Near my place is a national secondary school, "national" here means 100% fully owned, run and sponsored by the government. In Penang, national school also means school for students who do not fair well in government major examinations.
Every morning on my way to work, I will need to pass by the school, yesterday was one of the usual routine, I slowed down my car at the traffic light junction and saw that the school assembly had just over, some students were seen being held back for inspection/investigation by the prefects and disciplinary teacher (I guessed). As I observed this I wonder if this group of students will end up being "Mat rempits" (a famous term used in Malaysia for illegal motor racers/so call society problem makers) who eventually will be held for inspection/investigation by the police when they grew up (sorry for being so critical/judgemental).
As a parent, my heart sank looking at the students, they may not be my children but they are somebody's else children. I believe it is every parents' wish to see their off spring educated, well behave and be able to make a decent living when they grew up. I'm not denying that many who do not fair well in studies can still succeed later on in their career/life, but the fact is majority of these students will eventually drop out of school, roaming in the streets, exploring and fending for themselves and this is a target group for many vice operators.
I heard from many child specialists/teachers that a child's mind and character is more or less nurtured and formed by the age of 8, meaning if you fail to impart positive influences and what is right or wrong to a child by then, it's very hard for you to teach him later on. I'm not sure how true is this but this is certainly scary for parents. I believe a strong nation begins with strong family units, Malaysia is certainly lagged behind in many ways after 50 years of independence compared to our neigboring country. It's really high time our government wake up, realize and do some thing rather than spending time doing what they are doing now..(you will know what I'm talking about if you have been following up on Malaysia front pages).
Do you know some one who has gone astray?
3 comments:
I am from Penang and I do not agree with you that national schools are for those who do not do well in government school. There are good national schools in Penang that produces doctors, engineers and other profession.
It is really not easy to raise a kid than to give birth to them.....
mybabybay, yeah no doubt about it, I do agree there are good national schools out there. In fact majority of us who are borned in the mid 60's to late 70's studied in national schools, all of us in the family are product of national schools too, but I can see a growing trend of Chinese Penangnites preferred sending their children to Chinese schools instead of national schools.
Mamajo, yeah the pain of giving birth is but a while... raising them is the pain you need to deal with for the rest of our 18 years..
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