Thinking skills should be introduced in schools, universities – Wan Junaidi

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KUCHING: There is no better place to train the younger generation with thinking skills other than in schools and universities, said Deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

“Furthermore teaching thinking skills has far reaching effects, not only to human capital but also society as a whole. It has the capacity to drive change in an educated and knowledge-based society.

“In fact, in the 2006 and 2007 sessions of the Parliament before the dissolution for the general election in 2008, I suggested to the government to include the subject ‘Logic’ for SPM, STPM and university education,” the Santubong MP said when contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday.

Wan Junaidi was asked to comment about a statement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak saying the young generation should evaluate the achievements of the government from all aspects and not only on political perception and rhetoric.

In this regard, the prime minister said the young generation must be trained to have better thinking skills to enable them to differentiate between the perception deliberately created by certain groups, particularly through the Internet and social media which were not based on truth.

Wan Junaidi said the rational of his suggestion was due to his observation of a dwindling of logical, analytical and critical thinking graduates.

“Casual discussions with the police commission in-charge of recruiting trainee officers who had interviewed nearly 4000 candidates confirmed this observation.”

Wan Junaidi said he even went to the extent of discussing the matter with a vice chancellor of a premier university in the country who then told him ‘we only teach three to four years so how much can be expected’.

In order to overcome this weakness faced by graduates, Wan Junaidi suggested that there should be an interactive system in schools and universities.

Besides that, he also suggested an assessment on students’ capabilities should be done based on assignments and research and not through exams.

“Our problem in this era is not for lack of information but too much information. But not all of this information is correct and right socially, morally and politically. It is only through thinking skills that one could analyse to get the correct information.”

Meanwhile, Assistant Minister of Youth Development Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said not only the youth, but the general public at large must be made informed or trained to be able to differentiate between ‘good reporting’ and ‘bad reporting’ by social medias, Internet and especially by the opposition.