Kelas2020

Baru habis baca berita tentang sekolah-sekolah menerima anugerah kerana peningkatan akademik dalam surat khabar Sunday Star (StarEducate, Sunday 20 May 2012, Page 2: Schools rewarded for academic progress). Seronok membaca sekolah-sekolah mencapai mencapai GPS kurang daripada 1.5 dalam SPM. Macam-macam program seperti kelas tambahan, latihan intensif, bengkel, 'Young Tutors Programme',..... Good students are chosen to lead and tutor weaker students....196 students sitting for SPM.....Excellent teachers setting worksheets..... Tahniah, tahniah dan tahniah. Pasti boleh dijadikan 'benchmark', pasti boleh dikongsi amalan terbaik dan patut dijadikan contoh untuk semua sekolah yang lain.
Cuma, kalau nama sekolah yang terlibat, iaitu termasuk SM Sains Rembau, Sekolah Seri Puteri, Kolej Tunku Kursiah, Sekolah Tun Fatimah......Saya rasa artikel itu tidak lengkap tanpa menjelaskan tentang jenis pelajar yang dipilih untuk belajar di sekolah-sekolah tersebut supaya sekolah-sekolah dengan 400 calon SPM yang datang daripada seluruh lapisan masyarakat tetap boleh rasa bangga walau pun tidak mencapai GPS kurang daripada 1.5 dan tidak menerima anugerah daripada VVIP. Yang penting tetap cuba sebaik yang mungkin untuk meningkatkan prestasi pelajar dan mengembangkan potensi mereka dengan sepenuhnya. Anugerahkan diri di kedai kopi dengan kopi kurang-kurang manis, roti gandum (lebih sihat untuk jantung) dengan kurang kaya (baik untuk kencing manis) jika mencapai GPS (Gred Pujuk Sendiri) kurang daripada 1.5 mengikut kiraan berikut:

GPS dalam SPM bahagi dengan GPS dalam UPSR, dengan mengambil skala kedua-dua GPS SPM dan UPSR 1 hingga 5 (boleh diformulakan dengan mudah jika perlu).

Sambil-sambil menulis artikel ini, minda terayau ke khayalan tentang kelas pada tahun 2020. Cepat-cepat menterjemahkan khayalan itu kepada lukisan untuk dikongsi sama. Lagipun, melukis 'Kelas 2020' lebih menyeronokkan daripada menulis perkara-perkara sebelum perenggan ini. Oleh kerana minda telah diganggu, bahagian berkenaan dengan bacaan siaran akhbar itu berhenti di situ sahaja. Lebih seronok saya membayangkan kelas pada tahun 2020 yang tidak perlu ada papan hitam atau putih; tidak perlu ada meja (banyak menjimat cas telefon, kertas, toner komputer dan petrol untuk membuat rayuan berulangan untuk mendapat bekalan meja); tak perlu beg atau buku. Tetapi, semua wajib ada iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab,.....dan banyak jenama yang akan muncul, yang peka kepada wifi, diisi dengan e-book, mudah untuk 'cloud-computing' dan tidak lupa, rantai untuk dikunci pada waktu rehat atau waktu PJK.

Robocop Experience

All it took was a wrong turn and the incorrect positioning of the pillow to result in a loud cracking sound. All the sudden I realised that my neck could not support the weight of my head. After a night enduring the excruciating pain, my wife drove me to the nearest specialist hospital to consult an orthopedic surgeon. On the way, I was practically propping up my head with both my hands to reduce the burden the neck had to bear. Every brake my wife pressed and at every turn of the road I was actually screaming from pain. (Since I have the privacy being in the own family car rather than in a public place, I took this opportunity to behave a little like a small boy. Where else do I have such an opportunity? Further more, screaming seemed to provide a soothing effect, at least psychologically.) However, holding one's own head can actually look funny. Try holding you head with both your hands and look into the mirror and I can tell you something--you can look quite foolish. At the hospital, after the X-ray was taken and while waiting for the doctor, I got to torture my neck without the hands support to avoid being laughed at just in case there were some unsympathetic people around. Luckily, as the doctor convinced and comforted me, it was due to neck muscle pull and not the bones and it should be alright after a painful jab on the neck, some pain killer and a few days of rest.
For the whole of the first day I was lying down more than at the vertical position and it was actually a good opportunity to catch up with my reading. It was sort of a record that I could cover nearly 80 pages of 'The Social Animal' by David Brooks. It was on the second day that the robocop feeling or experience came about. On this day I got tired of lying down so I sat and walked a lot, started using my computer and meeting some dear colleagues who were so kind to come to visit me. I may be wrong about the latest robocop technology but I got a feeling like one because though my neck recovered fast enough to support my neck it was still painful to turn or to nod (so I could not gesture yes or okay if someone happened to ask for certain affirmations). To look in a certain direction at eye level, I got to turn my whole body and to look down, I got to bend my knees. Of course an advance robot may be able to turn its neck, perhaps even at 360 degrees. My perception of robocops is those of the previous century. Whatever it is, with this experience I think I can contribute a little in case the Star Wars producer decides to shoot another episode of the film in Malaysia.
Today, the third day, I am almost back to normal, except that I got to go back to the hospital for follow-up checking and I am sure the doctor will give me a good report. With this experience, to look from the positive side, though I will have a rare entry in my service record booklet of 2 days of mc (medical certificate), I feel refresh after a much needed break that continues with a weekend, from my job in a 'pressure cooker'. More importantly, I got the comfort and nice feeling the genuine care and concern of friends and relatives.

