Lam Thye: Instil courtesy and noble values among Malaysians

PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye has voiced hopes that Malaysia can successfully inculcate a culture of courtesy and noble values among its students instead of merely producing straight A students.

“Education is not all about studies and exams, what is crucially important is character building and teaching them about noble values, which are lacking among our young generation,” the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) senior vice-chairman said.

He said this would help minimise social ills and add meaning to Malaysia’s status as a developed and high income country.

His statement came about after the Education Ministry’s announcement that it would abolish mid-year and final-year exams for Year One, Two and Three pupils.

Lee also pointed out that memorising noble values for the sake of passing a subject was not desirable.

“Moral Education should be reinforced to emphasise the importance of learning and practising the 36 noble values in schools,” he said.

According to Lee, Malaysia could look to countries like Finland, which has one of the best education systems in the world.

The Finnish education system puts emphasis on cooperation instead of competition.

“We must also emulate the way Finnish people treat their teachers,” Lee added, citing that Finnish teachers only taught between four and five hours daily, with more time devoted to lesson planning.

According to a study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), on average a Finnish student only spends 2.8 hours a week on homework.

Lee also lamented that the virtues of courtesy, politeness, patience, humility, tolerance and respect have yet to become the way of life among young people.

“Many students these days are not even prepared to say ‘thank you’ when something is given to them,” Lee said.