R. Manirajan
The Sun
Malaysia must make changes to its education sytem, which is more
British to systems of other countries if it wants to stay ahead.
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the current
education system does not infuse the acquisition of knowledge and the
application of the knowledge gained.
He said education does not just mean acquiring knowledge but also
knowing how to apply the knowledge as it would be worthless for
someone to acquire knowledge but not know how to apply the knowledge
learnt.
"We have to change the system. The present system of acquiring
knowledge alone is not enough. We need people to acquire knowledge and
at the same time
know how to apply this knowledge. We need a system which would be a
marriage of the two.
"We have to seriously think about this if we want to progress
further," said the former premier when presenting a keynote address at
the four-day 35th International Federation of Training and Development
Organisations (IFTDO) World Conference and Exhibition 2006 beginning
today (Aug 22, 2006)..
Mahathir said the British education system followed by Malaysia only
focuses on gaining knowledge, while other education systems in
countries like in Japan and Germany not only stressed on knowledge but
also on how to apply it.
"This is why the British are now consired backward compared with the Germans
and the Japanese. Take British cars for example, they used to make
good cars but not anymore.
"The Germans with their Mercedes (Benz) and BMWs have beaten the
British. This is because the Germans not only acquired knowledge but
also knew how to use this knowledge ... this is the advantage of their
education system," he added.
He said in the early 1980s, the government embarked on a Look East
Policy, emulating ideas from Japan, but this policy was not widened to
Malaysia's education system.
"The Japanese system does not only teach you about science and
technology but it also tells you how to apply it. The acquisition of
knowledge is accompanied by the application of knowledge.
"We have to ask ourselves, do we want to continue using the British
system or do we follow steps of countries like Japan and Germany?"
This, he said must change now, and training and acquisition of
knowledge must be harmonised and time must be given on theory and
practical in the education system.
Mahathir said the country was losing out in this as many people were
not very good at theory but good when it came to practical.
Meanwhile, he said the usage of English to gain knowledge does not
degrade the national language as a true nationalist is someone who can
acquire knowledge, no matter how.
"With knowledge mostly documented in English, it would be foolish for
someone not to learn English which was regarded as the universal
language," he added.
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