“It’s Criminal!” Parents Worry That Malaysian School Subjects Are Too Difficult For Children To Learn
Parents wonder why some subjects were being taught to their kids unnecessarily early.
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Education is a fundamental human right that provides us with the capacity to progress and opportunities to uplift ourselves from disparity. But what happens when acquiring knowledge becomes too difficult?
That was the question asked by parents who feel that their children’s school curriculum and syllabus was way too advanced for kids to understand or effectively learn from.
Facebook user M Salehin Salleh wondered why the content of his primary one level daughter’s education materials contained stuff he deemed too complicated for children at that age.
Even parents don’t know how to answer, and they have Masters and Degrees.
M Salehin Salleh via Facebook
The paediatrician included images of what appears to be a school activity book that contained a set of questions that asked students to calculate the “mass” and “volume” of objects as well as identify shapes.
He ponders what the activity has to do with promoting students’ critical thinking skills (KBAT).
Why? Our kid is only in Standard 1 lahhh. Why are all of you like this? Is this KBAT? Kids don’t even know what mass is.”
M Salehin Salleh via Facebook
The father’s anxieties seem to resonate with other parents on the internet who are convinced that some of the stuff being taught to kids at school was unnecessarily hard.
On Twitter, some shared the opinion that the syllabus currently being taught at schools was “criminally difficult” and may work to discourage students instead of motivating them to learn.
“A syllabus of this level kills the students’ motivation to learn,” wrote Hasrizal Abdul Jamil, a local educator and blogger.
To put things into context, Hasrizal shared samples of learning materials supposedly used by children of the same level in Finland.
The images he shared showed a schoolbook that teaches kids how to do simple maths, measurements and memorization activities.
I share the mathematics syllabus of a year one student that my own kid took in Finland a few years ago for the attention of friends who want to realise the terrorism that is attacking children in Malaysia.
Hasrizal Abdul Jamil via Twitter
Saya kongsikan silibus matematik murid tahun 1 yang anak kami sendiri ikuti di Finland beberapa tahun lalu untuk perhatian sahabat yang ingin menginsafi ‘terrorism’ yang sedang menyerang anak-anak di Malaysia. pic.twitter.com/1nWbWeY0un
— Hasrizal Abdul Jamil (@hasrizal2020) February 18, 2022
The conversation triggered other social media users to share more Malaysian educational materials that they believe were burdensome to youths.
“New syllabus for year six has this topic,” shared one commenter to which another replied, “So scary, I only learned about assets and liabilities during my diploma.”
takutnyaaa, saya yg diploma baru belajar asset& liabilities ni😭😭😭
— 蜜糖 (@huhunnyyy) February 19, 2022
“This year five maths book teaches about financial literacy. Is it not too early? I mean honestly, most year five students just need to know how to shop in the store. Why do they need to know about investments and benefits at their level? Is Malaysia eager to make our children economists?” asked one commenter.
Ini pula bab celik wang dlm buku maths thn 5. Is it not too early? IMHO, most pelajar thn 5 hanya perlu tahu bagaimana untuk membeli di kedai. Kenapa mereka perlu tahu tentang pelaburan & faedah utk tahap mereka? Adakah Msia tak sabar utk menjadikan anak2 kita sbg pakar ekonomi? pic.twitter.com/5b96hipmdO
— Amni (@Amni_lemon) February 19, 2022
Meanwhile, others conveyed the opinion that we must take another look at Malaysia’s education system.
Cognitive overload which would burden students’ comprehension & leads to a domino effect towards other disciplines of intelligence, this is what we should avoid the most. https://t.co/FoHc0J77VY
— eliana (@AliahAlmond) February 19, 2022
This is more like an issue of ineffective teaching that doesn’t correspond to the new syllabus. Curating a brand new syllabus requires a whole other form of training for the teachers. You can’t expect kids to grasp abstract concepts when they’ve only learned basic arithmetic. https://t.co/wraQPF9o9P
— pumpy (@adjxsnm) February 20, 2022
However, there are some who think that people should be more open to changes to the education system and believe that there should be trust that kids these days are smart enough to understand what’s being taught to them.
“Bro, if you don’t understand, you can ask the teacher. One more thing, we should not underestimate the ability of our children. When we see a difficult question, we feel that our kids cannot answer. Insyaallah. Open your chest and ask the teacher who taught them the subject. Our education system is evolving,” noted one commenter.
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