Now Everyone Can Study

When I read the article 'Time to move on' by P. Gunasegaram, in Star BizWeek, Saturday 12 May 2012, I was actually seeing a lot of similarity between what he said about the Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and the teaching profession that I am directly involved in. I will highlight those parts mentioned by the author that is related to my field without the risk of quoting out of context. In that article, the author was commenting on the unwinding the so-called strategic share swap between MAS and AirAsia and the subsequent rebranding effort by MAS to prop up its sagging fortune after much time loss in the ill-hatched plan eight months ago. I hope the author is not exaggerating in mentioning that the rebranding of MAS is just about changing a two-colour vibrant on to a single colour with no discernible improvement in overall dynamics, an extravagance and distraction at a time when real effort should be concentrated on operational improvements. Furthermore, according to the author, it is only logical that rebranding comes after improvement, not before. Otherwise it will be rebranding of the same product which simply makes no sense.

In the field that I am involved in over a period of twenty over years, I see a lot of so-called new ideas, innovations, paradigm shifts, all kinds of high-sounding labels for selected schools, all kinds of awards, incentives (as well as punishments) in the name of improvement, paper works, perpetual keying-in of data, filing and endless rounds of evaluations and re-evaluations but always wonder how such branding or rebranding can improve when such exercises seldom touch on the factors of clear-cut operational improvements just as mentioned by Mr Gunasegaram about MAS. Perhaps he is not getting the whole picture and perhaps I am also not getting the whole picture. But when I see the crucial training for teachers as implementers in the newly minted school-based assessment for the secondary 1 being carried out in a rather haphazard manner 4 months after the system is supposed to be implemented (January) and the new system for the sixth form being implemented for the lower six students under a layer of thick haze, I tend to think of a strong parallel between our beloved golden airline system, MAS and my profession. Further more, the insular mode of some officers-in-charge who feel more irritated by queries rather than being helpful and proactive create further doubts about the actual state of preparedness at the implementation stage. Neither do many people volunteer to give opinion or criticism beyond coffee shop talks, perhaps to play safe. However, I hope and certainly like to see people irrespective of position and power to work together to give the best possible service. Just like MAS, an education system cannot effort to fail too many times. There are many people at the grassroots level who actually see the real things, beyond the glossy covered brochures or beautifully bound reports and can tell very good real-life stories if given the chance to do so without fear or favour.

So, rebranding is not just about dumping money, providing more physical facilities, more trips, more self-congratulatory banners or more flower pots and gold-rimmed skirting. It should be accompanied by higher competency, better leadership, better teaching skills and so on. It is not just about more checking, questionings, forms-filling, and similar activities. Simple logic tells us that just testing, evaluating or whatever form of squeezing without teaching do not make a person more learned or skillful. Neither is it logical by thinking that more checks and evaluations will make an organisation improve if the people who man the organisation simply do not have the skills and the wills to do so. Perhaps it just create more awareness only. In other words, to have improvements, we must have more trainings rather than just more checking and evaluating. Short-cuts like reducing student intake, selecting only high achievers, providing extra fund....may after all improve results but not necessarily increase the competency of the leaders or teachers to make lasting impact.

