we faced today is, whether or not that quota system still valid? After forty three years. I had a heart to heart discussion with my 19 (+) year old daughter on this issue. To me, she represent a totally new breed of Malaysian youngsters, who do not know what NEP and May 13 are (apart from what they read in history books), who do not know how a typewriter looks like, and who do not know how a postman on his red bicycle looks like. These are the computer, u tube and twitter geek generations. I asked her: merit or quota? She threw a question back to me: Are you saying that I am not capable of surviving on my own merit in today’s competition (as far as education is concerned)? You put me anywhere and I will compete; I don’t understand the need of this quota system. Wow, I said to myself. Are you sure? Yeah, she replied. The thing is, these urban youngsters do not really care about the quota system. I tend to agree, partly. After four decades of NEP, its time to move forward. We need to work towards a system based on merit, but at the same time we also need to acknowledge the fact that rural schools are still lagging. We need to elevate the standard of education for the rural folks. Back in the sixties and seventies, good schools are found only in the urban areas and big cities; and urban areas are always dominated by the Chinese and blue blooded Malays. (Imagine in the 60s and 70s, there were only three good English secondary schools in Kedah: Sultan Abd Hamid College, Ibrahim School, and Badlishah School). One needs to go to either Hamid College or Ibrahim School for form six classes. Not many parents can efford to send their children to these elite schools. I was talking to somebody, he echoed my opinion that merit should be the way forward, with a big BUT. He said the economic disparity between the urban and the rural has to be overcome. Infrastructure for rural schools has to be improved. The quality of teachers and teaching aids for rural school has to be overhauled. This reminded me of an incident in one secondary school in Kedah. I found out that the school NEVER open its library to students for fear that students might steal books or damage books. I went to Min Of Education in KL and lodge a written complaint. Subsequently, they sent officers to investigate and found my complaint to be true. It is a long and difficult process, but that is the only way if we want to see merit to be the order of the day. The problem is, for every mile rural schools advanced, urban schools advanced by ten miles ahead. I was also talking to an academician, a professor with one local university. She too agreed that merit should be the criteria for university intake. And as usual she pointed to that fact that the standard of English between a city school leaver to that kampong boy is miles apart. When I posted to her the fact that Koreans and Japanese advanced ahead with very limited knowledge of English, she shot back and asked me; can you compare the work attitude and commitment of the Japanese and Koreans to Malaysians? So, we are back to square one; it is the attitude. It is studying for the knowledge versus studying just for the sake of passing examinations. Much has been discussed on this topic. The fact I learned from my professor friend that many English A+ students just could not write proper dissertation or put forward intelligent arguement. She further said when it comes to the real crunch of subject matter, most students failed, due mainly to poor analytical skills and poor writing skills. I was browsing through my daugther’s conditional offer from one university in UK. One interdisciplinary course is a compulsory to all undergraduates. It introduces students to thinking like a social scientist using important current issues; “How should we manage climate change” or “Do nations matter in a global world?” or “ Who should own ideas in the internet age”. No wonder, I was thinking, some of these universities are ranked top in the world. It brings students to the tradition of engaging with big questions. So, is it merit? I don’t know, but I surely feel the need to put our students (at an early age) in a healthy competitive environment. And politicians, please stop acting as “Mister I know everything” and start listening to people. Happy Reading. Rahim Zainun (27/06/2013)
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 10:16:23 +0000
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