An award winning novel comprising impressionistic portrayals of fictitious characteristics cannot by itself meet the exacting standards of teaching material for a textbook and the absence of the application of an ethnic/race relations framework, and appropriate methodology to establish validity and reliability totally disqualifies the work as being suitable for the purpose intended.
By Dr. Collin Abraham
The unprecedented controversy arising over the selection, and continued use of the novel Interlok as a secondary school text book for almost forty years, offers the opportunity to institute institutional reforms so that this error is rectified once and for all and does not happen again.
The selection of the work as the ‘standard’ text for the study of social history and literature at the important secondary school level, can be seen as a microcosm of a situation, where decision makers have given insufficient attention to the likely staggering negative impact this might have and continues to have, on the educational system in the context of the country’s well being.
In this connection it is well known that a nation’s political and economic stability is only as viable as its educational system. “So powerful is education that even the slightest tweak has the propensity to elevate or relegate a nation on the global stage”.
Therefore it is important to recognize that what may seem a ‘slightest tweak’ in the incorrect selection of textbooks at secondary school level, can be most important and significant because it fails to lay the foundation for the intellectual and mental development of students especially in preparation for higher education. Text books comprise knowledge to fulfill the requirements of the curriculum and are intended to stimulate critical thinking and generate the capacity and capability for issue oriented analysis which is essential for problem solving.
Nowhere is this more important than for the development of human capital subsequently to produce Malaysians who can think, articulate and come up with innovative proposals which is fundamental to economic growth and development. Furthermore, failure to build strengths in these areas will weaken the capacity to build competitiveness, create dependency and eventually cripple the flow of FDI.
It is therefore submitted that the failure to give serious attention to the selection of suitable text books as teaching material, which is valid and reliable, can result in a situation, especially where school leavers proceeding for higher education, will find themselves ill prepared to apply themselves to benefit from a holistic education. The likely consequence is that on graduation a significant proportion are likely to finds themselves not only unemployed but unemployable.
With respect, it would be tedious to respond to the many comments supporting the retention of Interlok as a textbook for the simple reason that they jointly and severally missed the point that the work does not meet the standard academic and methodological requirements as teaching material for a text book. Almost all the responses have merely repeatedly mentioned that the book won a literary award and that it was aimed at fostering national integration. These arguments fail on both counts. An award winning novel comprising impressionistic portrayals of fictitious characteristics cannot by itself meet the exacting standards of teaching material for a textbook and the absence of the application of an ethnic/race relations framework, and appropriate methodology to establish validity and reliability totally disqualifies the work as being suitable for the purpose intended.
Further questions need to be directed to the decision makers at the education Ministry and the Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka as to why this book continued to be identified as a textbook for almost forty years and has now been recommended as the textbook for yet another required course as well. What this must surely mean is that the officials concerned had not reviewed the suitability of this work in relation to other theses on the same topic by Malaysians submitted to renowned universities. (I am aware of at least one such Oxford Doctorate thesis that was accepted in1977). But adapting such material for Form V secondary school students can be a formidable task, particularly where the officials concerned are not as qualified and experienced as they need to be, and it is not surprising therefore that they simply extend the prescribed book however unsuitable it might be.
The Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka seems to have abdicated its responsibility to evaluate suitable educational material for school textbooks. It is well known that the Dewan faces serious problems in translating works from English to BM and attempt to overcome this problem by repeatedly publishing the same books. Moreover there is no problem of sale of books considering that there is a captive market in publishing required reading for school texts. For instance it is estimated that 120,000 copies of Interlok have been published and are awaiting distribution for the current 2011 school year. If this figure is anything to go by, the sale of textbooks for almost 40 years makes it a best seller many times over generating hugh profits for all those involved in the production process.
Finally, it might be useful to end on a professional note. A spokesman for Ganepa had queried why this matter is being raised after nearly 40 years. The obvious answer is that the awareness of this situation only came about through access to the Internet, thereby exposing the entire question that had hitherto been held in ‘wraps’ by a select group of education officials. They more or less ‘called the shots’ and it seems they were answerable only to themselves. This practice calls for immediate reform.
It is respectfully suggested that representatives from parent-teacher associations be appointed to a specific body established to oversea all matters associated with curricula review and the selection of suitable text books for secondary schools. Such a body could also provide a further forum for more transparency for public scrutiny in the way schools are run thus enabling parents to be more in involved in, rather than opting out of the educational system, seeking changes through the ballot box, or voting with their feet.
