Sunday, 8 December 2019

No difference between public and private schools after accounting for socio-economics

Posted to The Age (5/12/2019) on 8/12/2019 (Not published by the newspaper)
Commenting on “'No difference' between public and private schools after accounting for socio-economics”
https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/no-difference-between-public-and-private-schools-after-accounting-for-socio-economics-20191205-p53h5s.html

Our education system has been chopping and changing to the detriment of the students at the receiving end. It seems the system pendulum swings from one extreme to another, but nothing in between the both.

Recently I submitted a comment to an article in The Age but not published. It outlined the problems of our education system and explained why the previous teaching methodologies must be reintroduced in order to build a firm foundation, upon which other “knowledge” can be built.

Pouring money to build facilities and training more teachers with the current ways of delivery will not solve the problems. There are alternatives to achieve outcome with far less outlay. Simply, the system is to teach / coach / train children from young, even from the early learning childhood days the techniques of learning, memorisation and application. Besides all these, the learners must learn and practise discipline and respect.

While this may sound complex, it is far from it. Let’s talk through this logically, since according to some research,  90% of the population have their Logic mind, or left side of thinking brain, turned on.
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If you learn how to learn, then you can add layers of knowledge in your brain more easily and quickly, just like how to make a snowball. However, this acquired knowledge must be stored, or else you will be like a dementia sufferer who can recall long term memories but not the current ones, because the recent memories are discarded and erased. Without the stored knowledge, it is unlikely that you can do or complete anything constructively with the minimum time.

Before promoting the modern learning techniques, such as meaningful learning, associative learning, and active learning, I am advocating the reintroduction of rote learning as a precedence and foundation building prerequisite.

During one of my primary school years, and another in secondary school years, both in Malaysia, my school converted the bicycle sheds into classrooms. They were no walls, not air-conditioned. It was very hot under the corrugated tin sheet roof. During a rainy day with strong wind, the students had to put on ponchos in order not to get wet from the raindrops carried in the wind. The noise of the falling rain on the roof was very loud, much louder than when it was during a normal day.

Despite all these, my class was the top performing class in the school, and my school was one of the top schools in the country.

Like what Winston Churchill once said, “give us the tools and we will finish the job”, and that I urge our education authority to revamp our system and provide funding to teach the teachers with new teaching techniques. It is all about the techniques, and NOT the name of the school, or whether it has a big field and modern laboratories.

Thank you for reading.

First version not published. The following 2nd version is submitted.

Australian education system has been chopping and changing to the detriment of the students at the receiving end. It seems the system pendulum swings from one extreme to another, but nothing in between the both.

Pouring money into building facilities and training more teachers with the current ways of delivery is unlikely to solve the problems. There are alternatives to achieve outcome with far less outlay. Simply, the system is to teach / coach / train children from young, even from the early learning childhood days the techniques of learning, memorisation and application. Besides all these, the learners must learn and practise discipline and respect.

While this may sound complex, it is far from it. Let’s talk through this logically, since according to some research, 90% of the population have their Logic mind, or left side of thinking brain, turned on.

Learning how to learn enable one adds layers of knowledge in one's brain more easily and quickly, just like how to make a big snowball by rolling a small snowball in the snow. However, this acquired knowledge must be stored, or else it be like a dementia sufferer who can recall long term memories but not the current ones. Without the stored knowledge, it is unlikely that you can do anything constructively with the minimum time, or even complete it all.

Before promoting the modern learning techniques, such as meaningful learning, associative learning, and active learning, would like to see that rote learning be introduced as a precedence and foundation building prerequisite.

Thank you for reading.
No difference between public and private schools after accounting for socio-economics