Smart school better than normal school?

As technology progressed like there is no tomorrow, things are being replaced constantly. Unfortunately, not all changes are to the better. In my newly entered school (a premier school), almost all of the subject I took are taught using computer or specifically, with LCD. It was interesting at first, but novelty soon wears off.

From my observation, most of the student is dozing off during lesson. For better or for worse, human had to keep pace with technology. Hence, to tackle the problem, I tried taking notes, but somehow, the sandman (goddess of sleep) prevailed. Dozing off during the discipline teacher’s lesson is a norm. Sensing our guilt and our effort to stay awake, we weren’t punished. Yet, we could sense the disappointment and sadness engulf her heart. Guilt wasn’t a good motivation for students.

From what I understood from the new circular (which is difficult to understand, why on earth can't they write in simple words, who they want to impress?), teachers had to teach using the computer for a certain amount of time. (Why restrict as long as effective teaching is done? And our teacher is not able to be creative and we as a student need to be creative?) Hence, no amount of pleading is going to work. While heart willing, circumstances doesn’t permit. It may be an isolated case, yet I feel I needed to voice out.

Thus, heading to tuition centre to keep up our studies is the top priority. White board and books is used as medium of teaching. Looking at the teacher’s scrabbling while he/she is explaining really works, especially with artistic teachers. Knowledge is absorbed like sponges. The joke about the knowledge is returned back to teacher after certain time frame is less applicable. Somehow, the chalk and is its dust is more tolerable than the technology. And do not forget, complex equipment usually spoiled often and takes ages for it to work again.

The next complain is, being the so-called smart school, the duration of its school hours is super long. With ample funding for buildings, our school conducts only one session. School hours are long (ranging from 7.30 am to 2.40 pm). Break in between is shorten due to the rush to finished off the syllabus.

With only 4 or 5 subjects offered in STPM, problems crops up in the time-table. Some subjects are taught for 4 consecutive periods which accounted to 2 hours and 40 minutes. Tiredness makes the lesson uninteresting. For quite a couple of times, everyone is on dream land. Off we went several times a day to wash up and refresh ourselves. Slowly, our eyes and mind are immune to the cold water effect. I noticed sometimes that some students are doing homework during lesson to prevent wasting their time dozing off.

Last but not the least, as one get older, physical education is being neglected. As a matter of fact, the period allocate for physical education is often used for other core subject such as Bahasa Malaysia, English and so on. Furthermore, some school placed the double period on different day, making it impossible to conduct outdoor practices. Even worse, in Form Six, it is totally wipe out from our time-table. This shows that how insignificant physical education is. Even parents are neglecting sports. One day, when we enquire teachers why are sports day allocated early of the year with such little time for sports practice, we were told that it is the parent’s wish. At the middle of the year, their child should be studying not wasting time on sports. If the school insists putting Sports Day at the middle of the year, they will not allow their child to attend the practice and the Sports Day itself. What a surprise.

I still remember that when I was young, my favorite slogan is, “Healthy Body, Great Mind.” (Badan Sihat, Otak Cerdas). Sadly, all effort to revive sport as priority is heading to dead end. That does explain why with a big pool of talents, only few sport talents are sprout from our country. Gradually, obese Malaysia is on alarming rise. While I applaud the effort made by the Education Ministry, there is still room for improvement. I would recommend that the schooling hours remain the same but is conducted in two sessions for those school with enough capacity. First session is from 7.30am to 12.00am. Next, second session is from 2.00pm. to 5.30pm. Three hour break could be used for a nap or a bath to refresh oneself. Having lunch at home is healthier. With fresh mind and good diet, absorption of knowledge is easier. For physical lesson, it could be conducted in the evening with the mild weather away from scotching heat.