McKinsey Education System

Did you know that Tony Fernandes has been given 20 licenses to open private schools? Tony Fernandes is also negotiating to bring Eton College (the most prestigious English boarding school)  to Malaysia. The Marlborough School is already operating here they say.

All these private schools are opening up because the education system is just breaking down. 

(Before I forget, here is my outside the box suggestion today to the Chinese schools in Malaysia. Switch NOW to your own version of PPSMI. What does that mean? Divide your subjects equally between Chinese and English language. Preferably teach Maths and Science subjects in English (yes in Chinese schools). And strengthen your Malay language. This way you can keep your Chinese schools with your 100% Chinese teachers and 100% Chinese headmasters (which is what you really want isnt it?)  Dont say that I did not "advise" you.  I think there are going to be serious changes in the education system and you are going to lose out.)  

There is an obviously elitist  system developing in our country. The children of the rich can attend private and international schools which are English based. Other bright but not so rich kids can also attend the sekolah asrama which is also English based.  

The other children of the ordinary Malaysians can attend the broken down gomen schools and become the peons, messenger boys, kerani and tukang angkat beg for those who attend the elitist private and asrama penuh schools. That is how it is working out.

The McKinsey Education Blueprint that was prepared by McKinsey for RM30.0 Million discourages private schools. The McKinsey Blueprint seeks to strengthen the gomen education system. Very good McKinsey.

However over at Idris Jala's Pemandu and their NKRA (National Key Result Areas) the same McKinsey has advised Pemandu that "private education be made a key growth area". Hence the 20 private school licenses for Tony Fernandes. 

Macam mana pula? 

McKinsey's Education Blueprint = Discourage private education. 

McKinsey's Pemandu NKRAs = Private education is a key growth area. 

Here is my second outside the box suggestion for today. Remove licensing requirements to open private schools and international schools. Let anyone open private schools - subject to compliance with ministry regulations and guidelines. Let us go on a compliance basis. Just follow the rules. License tak payah.

The gomen run sekolah kebangsaan are becoming rotten. I am afraid there is no other way to say this. The worst are the primary and secondary schools. And since everything is race, race, and race in the country it affects our people differently. It affects the Malays and Sabahans negatively more than the Chinese and Indians.  I cant say much about the Sarawakians.

I know about the Sabahans because there are now thousands of Sabahans living in the Klang Valley. And I have access (thru the Mrs who is a volunteer teacher) to knowing about Sabahan kids in school. They are also in really bad shape.

Making things worse is the deteriorating education that we have in the country.  Now to all my friends who are fighting for our education system (Sam Hamid, Datin Azimah) please also pressure the gomen to answer these questions. 

We really need to know 

1. what are the passing grades for all subjects in the PMR and the SPM.

Is it true that the passing marks for Additional Mathematics (Matematik Tambahan) in the SPM is only 14 marks? Kalau boleh, sudi tak mana-mana pejuang UMNO yang makan roti teloq pi buat Laporan Polis di mana-mana balai polis yang berdekatan berkenaan isu ini?

We really must know what are the minimum passing marks for the SPM and PMR. 

2. What are the average marks for passes and failures achieved by students from different racial groups and geographical locations? 

Why is this kept a secret?

For example how do Dusun Muslims perform in SPM in Sabah versus if they are in Kuala Lumpur? How do Kadazan Christians perform  in SPM in Sabah versus if they are in Kuala Lumpur?

How do Tamil kids in Buntong perform versus Punjabi kids in Buntong? How do Tamil kids in Penang  perform  versus Tamil kids in Kedah? 

How do Malay students perform on average versus Chinese or Tamils or Kadazans? 

We really need the racial breakdowns and the geographical locations.

Then we have to design specific remedial measures that are targeted specifically to overcome these problems that CANNOT be divorced from the racial, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds of the students.  I think if we ignore this, we are being very careless. Dan anak-anak kita akan rugi lagi. 

The textbooks and the school curriculum looks alright. Today's SPM Biology textbooks are more advanced than the "A level" books that I read 35 years ago.  It is not the books or the curriculum that is at fault but it is the teachers, the schooling system, the examinations system and everything else that needs to be revamped. 

The latest 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) for Maths, Science and Reading ratings show that we are now in the bottom 1/3 of poor performing countries in the world.

