TS,Wednesday 11 January 2012
I refer to “Government engages 9 groups to make graduates more marketable” (The Star, Jan 04). The underlying causes could be due to not wanting, or not knowing how, to learn.
The greatest asset of any country is its people. Are we doing enough to develop our human capital? Education is the key but the lack of quality has not been adequately acknowledged.
Our education system has been successful in ensuring large numbers of children complete secondary school and many continue their education at public and private higher learning institutes.
However, many employers lament that a high percentage that emerge from this education pipeline performs below expectations, including those with impressive academic qualifications.
Those joining the work force or without the experience needed to perform their jobs should not have high salary expectations.
They have paid to be taught at colleges and universities and should be happy for not having to pay for their training at the workplace.
Formal training can bridge the gap between education and industry but it is accorded low priority, or non-existent in many companies.
Sadly, our society lacks a strong learning culture; many people are not keen to learn. The number of true practitioners for lifelong learning remains small.
To reach the status of a high-income nation, we must be more productive, innovative and competitive; otherwise, our aspiration will remain elusive.
Many unemployed graduates are not prepared to take up jobs starting from the bottom and then learn and work their way up.
With the benefit of tertiary education, graduates should be able to learn faster, and perform better, than school leavers.
They may claim that the jobs available to them are beneath their academic qualifications, but the underlying reason could simply be lack of confidence.
They will not be able to learn much with their poor communication skills. Most of them cannot describe or explain clearly even on familiar matters.
Unemployed graduates should realise that the five main criteria for a successful career are character, communication skills, general knowledge, job experience and academic qualification – in this order of priority.
Many Malaysians boast that they can speak in several languages and dialects, but may have mastered none.
They are fond of chatting for long hours, but few can write an intelligent report, give sensible replies or speak convincingly to a small crowd.
While many parts of the world embrace English to engage and compete in the global market, we chose to disempower ourselves.
Exposure and imagination can boost creativity and innovation. Conversely, isolation makes our views narrow and shallow and this is clearly evident in sections of our society.
There are many reasons why people remain backwards but none more telling than not wanting, or knowing, how to learn.
Those who attempt to learn something usually give up when the going gets too difficult. They need to be introduced to different cultures or methods where learning is easier, enjoyable, and benefits clearly in sight.
Most Malaysians are religious and therefore should do something significant for themselves and society to appreciate what the Almighty has given them.
They must be keen to learn, develop a passion, excel in something they like and contribute to make this world a better place.
We learn by memorising, which requires discipline and hard work. Schoolchildren who can memorise well achieve high scores in exams.
Many continue to learn by rote at higher learning institutes and realise too late when they are unable to apply theory into practice at the workplace.
All the years of so-called study were merely memorising facts and figures that could easily be stored and retrieved from a USB or obtained on the internet.
We must be able to explain clearly in our own words in order to know whether we have comprehended what was studied.
Although information can easily be picked up from reading, true knowledge can only be gained through talking, debating and writing and further developed through critical thinking, studies and research.
Skills, however, can only be acquired though proper training and regular practice.
Education is never complete unless one chooses to travel the world on a shoestring and the best time to be a backpacker is before starting a career.
The best way to learn is to teach. The most effective way to learn is to copy and children do that naturally.
We learn both the good and the bad and therefore we need to unlearn as much as we need to learn something new.
We should model ourselves to the true heroes of mankind but celebrities prove to be more popular with those who are superficial.
Similarly, those who place too much pride on their own race, religion, language and culture are not opening themselves to learn from others.
We don’t learn much by limiting ourselves to a few close friends. One way to immerse ourselves fully in different cultures is to travel and engage with other communities.
We can bring pride to our race, religion, language and culture by sharing with others and showing exemplary behaviour.
We learn more by asking the right questions than giving the correct answers. Those who are quarrelsome have failed to learn that there can be more than one correct answer or approach to many issues.
YS Chan
Kuala Lumpur
No comments:
Post a Comment