The Real School Situation

Today I went to the Kalumpang Secondary school with my friends to complete macro teaching. Because I was not teaching this time around, I was just being an observer. But an incident happened in the next class that opens my eye and makes me think of the reality of the school situation in Malaysia. The other class is labelled as the last class as their performance in academic is not so good. I was thinking there was not teacher in the classroom, but to my surprise there was a teacher, and that teacher is currently doing practicum in the school. The class was so noisy, with students coming in and out from other classes. Plus there was this boy who sat on the table and his leg was on the table as well. My question is, what is teacher doing in the class? Although the students are not good in their academic, that does not mean that the teacher could not mingle or do some activity with them. It is understood that the level of proficiency in both English and Malay language is poor, but there has got to be something that the students love to do. Or else why are they in the school at the first place. My concern was only one, that is what will these students do once they finish their SPM examination. What is their direction in life. Looking at the current status, I could predict a few just by looking at them. This is not to stereotype, but this is what normally happens when these students don’t have proper guidance in the school. The government spends a lot for excellent students, doing this program and that program and always wanted to increase their academic achievement. But good  academic achievement is something that we can always expect from good students because they have a goal in their life. What about these students who don’t have an idea of why they are in the school at the first place. The concern is, secondary education for them is not for producing flying colours in their exam, but to give them the awareness about the real life. I think this is what is lack in our education system. If the mathematics genius who went to the Oxford could end up being a porn star, what about these students who don’t know a thing about the real life.