Malaysia has become worse since the last rating in 2010.

The gomen had said that our students were getting a better education than students in the United States, Britain and Germany !! I think the gomen was fooled by the con-sultans.

Singapore and even Thailand have performed better than Malaysia in the 2012 PISA ratings. 

So what does our gomen say? They say, 'Never mind lah. Cin-cai poh-cai. Insya Allah by 2021 we will be in the top 1/3 rankings.'  This is called tai chi. It is also being very irresponsible. 

Malaysia is now firmly stuck in the bottom third of the countries surveyed. And I think we are sinking lower. Not moving up at all. 

And here is more bad news.  According to the RM30.0 Million study and Education Blueprint prepared by MckInsey they say that :   “A difference of 38 points on the PISA scale is equivalent to one year of schooling."

If Malaysia scored 38 and Zimbabwe scored 76, this means that Malaysian 15 year olds have as much knowledge as a 14 year old in Zimbabwe. 

Here is Malaysia's performance since 2010 and 2012 (thanks to Uncle Lim's Blog).

Now here is the "Ranking Of Top Countries In Reading, Science, And Math"

OECD

Of course Malaysia is not in this link of the 'Top Ranking' countries. Malaysia is at the bottom one third.

In Mathematics, "top of the chart" Shanghai-China scored 613 points. Malaysia scored 421 points. This means the Malaysian 15 year olds are five years behind their counterparts in Shanghai-China.We are really going backward. Our clock is being turned backwards.

15-year-olds in Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong are also performing as though they have had 3 or more years of schooling than 15-year-olds in Malaysia.

Now folks, this disparity in the scores between 15-year-olds in Malaysia and the 15-year-olds in Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Shanghai is widening. It is getting worse.

Dont worry folks. Our students maybe becoming dull and dumb in Science, Maths and Reading but Malaysia is making great progress in the TISA Rankings. 

Do you know what are the TISA Rankings? TISA stands for Talibanisation & Islami-cessation of Student Achievements. 

In gomen schools, our students are becoming world beaters in 

• baca doa panjang during school assembly
• masuk tandas kaki kiri
• keluar tandas kaki kanan
• sembelih lembu korban di padang sekolah
• bahasa Inggeris itu bahasa kafir 
• minum air jampi penerang hati untuk SPM
• makan kismis tawaf boleh jadi pandai
• qiyamul-ail boleh bawa kejayaan dalam peperiksaan

and other such world beating knowledge. 

They may not be the cleverest kids in the world but the teachers are surely convincing them that they are going to the "syurga". 

When my son used to top his class, the other kids would tease him, 'awak pandai matematik & sains tapi awak tak pandai ngaji'.  It was the normal  schoolyard jealousies.  But when I met his cikgu during 'Report Card' day I was shocked when his cikgu said the same thing to me. 'Encik Syed, prestasi anak encik bagus tapi dia masih lemah membaca Quran'. 

Here is an update : At just 23 years of age my son is now a doctor (the youngest doctor in his graduating class), he passed his Arabic language courses with flying colours and he also reads the Quran like his father.

Anyway back to our story, to make sure that they will literally go backward in time some opportunistic people have even invented a special "Islamic" watch which tells the time backward. I kid you not folks. I kid you not. Here are some pictures : 

Above : For those who want to go backwards - an anticlockwise watch.

Below : Anti clockwise clock. They call it "Islamic". Nauzubillah.

And here is the citation :   "The anti-clock wise clock :  The conference was organised to introduce Saat Makkah (the watch of Mecca). The inventor of the clock, Yasin a-Shouk, said it runs anti-clockwise in the direction of Tawaf, the rotation around Kaaba.   The makers of this watch say that since the tawaf in Mecca (circumambulating the kaaba) is done anti-clockwise, therefore Islamic watches should also be counter clockwise". 

  

I told you so. They are literally turning back the clock. 

Below here is another group of very angry parents. The gomen must understand that the people behind NGOs like these are urban Malays. Many urban Malays realise that in a modern urban environment you need skills, English language proficiency and good social interaction with your neighbours so that you may chance upon opportunities. 

If you cannot interact with people you are really, really losing out on opportunities. Especially if you interact mostly with the down and outs, the crutch dependent, the cronies and the parasites. 

