In search of the truth

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Learning Curve: Perspective
New Sunday Times - 1-4-2012

REFORM: The National Dialogue on Education must first address the philosophy of education

TODAY marks the beginning of the National Dialogue on Education as recently announced by Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. It is no April Fool's joke.

It is a long-awaited platform for voicing concerns and opinions about the future of the Malaysian education system. This exercise is long overdue as much has been said about reform but work has been piecemeal. By and large, little has changed as the "old" system remains intact.

We do not see the forest for the trees at times because we dwell on too many details and lose sight of the big picture.

Education is not merely scoring a string of As. All these have taken their toll on the meaning of education and, perhaps, Malaysia's aim to be a hub of learning.

Changing an education system is not easy. Many have failed despite their good intentions.

We should not be overwhelmed by emotions. Otherwise it will only further complicate matters and the objective of a broad-based consultative exercise will be counterproductive. The discourse must be intellectually credible on a non-partisan basis.

Professor Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University in the United Kingdom pointed out in his book "The Quest for Meaning" (2010) in the chapter on education that "we are trapped into our system. Time is short, and we have to perform."

He noted that given the frenzy of activity for structural reform, discussions on the underlying philosophy of educating children have been marginalised.

"They are regarded as no more than pointless philosophical discussions; the important things are, we are told, efficiency and performance.

"And yet a school that does not discuss its conception of man collectively is a system that has no ideals and no soul."

He argued that this will produce "standardised" individuals and citizens who adapt to society but do not know how to create transformation.

It is time to take stock of what was dubbed the Dark Ages of Modern Education in 1983, a time when educational progressivism retreated into standardised testing regimes, and innovative thought, action and outcomes in the education sector were stultified. The education industry then relied on external creative input to drive revolution as it was incapable of changing itself.

When the United States National Commission on Excellence in Education emphasised qualitative performance measurement in schools, an era of reforms which centred on testing regimes began. We must be careful not to fall into the same trap again.

Ramadan says a system that worships performance, selection and competitiveness has nothing to fear from the critical mind of the individualist. Its pupils have already been shaped into its mould.

We have to break out of the economic logic that has bound the education system. Education is no longer liberating.

The dialogue must first address the philosophy and meaning of education in the context of the 1956 Razak Report. If need be, it must redefine and reassess the notion of and criteria for "success" in education and give it soul.

It is, after all, about reforming a system that has long been engulfed by the structure and logic of an economic system that has clearly failed.

As Ramadan reminds us: "Education 'under pressure' and 'efficient' teaching will 'produce' money-making machines, and not human beings with a propensity to share."

The dialogue is vital to producing scholars in search of the truth — which is what education is all about.

- The writer is the vice-chancellor of the Albukhary International University