Coming back to airlines, I will prefer to emulate the philosophy of AirAsia : Now Everyone Can Fly. Faced with real challenge of putting ordinary folks in an airplane for their dream flight under various constraints and obstacles, yet to make profit, it is no wonder that AirAsia came out with various genuine innovations and succeeded under difficult conditions. In the school context it should be 'Now Everyone Can Study', at least in enough 'ordinary' schools. Certainly it is good news for parents whose children somehow or rather do not excel in their academic studies that there are still airplanes....oop....sorry....schools who are willing to accommodate them.

Do not get me wrong. I am genuinely concerned and interested in seeing and helping either directly or indirectly to improve the well-being of our education system and this article is written in  good faith. Please do not get angry. It is just 'Thinking Allowed' after all. Those with powerful English, please do not be too strict with my English unless you really do not understand what I write, in  which case, may not actually be my fault too. Those with power or authority, just do a bit of reflection which is better than getting angry--trust me.

The Chinese Bamboo

Yesterday my friend Paul Tham gave me a timely reminder. He said I have not been updating my blog since February 2012. I told him that the period from February till April was a busy one for me. Too many things to catch up since I came back to...... (Never mind for those who do not know what I mean by this.) Further more, I told him that during this time I have a lot of thoughts and feelings which I prefer not to put in words, just in case there are ‘vultures’ waiting with ever alert eyes for any wrong words I may use or any misinterpretations and misquotes to exploit. Within the same breath I also told him that I am still busy finishing my writing assignment (Physics books).

Looking back just a day later, on this auspicious Wesak day, I think what I mentioned yesterday was not totally or 100% true. I should have added one more reason which is probably even more convincing. That is, some elements of laziness have crept in. That is why, on this special day, I have to remind myself to write and there is no better way than to start off immediately because procrastination is another more dangerous disease.

Paulo Celho is one of my favourite authors and I have read few books of his like ‘The Alchemist’, ‘By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept’ and ‘Like the Flowing River’. These books certainly provide useful lessons on life, especially those concerning faith, spiritual renewal, love and courage. Recently I have just finished reading another very thought provoking book of his called ‘Aleph’ and I would like to share with you a story told in this book. It is about the Chinese bamboo. Paulo Celho shared with his readers an insight he received concerning the Chinese bamboo while skimming through a magazine in a hotel room one day. According to the article related by him, when the seed has been sown, we see nothing for about five years, apart from a tiny bamboo shoot. Actually all the growth takes place underground, where a complex root system reaching upward and outward takes place. However, at the end of the fifth year, the bamboo suddenly shoots up to a height of twenty-five metres.

I went through several websites to confirm this fact and got more inspired by more other facts I unearthed about the magic plant called the bamboo (not necessary the Chinese bamboo). I would like to share with you some of the sites:

1.) http://www.midatlanticbamboo.com/bamboo-info/bamboo-grow.htm

This site quotes the following:

Bamboo grows more rapidly than any other plant on the planet, It has been clocked surging skyward as fast as 47.6 inches (121 cm or 1.21 metre!) in a 24-hour period.

David Farrelly - The Book of Bamboo

This site also confirms the fact that it take many years for the underground root system to develop before the plant shoots up vertically at a tremendous rate.

2.) http://www.lewisbamboo.com/growth-chart.html

This interesting site charts the growth bamboo plants in two weeks.

Let us go back to the fact that it takes years for the bamboo plant to set up a complex root system. The root mass usually doubles in size each year to provide enough energy for the stem to increase in diameter and height. The energy that comes from the process whereby the leaves transpire water that the roots provide and in return the leaves convert sunlight into food and send it to the root system will be used for the growth of more leaves. Apart from being an energy storage system that enables rapid growth above the ground, the root system also provide a strong hold for the bamboo plant to the ground. Otherwise, with a height reaching twenty-five metres or more, a bamboo plant may not withstand the onslaught of strong wind.

Having read Paulo Celho’s writing and various websites concerning bamboo, I am tempted to relate these facts about the bamboo plants to us, human being. Isn’t it true that in whatever we do, the foundation is of utmost importance and that we need to spend years to increase our knowledge and improve our skills to lay solid ground work and foundation just as the complex root system of the bamboo plant before we can expect to ‘shoot-up’ in our career? So, the next time you think you can just put up a show, do some gimmicks, impress some ‘power that be’, do some superficial packaging without sufficient ground works, you better think twice. Some people may believe you but most of the majority will not. (However, to some, this is more than enough.) To end this article before my family members get irritated waiting for me to go for evening tea, let me quote the famous Phua Choo Kang: ‘Don’t play-play.’