By Dr. Collin Abraham
The unprecedented controversy arising over the selection, and continued use of the novel Interlok as a secondary school text book for almost forty years, offers the opportunity to institute institutional reforms so that this error is rectified once and for all and does not happen again.
The selection of the work as the ‘standard’ text for the study of social history and literature at the important secondary school level, can be seen as a microcosm of a situation, where decision makers have given insufficient attention to the likely staggering negative impact this might have and continues to have, on the educational system in the context of the country’s well being.
In this connection it is well known that a nation’s political and economic stability is only as viable as its educational system. “So powerful is education that even the slightest tweak has the propensity to elevate or relegate a nation on the global stage”.
Therefore it is important to recognize that what may seem a ‘slightest tweak’ in the incorrect selection of textbooks at secondary school level, can be most important and significant because it fails to lay the foundation for the intellectual and mental development of students especially in preparation for higher education. Text books comprise knowledge to fulfill the requirements of the curriculum and are intended to stimulate critical thinking and generate the capacity and capability for issue oriented analysis which is essential for problem solving.
Nowhere is this more important than for the development of human capital subsequently to produce Malaysians who can think, articulate and come up with innovative proposals which is fundamental to economic growth and development. Furthermore, failure to build strengths in these areas will weaken the capacity to build competitiveness, create dependency and eventually cripple the flow of FDI.
It is therefore submitted that the failure to give serious attention to the selection of suitable text books as teaching material, which is valid and reliable, can result in a situation, especially where school leavers proceeding for higher education, will find themselves ill prepared to apply themselves to benefit from a holistic education. The likely consequence is that on graduation a significant proportion are likely to finds themselves not only unemployed but unemployable.
With respect, it would be tedious to respond to the many comments supporting the retention of Interlok as a textbook for the simple reason that they jointly and severally missed the point that the work does not meet the standard academic and methodological requirements as teaching material for a text book. Almost all the responses have merely repeatedly mentioned that the book won a literary award and that it was aimed at fostering national integration. These arguments fail on both counts. An award winning novel comprising impressionistic portrayals of fictitious characteristics cannot by itself meet the exacting standards of teaching material for a textbook and the absence of the application of an ethnic/race relations framework, and appropriate methodology to establish validity and reliability totally disqualifies the work as being suitable for the purpose intended.
Further questions need to be directed to the decision makers at the education Ministry and the Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka as to why this book continued to be identified as a textbook for almost forty years and has now been recommended as the textbook for yet another required course as well. What this must surely mean is that the officials concerned had not reviewed the suitability of this work in relation to other theses on the same topic by Malaysians submitted to renowned universities. (I am aware of at least one such Oxford Doctorate thesis that was accepted in1977). But adapting such material for Form V secondary school students can be a formidable task, particularly where the officials concerned are not as qualified and experienced as they need to be, and it is not surprising therefore that they simply extend the prescribed book however unsuitable it might be.
The Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka seems to have abdicated its responsibility to evaluate suitable educational material for school textbooks. It is well known that the Dewan faces serious problems in translating works from English to BM and attempt to overcome this problem by repeatedly publishing the same books. Moreover there is no problem of sale of books considering that there is a captive market in publishing required reading for school texts. For instance it is estimated that 120,000 copies of Interlok have been published and are awaiting distribution for the current 2011 school year. If this figure is anything to go by, the sale of textbooks for almost 40 years makes it a best seller many times over generating hugh profits for all those involved in the production process.
Finally, it might be useful to end on a professional note. A spokesman for Ganepa had queried why this matter is being raised after nearly 40 years. The obvious answer is that the awareness of this situation only came about through access to the Internet, thereby exposing the entire question that had hitherto been held in ‘wraps’ by a select group of education officials. They more or less ‘called the shots’ and it seems they were answerable only to themselves. This practice calls for immediate reform.
It is respectfully suggested that representatives from parent-teacher associations be appointed to a specific body established to oversea all matters associated with curricula review and the selection of suitable text books for secondary schools. Such a body could also provide a further forum for more transparency for public scrutiny in the way schools are run thus enabling parents to be more in involved in, rather than opting out of the educational system, seeking changes through the ballot box, or voting with their feet.
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