KOTA KINABALU: The government needs to rethink the education system because too much emphasis is given to academic performance.
Sabah Art Gallery director and mother of two, Jennifer P. Linggi, said there was always a formula to do well in school but it was unable to bring out a person with many abilities to face many things in life.
“I think a lot of children do not do well not because they are not smart, but that it (teaching and learning process) is not the right way for them.
“They (students) will not become a complete person, they will not be able to think creatively because they are all taught to look at things a certain way, almost like a formula,” Jennifer said when she accompanied her son, Myles Paul Storey, to get his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) result slip at Kota Kinabalu High School (KKHS) here yesterday. Myles scored 8A+, 1A and 1A-.
Personally, Jennifer said creativity should be incorporated into teaching and learning.
For instance, she noticed that his son was not doing well in Sejarah when he was in Form Three. Knowing that Myles likes drawing, she bought him comic books that depict history.
“Surprisingly, it made a difference from getting B to A in Sejarah because of the different method of learning.
“We have to rethink. Our education system is still the same, except that it is worse. There are more books, more papers. It is actually not in line with where the world is going now,” she pointed out.
She added that the education system should also teach students lifestyle aspects due to excessive influence from the external world through computers, such as how to bring up a family, how to take care of their finances, how to save money, how to find the right partners in life.
Jennifer said children spend 12 years in schools, but academics was just one aspect of their lives.
Myles, currently studying at Institute Sinaran with his elder sister, plans to pursue Biology or Zoology in the United Kingdom.
Ever since he was young, Myles has taken an interest in animals and often takes photos or videos of animals. His father, a British, is a lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
On her son’s intention to study Zoology, Jennifer said she was supportive of her son’s choice of career.
In fact, Jennifer encouraged her children to do what they really loved because that was all that mattered.
“Children at this age … they do not really know what they want.
“If they scored really well, their parents will want them to be doctors or lawyers.
“It sounds good on paper but in the end you suffer because you do something that your parents or society tell you to do.”
Jennifer herself was trained as an architect but now she is in the arts industry because that is her first love.
“When you are happy, you will be successful.”
Jennifer said Myles had wanted to become a wildlife filmmaker but that career option was a bit difficult so he decided on Zoology instead.
“He (Myles) has been filming animals since he was 11. He would get up at 5am to film birds because birds are very active between 4am to 6am.”
On her son’s SPM result, Jennifer said it was not a miracle because she had seen how hard he worked.
Nonetheless, Jennifer said she and her husband never pushed their children to score straight As.
Instead, they encouraged them to do their best and supporting their children all the way, attending every event they participated in school.
“By not pushing them, they seem to do better.
“The fact that they (children) know that their parents are always supportive and wanting to know their achievements. They will always prove to their parents that they can do better,” she said.
In addition, she said Myles had a group of friends who studied and did activities together, all of whom obtained straight As in SPM.
“I believe it is the friends you choose that really matter in your life when you are young, and parents’ participation.
“Those two are the keys to children’s success.”
Meanwhile, Mohd Azmi bin Mohd Jaafar from KKHS scored 7A+ in SPM, a result that exceeded his expectations.
Mohd Azmi, the youngest child among five siblings, plans to further his studies in accounting in Malaysia.
He attributed his results to his parents who have instilled the need in him to strive for good results since primary school.
A total of 315 candidates from KKHS took the SPM last year. The school obtained an average grade of 4.37 and 100 per cent passing rate for English (1119), English literature, Visual Arts, Information and Communication Technology, Physics and Chemistry.
The passing rate for other subjects are English (95.8 per cent), Malay (93), Islamic Studies (93.7), Moral (85.4), Sejarah (86.6), Mathematics (94.6), Science (98), Geography (83.7), Additional Mathematics (97.7), Commerce (93.4), Accounting (86.8 pct), Economics (72.4), Biology (98.9) and Chinese language (99.2).