Teach kids to be happy

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
My View - The Sun Daily
April 4, 2017

DON'T teach your children to be rich. Teach them to be happy, so they know the value of things. Not the price." The relevance of this wisdom come flying back in the 2017 World Happiness Report (WHR) released in conjunction with the United Nations International Day of Happiness on March 20. It serves to remind us of the importance of being happy and living in an inclusive and equal world. Reportedly, the idea behind the day is that society's progress should not just be measured by a growing economy, but also by how content people are as adopted by all 193 member states of the UN. The fact that it was close to the 2017 Earth Hour says a lot about human wellbeing as a greater priority.

The report is the fifth in the series, first published in April 2012, in support of the UN High Level Meeting on happiness and well-being. Since then the profound meaning of "happiness" is gradually being rediscovered and appreciated globally. Happiness is increasingly considered the "proper measure" of social progress and the goal of public policy. Thanks to Bhutan that wisely advanced the importance of "happiness" globally such that by June last year, the OECD committed itself "to redefine the growth narrative to put people's wellbeing at the centre of governments' efforts". Unfortunately, this part of the world lags behind, still busy counting the economic beans (KPIs) when others have moved on. For example, the head of the UNDP spoke against what she called the "tyranny of GDP". She was quoted as saying: "Paying more attention to happiness should be part of our efforts to achieve both human and sustainable development."

The 2017 WHR highlighted this important distinction based on the case of China. GDP alone cannot account for the enormous structural changes that have affected people's lives in China. GDP relates to the economic side of life, and to just one dimension – the output of goods and services. Subjective wellbeing, in contrast, is a comprehensive measure of individual wellbeing, taking account of the variety of economic and non-economic concerns and aspirations that determine people's wellbeing.

More interestingly is to view the WHR from the angle of education globally. What is glaring is the fact that six of the top 10 in the 2014-2016 list are from Scandinavian countries renowned internationally for their collective education and learning systems. The rest are Australia, in Europe and North America with the exception of the US and UK. The East Asian counterparts like Japan (51), South Korea (56), Hong Kong (71) and China (79) – noted for their PISA and TIMMS scores, are far below, although some argued that this "partially reflect cultural differences in response style" to the studies conducted. Regardless, what is particularly striking however, is the relatively higher placing of suicides (read: unhappiness-related) in all these Asian countries, often associated with education. In this case, while Malaysia is slightly better at number 42, five places higher than previously, its "re-orientation" akin to the East Asian preoccupation with numbers are worrying. This is a vital issue given that in terms of changes in happiness levels from 2005-2007 to 2014-2016, Malaysia took a low position, 77 (out of 126 countries) indicating a reduced happiness level. By contrast, Bhutan, though being poorly placed, came up top in the context of "happiness equality" – namely, a narrowing difference between the respondents in a country who were happiest and those who were unhappiest. In other words, Malaysia must do better.

That said, to jump to conclusions that we need to create a specific Ministry of Happiness just because the United Arab Emirates (WHR, 21) has done it, is dubious. Especially when "happiness", like "quality", is by nature pervasive and cross-cutting. Moreover, there is no evidence that the 20 countries doing better than the Emirates have anything close to such an outfit. What is evident is the fact that among the top 10, and most of the top 20s, their practices, organisations and support structures are more equitable acting as strong social foundations of happiness for everyone and the nations. Malaysia is just the opposite – very rigid and hierarchical leading to many unwarranted tensions (unhappiness) and cross-purposes in almost all sectors, including education.

In a nutshell, it is time to embrace the wisdom to educate for happiness that is strongly rooted in values which are universal in character, rather than for riches and wealth with price-tags economically defined by the so-called free-market causing ever-widening disparities. The former, properly conceived and implemented, promises to be a more enduring ultimate purpose of education that has been lost in nurturing everlasting happiness all around. After all as advocated by another forgotten ancient wisdom: "Learning is not about having, but being" – namely educating for happiness.