The question of discipline

Politics aside, I think the recent 'teacher slapping' incident and the Deputy Minister's reaction to it which Tony has blogged about, highlights an important issue in Malaysian schools especially at the secondary level - which is the issue of discipline.

My impression of most Malaysian secondary school classrooms is not a good one - rowdy students who don't pay attention in class, teachers who are disinterested and unmotivated, vandalized toilets and chairs and tables - and this was from my days in La Salle PJ 20 years ago! (I have a confession to make - I was probably one of the students contributing to the general mayhem in school)

I don't think the situation in our classrooms have gotten any better. I still regularly go back to La Salle PJ when I'm back in Malaysia to play basketball. I still see young Form 1 and 2 kids who speak to one another in expletive filled language (especially the Chinese kids). The facilities in school (such as the basketball and tennis courts) are poorly maintained and / or broken. I can imagine that the level of learning in our classrooms has probably gotten worse. Perhaps some of our younger readers can confirm / clarify this point.

One of the consequences of failing discipline (as well as other factors such as perceived Islamization, quality of teaching, facilities etc...) is that many members of the middle classes have 'abandoned' these schools. I see more and more parents, especially non-Malay parents, sending their kids to private schools such as Sri Cempaka and Sri Inai. This trend will probably continue as more private secondary schools are established. Many smart Malays have already left the national school system at the secondary level - they are sent residential schools where the facilities, teachers and arguably discipline levels are better than the average national secondary school.

What I'm describing is perhaps more symptomatic of secondary schools in urban areas where certain factors work against secondary schools - the fact that many families are dual income families and many parents don't have the time to 'take care' of their children (esp. from a nurturing standpoint), the greater pervasiveness of gangs who can and will exploit many of these kids, the greater accessibility of 'distractions' such as internet cafes and shopping malls. I'd be interested to find out of schools in semi-rural or rural areas are any better.

I'm guessing that the situation in many semi-urban / semi-rural schools might be better because the communities are more close knit and there are fewer distractions in these places compared to big cities. For example, I visited a friend in Sekinchan last month while I was back home and found out that the only secondary school in the Sekinchan town area produced many JPA scholars as well as state and national level sportsmen and sportswomen. If one examines the ranks of the best performing schools a the PMR level, many schools in these semi-urban or even rural areas consistently top the charts!

Trying to bring back a sense of discipline and order to our secondary schools, in the urban areas especially, is no easy task. I think bringing back corporal punishment in the form of public caning should be considered. I know that many people think that this form of punishment is outdated but I think there's still a place for the cane as a form of punishment in our schools. I remember how much I was afraid of Cikgu Iskandar who would roam the corridors in school with a cane and was well-known for his penchant for caning students. Slapping a student probably goes too far, in my book, but I'm sure there's a way to ensure that the process of caning a student, in a public arena, to shame this student as well as to warn others can be done in a way which is acceptable to both parents and administrators.

Perhaps something can be said of a 'no tolerance' policy such that students who are caught vandalizing school property can be punished heavily so that a signal is sent out to the other students.

Or volunteer mentor programs can be established with trusted members of the community to befriend some of the more problematic students and help them along the way.

At the end of the day, those who suffer disproportionately from poor discipline in our secondary schools are students in the lower and lower middle classes. Those in the middle class who still send their kids to the national secondary schools can also afford to send their kids for after school tuition, a luxury that many of those in the lower and lower middle classes cannot afford. With a better learning environment, better motivated teachers and better facilities, perhaps some of these kids, who in 'normal' circumstances, would not have learned much in school and probably would not continue to receive education at the college / university level, could find a path towards higher education and a better life for themselves and their families.