The declining learning age

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about education and mostly due to the fact that one day, I'll be educating the next generation (probably) and also need others to educate my next generation. This has got me thinking, since I will only be a portion of my future children's education, so how can I maximize my children's potential to become what I am or better than what my parents did to me?

Even though I have reached a conclusion long ago that the best place for me to stabilize and have a family in is and always will be Malaysia, I am starting to have doubts now due to some notions. The fact is, from my perspective, there always seem to be a hindrance as so far as education goes to back in Malaysia. I am unsure of what that hindrance is or whether it is just a preconceived notion, but while growing up in Malaysia, not a lot can be said about the educational atmosphere there as compared to the Western worlds. By that, I mean that most Malaysians don't see education as an interest, a hobby, an endeavor to pursue in, rather than a thing or task that they would gladly be done with and get money there and then.

This thought had gotten into me after reading an article about how the average Malaysians only read about a page of two of literature per year as compared to any other countries, and here literature means books, novels, not those entertainment magazines, tabloids and such. I remembered not too long ago in 2006 that I had a similar kind of question asked to me in my JPA scholarship interview. I was asked on how to cultivate reading into the current generation, to instill an interest of which our nation has not much of. It's kinda disappointing when I think about it, since I do like the excitement of learning new things, the thrill of discovering something new, the uplifting feeling I feel every time I managed to answer a homework, quiz and an exam question. It's kinda like an adrenaline rush.

I fear that for all of its development, Malaysia is just going to be a so-so country in the near future. I used to not understand the meaning of KBKK that have been implemented in the education system, but I kinda get it now. It's not that KBKK failed us, but more to we failed it. KBKK means Kemahiran Berfikir Kreatis dan Kreatif, which in another way means, the skill and ability to think outside the box. But as so far as the implementation goes, all I see in the SPM in the year 2005 was a direct question of the textbook or course material, and not something that is out of the box. I would say maybe the SPM standards are declining, or maybe we have declined as a nation, that we had to lower the exam standards in order to let most of us pass, kinda like how the bell curve works in normalizing peoples' scores.

We are mostly used to having information fed to us that we forgot to digest the information and apply it in other ways. Being a student in Purdue University has really helped me in seeing that. We flock to things that is not out of our reach and we mostly never challenge ourselves to be in an uncomfortable situation. That said, I am also afflicted by this and need to work myself out to be better. Hopefully, one day Malaysia's generation, not only the future, but also the current and past will realize this and reach a consensus to fully embrace knowledge as a part of an advanced culture. No more finger pointing, no more badmouthing, no more excuses and no more lies. Be what you can be and just do it.