Students must be told what they lack, says deputy V-C
GEORGE TOWN 26/09/2012: Students must be made aware of what they lack for them to be successful in the workplace, said Taylor's University deputy vice-chancellor Pradeep Nair.
He said once students knew what they did not have, they would begin to “move themselves into a space where they would want to know what they do not know”.
“If they have not come to realise their inadequacies in the 11 or 13 years of education, the way forward is not to complain about how inadequate they are but perhaps to make them aware of what they don't have.
“I always remember how a 17-year-old boy would never wake up on his own on a Saturday or Sunday unless he is forced to by his parents.
“But when it comes to wanting a driving licence, that same boy wakes up earlier than everyone else because he wants that licence,” he said, adding that this was the concept of intentional learning.
“If we get them to the area where they know what they don't know, I think teachers and the system will be able to facilitate learning,” he said.
Pradeep was delivering his presentation titled “They don't know what they don't know” at the “English for More Opportunities” forum here on Monday.
Pradeep also cited a study carried out by World Bank on Malaysia this year in which nearly half of locals firms surveyed cited poor English proficiency and communication skills as the key restraints against hiring them.
Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, who referred to the Education Ministry's 2011 statistics, said most states in Malaysia were conducting Science and Mathematics in English.
“There are many schools that are still using English for the subjects except in Perlis but we can see a very lively practice,” she said in her presentation titled “The option for the teaching and learning of Science and Math in English must begin at primary school”.
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