Understanding what is right, wrong

THE word ‘moral’ has been defined as being concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour and the goodness or badness of human character.

Moral is adhering to the code of behaviour considered right or acceptable.

Children in all primary and secondary schools are taught Moral Studies or Moral Education as part of the school curriculum.

Moral Education or Pendidikan Moral is one of the core subjects in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.

It is a compulsory subject for all non-Muslim students in the public education system in Malaysia.

Muslim students are required to take the Islamic Studies or Pendidikan Islam course.

The Moral Education along with Islamic Studies is under the Department of Islamic and Moral Studies in the Education Ministry.

The core of the Moral Education syllabus is the 36 moral values and they are categorised into seven major fields of study, namely self development, family, nature, patriotism, human rights, democracy, peace and harmony.

These values are presented in detail in textbooks and form the basis for examinations.

Moral Education is often learned by rote and memorisation.

Teachers in schools tend to focus on answering techniques and how to score in the examinations rather than teaching the material in the textbook.

Students are taught to look for specific keywords in a given description and identify the moral value.

To answer the questions, the students are required to provide some interpretation of the definitions.

Therefore strict memorisation is the order of the study without any emphasis on understanding or application.

The objective of the Moral Education is to equip students with the knowledge in the understanding of differentiating between right and wrong behaviour so that they will grow up to be good citizens.

Though the subject has wonderful ideals and aspirations, however the implementation and teaching of the subject leaves much to be desired.

Due to examination procedures the subject has lost its credibility.

Because of this we are facing grave disciplinary problems in schools especially among students.

Smoking, bullying, fighting, playing truant, being disrespectful to teachers, speaking in vulgar language, being violent and not interested in studying are some of the disciplinary problems in schools.

These students show no respect to elders, misbehave in public and are a threat to society.

I have seen students who got good results in Moral Education but who do not reflect outstanding and excellent behaviour.

Moral Education should be reformed and incorporate other forms of assessment. It should not solely rely on written examinations.

Instead of memorising values and principles, make them know what is right and wrong.

We do not want students to be book smart but are not people smart because academic brilliance is no compensation for poverty of character. SAMUEL YESUIAH Seremban