An Education System Worthy of Malaysia #44
Chapter 7: Strengthening The Schools (Cont’d)
Residential Schools
Residential schools are expensive and consume more than their fair share of the resources. Yet they do not have much to show. Even though they get the best students, the number of their graduates whoend up at top universities is far less than that of many private institutions. We should expect more. In my scheme the present residential schools would be in the academic stream.
As these residential schools get the top students, the mission should be to prepare them for elite universities. These students must be prepped for international examinations like SAT, AP, IB, or GCE A level. This means greater emphasis on English. In addition to teaching science and mathematics in English, I would also increase the hours devoted to English classes, as well as the number of subjects taught in that language. I would go even further and make these schools entirely English medium, with Malay taught only as a subject, just like the English schools of yore.
China is converting its top schools and universities into entirely English medium. It is doing so in the conviction that their top students should be exposed to global knowledge and competition. Note, Chinese language is far older and better equipped than Malay, yet Chinese leaders have no qualms in using English. They do not consider such a move as denigrating or in any way dishonoring their language or culture.
I would stop building new residential schools and concentrate on enhancing the output and quality of existing ones. These schools should cater only for the last four years, Forms 4 to 6. It should discontinue the present lower forms. At these levels the pupils are too young to be separated from their families. Further, the predictive value of the tests on which they were selected is not very reliable. Eliminating the lower forms would also effectively increase the output without incurring much additional costs.
Presently admission is based on merit. Unfortunately it is narrowly defined exclusively in terms of examination scores without considering other factors. A doctor’s son with an “A” is treated in the same manner as a villager’s son with the same score. I would define merit more broadly. Thus a village boy with a B would be favored over a doctor’s son with an A. Given the superior environment of the boarding school, we should expect the villager’s son to perform even better. The doctor’s boy will do well even if he is not admitted to the boarding school; his well-educated parents would ensure that. By admitting the villager’s son over the doctor’s, we would end up with potentially two well-educated Malays. Left in his regular environment, there would be minimal opportunity for the village boy to shine.
In judging merit we should look at not only the past achievements but also more importantly, the potential. The first part is easy, simply look at the test score – a computer can do that efficiently. The more difficult and judgmental part is to assess the students’ total potential.
At present these residential schools are filled with children of the well to do and top civil servants. This is no surprise as they are the ones we would expect to do well at the Primary 6 examinations. But if we do not make a concerted effort to admit children of the less privileged, we would not get the best out of these expensive schools. We should learn from America. Harvard admits many students from disadvantaged background despite their less than sterling test scores because those admission officers look at the potential of these students. Similarly the highly popular Rice University School mentioned earlier purposely limits the slots available for children of its faculty members so as to give others a chance.
In my old village there is a saying, habis dek orang pangkar (all the food had been consumed by the servers with none left for the guests – the intended recipients). Meaning, the government’s goodies have been gorged by the civil servants and politicians with little left for the people. Residential schools should primarily be an outreach program, as originally intended. I would reserve 75 percent of the slots for disadvantaged Bumiputras or those who would be the first in their family to enter college. The other 25 percent would be open to all, including non-Bumiputras. They however, would have to pay the full costs. With the extra income thus generated these schools could augment their academic offerings with music classes, better libraries, and well equipped laboratories instead of having to depend solely on the government for funding.
I would intensify the competition by returning poor performers back to regular schools. This would serve as a lesson to other would-be slackers and ensure that such expensive facilities would not be wasted on the lazy and the mediocre.
One way to cut costs without sacrificing quality and output would be to make these schools not fully residential. Students from nearby areas could be day students, thus sparing the school the added costs of boarding. Having more day students and reducing the need for large hostels could increase the school’s capacity without incurring much additional costs. The present practice of sending students all over the country unnecessarily incurs additional transportation costs. Instead, let each school concentrate on students from within the state and nearby areas.
These schools must have stable, strong, and dedicated leadership. It is reprehensible that MCKK has had more headmasters during the last 25 years (since locals took over) than in its first 70. There was an instance when a Malay headmaster stayed barely a few months, just long enough to put an entry on his resume!
The headmastership of these schools must be a terminal appointment and generously paid. The post should not be a stepping-stone for someone on his way to be undersecretary for procurement at the ministry. The last expatriate headmaster at MCKK stayed for over a decade until his retirement. He left a significant legacy. Ask those local headmasters what their legacies are, they would be hard pressed to name any.
Visiting a premier residential recently, I was astounded that the principal could not name his top students, much less the universities they would be attending. Obviously there is minimal personal and professional commitment from these modern day educators. In contrast, long after I left MCKK, I was still receiving letters from my teachers and headmaster. And they were not even Malaysians! To support the headmasters and teachers, these schools must have an equally committed board of trustees. There is no point in appointing luminaries residing in Kuala Lumpur and who makes only occasional visits to the school. We are fortunate in having many outstanding citizens living near these schools. Appoint them! These local engineers, physicians, and lawyers would provide much-needed leadership and valuable mentors to the students. These schools would also be my ideal candidates to be liberated from MOE by having their own school-based management (SBM).
Residential schools have proliferated in the last few years, with many more in the pipeline. They divert resources away from other schools. We must critically evaluate their effectiveness and make the necessary modifications to enhance their results.
Next: Matrikulasi