Guidance begins at home

I REFER to the letters “But what about STEM?” and “Streaming should continue” (The Star, Oct 19) and Siti Kasim’s article “Malaysian education: Are we up the stream?” (Sunday Star, Oct 20).

I’m tickled by the sheer sense of panic from the writers but I understand and relate to the situation. I believe there are several deeper reasons underlying this “panic” and I feel compelled to highlight them.

The concerns revolve around Malaysia needing its younger generation to be trained in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for nation-building. Another concern highlighted is the implementation factor, particularly the added burden to the teachers based on the premise that science stream classes would be hogged by most students.

It is most peculiar to me that none of these concerns are over the students themselves! Parents, have you considered what your child wants to study? How about taking an honest look at your child to gauge what he or she is most passionate about?

Let’s not stop there; go further and have serious conversations on their aspirations. Look at your child as a human being who is blossoming into a young adult and would like to be asked what she wants to do once she finishes school. Their views of actual professions in the world will be limited, so why don’t we step up and be their first career counsellors for a start?

Don’t we want to support our own child’s aspirations even if it means going away from mainstream ambitions like doctor, engineer or lawyer?

Given the trends in the global economy and job demands, it could be difficult to view the new job landscape for the children currently in school. Nevertheless, we could start by looking at current GDP contribution by sector, the strategic vision of Malaysia and subsequently global trends. Looking up the

Current Occupations List (COL) would be a good start too.

It appears to me that the deeper reason behind this panic is giving agency to our own children earlier than we would have preferred. Students, the very group mostly impacted by this reform, actually welcome the decision by the Education Minister, as reported in “Students welcome freedom to choose” (The Star, Oct 16)!

This brings me to the second concern over the streamless system, namely that students will likely take on the “easy subjects”, perhaps dropping Additional Mathematics. Well, if dropping Additional Mathematics would be a serious issue for them, why don’t we convince our children to accept that Mathematics is needed for logic, programming and problem-solving skills?

Why do many parents think children would drop these important subjects when streamless schools eventually go live? Why do we instantly assume that our own teenagers would be reckless and irresponsible with their future? Does that not speak volumes of our attitude too?

The concern that our children would be choosing “easy subjects” implies that non-science stream is for the less bright ones. This very belief highlights the strong bias Malaysians have held for a long time – that science stream is only for a selected few. This is far from the truth and the Education Ministry acknowledges this.

I myself see that the Education Ministry is continuously introducing reforms, which we badly need and demand. The reform that we have been asking for is here and I thank the ministry for this. Malaysians, look at the bigger picture on the proposed reform. Bear in mind that significant changes are painful, but they are for the better. So step up and participate in the reform we wanted so badly.

HAJAR SHAMSUDIN Gombak, Selangor