Many urban Malays are beginning to understand this.  Hence they are asking for equal opportunities for our children.  Please join them folks. I will not be going because the DAP and Pakatan dunggus will be there politicising the whole event. (Organisers : it is a big mistake to get the DAP and Pakatan involved.)

I think equal opportunities means 'If Malay College Kuala Kangsar' and Maktab Rendah Sains MARA are allowed to adopt PPSMI and teach almost exclusively in English, then why cannot all other gomen schools also teach PPSMI subjects in English? 

I think this is what these parents will (or should be) asking.  So what will the gomen say? 

'Tuan-tuan & Puan-puan, anak-anak tuan-tuan di sekolah kebangsaan kebanyakannya bodoh. PPSMI hanya untuk anak-anak cerdik di MCKK, MRSM dan sekolah asrama penuh saja. Anak-anak tuan-tuan tidak layak untuk PPSMI'.

Let me make another suggestion. As a "temporary measure" let all sekolah kebangsaan in urban areas (any town or city with more than 50,000 population) adopt the PPSMI.

Schools in rural areas where English is spoken only by Mat Salleh tourists can skip the PPSMI. 

(Let the town dwellers all move on up in life first. All future peons, office boys, messengers and tukang angkat beg can come from the really rural areas. What do you think? Is that a good idea?)  

Then when the parents of kids in the rural areas realise what is going on (and they also start to complain and demonstrate at the Taman Jaya Park, then we change the entire system to PPSMI. Amacam - isnt that a great idea? I think I will go and worship myself now.)

The gomen is also committing suicide by listening to McKinsey's stupid suggestion that we do away with public examinations (PMR, SPM). They say this is following the Finland system.

The difference between Finland and Malaysia is that in Finland the teachers and the students are not malas. 

Socially and culturally the Finns have matured and they are a motivated people. They do not need exams to motivate them because their society is already fully motivated. Depa sudah jadi negara maju. And they certainly do not believe in kismis tawaf, air jampi tukar budak dunggu jadi budak pandai and other such rubbish.

But to get to where they are today, Finland also had to go through the examinations system. 

If we want to get to where Finland is today, we also have to repeat and follow all the intermediate steps that the Finns had to go through. We cannot take a 'short cut' and place our country at the same status as Finland. The Finns have earned their spot in the sun. We have not earned the place yet. 

Here bukan saja murid malas, tapi cikgu pun ada yang malas. Very often teaching is not a career of choice. It is a career of last option. Tak boleh masuk universiti atau kolej masuk kolej guru. Tak boleh jadi pegawai kerajaan masuk jadi cikgu. 

In such an environment both teachers and students should not be given the mandate to gauge their own progress. If the schools can set their own examinations, then the passing mark for Additional Mathematics can be even lower. Or they can set it higher but the questions will be made easier.  

We must have standardised public examinations (SPM, PMR). Better still why not we just adopt the internationally accredited Cambridge University 'O' and 'A' Levels Examinations which we had in this country for about 50 years until the 1980s? Or even the 'International Baccalaureatte' exams which is available to MRSM students? 

Kasi 'equal opportunity' lah? If the gomen can spend our hard earned money so that MARA scholars can sit for the International baccalaureatte then why not all our children be given the equal opportunity? The schools are already there, the same teachers are available, the same books are available, the same students are ready and willing to absorb knowledge. They all have brains. Apa susah sangat?

Here is my suggestion folks :

i. bring back the PPSMI in gomen schools asap. Jangan buang masa. 

ii. better still teach half the subjects in English, the other half in Malay

iii. abolish licensing for private schools 

iv. abolish licensing for international schools

v. in addition all students in ALL universities MUST take English language subjects of three credits each for eight semesters (degree). Six semesters for diploma students. 

vi. Reduce cikgu ponteng class. Abolish all kursus for teachers during school days. Teachers must be in class to teach. Teachers can attend kursus during the school holidays.

vii. All schools must conduct monthly tests - ujian bulanan.

viii. Abolish religious classes in school. Parents can send their kids to religious class on their own.

ix. Remove all religious identity in schools. 

x. All schools must be Islamic. This means they must be scientific, logical and secular.