On our education system
This has been a hot ongoing discussion for a long time. I am spurred to touch a bit on this by KNV's recent post. I agree fully with her that 'anak-anak seronok nak pergi sekolah dan ada keinginan sendiri (dalaman) untuk belajar' is an important objective/achievement.
I'd like to organise my thoughts and write more on this, but at the moment, this all the time I have. I'll share here what Seth Godin wrote about two kinds of schooling in a recent blogpost. (No prize for guessing which one our education system currently is.) Seth Godin is a brilliant and smart marketer, in my opinion. He redefines 'marketing' for me - so many interesting spectrums of things and ideas and thoughts that he shares with his reader.
Two kinds of schooling
Type 1. You can take a class where you learn technique, facts and procedures.
Type 2. You can take a class where you learn to see, learn to lead and learn to solve interesting problems.
The first type of teaching isn't particularly difficult to do, and it's something most of us are trained to absorb. The first type of schooling can even be accomplished with self-discipline and a Dummies book. The first type of class is important but not scarce.
The second kind, on the other hand, is where all real success comes from. It's really tricky to find and train people to do this sort of teaching, and anytime you can find some of it, you should grab it.
The sad thing is that we often conflate the two. We think we're hiring someone to do the second type, a once in a lifetime teacher, someone who will change the outlook of stellar students. But then we give them rules and procedures and feedback that turn them into a type 1 teacher.
Even worse, we often pay as if we're getting the scarce and valuable type 2 teachers but we end up hiring and managing type 1 teachers.
I spend a lot of time in colleges and other teaching institutions. Over and over I see the same thing--organizations that have painted themselves into a corner, keeping themselves busy but refusing to do the difficult work of teaching people to see. The dean of one college was so stuck in his type-1ness that he couldn't even bring himself to participate in a session run by a gifted type 2 teacher.
Is there anything more important to you and your organization (or your kids or your town) than figuring out how to obtain and share the wisdom that real teaching can deliver?
6 comments:
again, it is about human capital, isn't it?
ok. sy pernah pergi ke sekolah 'smart school', sekolah yg memang hebat dari segi prasarana. sekali lagi, perabot dan kerusi meja kita boleh beli - tapi roh sesebuah sekolah terletak pada kegigihan guru2nya kerana nadi penggerak sebuah institusi terletak pada guru.
lupakan tentang prosedur, teknik atau apa juga tekanan yg mungkin mengganggu guru drpd mengajar dgn cemerlang - sebab jgn kata guru, apa jua profession juga akan melibatkan matlamat, dateline, output, sales target dan hal2 lain bergantung kpd bidang pekerjaan masing2. ini adalah sesuatu yg guru masakini perlu atasi sendiri berdasarkan kekreatifan masing2. kalau tidak, sia2lah motto Hari Guru yg indah2 belaka yg ditukar saban tahun.
sy rasa setiap guru patut baca buku Lasykar Pelangi dan Totto-chan, utk memahami erti pendidikan yg sebenar dan melihat makna pembelajaran dari perspektif seorang murid.
dari situ, mungkin mereka dapat menentukan keutamaan sebenar dalam perguruan.
sy nak kongsi satu lagi kemahiran yg telah ditambah dalam kurikulum pendidikan iaitu Reasoning. sebelum ini cuma ada 3R iaitu - Reading, wRiting & aRithmetic. maknanya, guru2 sekarang bukan setakat ajar budak tulis baca kira, tetapi mesti memastikan mereka mempunyai kemahiran berfikir sebagai manusia, bukan robot.
sy harap komen sy tidak jauh tersasar :P
can we have something in the middle? macam procedures mesti nak kena ajar betul2 kan, step by step
or aku punya brain memang type 1? :P
mio,
maknanya guru-guru perlu diberi lebih autonomi untuk cuba cara sendiri, lebih ruang untuk kreativiti masing-masing..
bas,
tentulah procedures kena belajar betul-betul. i guess it's a matter of when kot... kalau still in primary takyahlah nak ber-prosedur sgt masa buat eksperimen sains, maybe? more like intro to science
satu technical / specific skills. the what and the how.
dua... sahsiah, emotional intelligence. the why.
We simply learn because we're told to... we learn in order to earn a good living.
Instead of living... and learn how to actually live.
Hmmm.... sebenarnya, utk komen lebih2 bab primary education, saya tak cukup pengetahuan & kemahiran. Sebab selalunya di peringkat layman, kita tak tahu apa yg dah dirancang, plan jangka panjang, kenapa buat macam tu, etc, sebab yg silap selalunya ialah drp segi implementation. Saya rasa masyarakat malaysia as a whole, dlm apa juga bidang, mesti di 'transform' drp segi SIKAP (ie akhlak). Kalau tidak, apa pun payah nak jadi....and of course a whole means drp pemimpin, sampailah ke tukang sapu sampah.
Cuma dengan sistem sekolah yg ada setakat ni, apa yg saya boleh buat ialah to make use of the system & support & shape anak-anak sendiri according to what I want them to be. Sistem pelajaran di negara mana pun memang ada kelemahannya. The parents can choose the good element from each system dan membesarkan anak-anak dgn element itu, secara holistik. Saya ingat kalau anak-anak saya dah besar, dan eksperimen saya menjadi...maka bolehlah saya tulis buku ala parenting, macam mana nak didik anak supaya boleh berfikir & love to learn by themselves tanpa menolak kepentingan utk excellent dlm pelajaran, di samping what & how to choose a school yg boleh membantu merealisasikan idea itu... Buat masa ni, takut eksperimen tak menjadi sebab anak yg sulung pun baru darjah 1 je.... hehehe.... but so far so good...:)
zidni,
i like that. learning to live instead of to earn a living..
ummuahmads,
jangan tunggu sampai the ahmads dah besar baru kongsi dgn saya! would love to know your philosophy and tips, etc..
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