Fuck Schools —A Letter of Dissatisfaction on Malaysian Schooling
By: Fayyadh Jaafar
Tags: Malaysia, Opinion, Education, Malaysian Politics, Existentialism

Pardon my French, but fuck schools.

I’m not referring to the educational system as a whole. I’m talking about the entire fucking thing.

The quality of our education here in Malaysia defines us as citizens in good and bad ways, and there is no denying how influential our schools are on our lives. They shape who we become, whether we become a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, or anything else. And indeed, they are a role model to all. We have been educated in Malaysia to believe that education is vital and something to strive for. We’ve also been told that if we set our minds to it, we can achieve anything. This is why, when the government chose to implement universal basic and secondary education, many people were optimistic that it would help improve our country’s quality of life.

However, I believe it is safe to conclude that the majority of Malaysians believe our educational system has failed us. The stress of doing well in school and the dread of not getting into a good college is instilled in us at an early age, usually around 5 or 6 years old. I don’t want to imply that education isn’t vital; on the contrary, it is. However, I believe that there are more essential things to consider than simply doing well in school.

This article is not about taking a shot at our education system; it is about acknowledging the specific reasons why the system is faulty. It’s remarkable how something that is supposed to benefit us may actually harm us.

The educational system’s constrictive environment

I’ll begin by discussing the most obvious and immediate flaw with the educational system: the environment itself.

Schools are rather universal, so you should easily be able to understand where we are coming from. Consider your time at primary or secondary school. When you’re reminded of your school days, recall the bell that preceded each class, how you stood in line before each lecture, how intimidating your teachers looked, and how rigidly discipline was maintained. It’s very evident that our environment as children is structured to help us grow and learn in a specific way. We are not forced to do anything, but the environment forces us to.

Behind the guise of education and discipline, the barb wires of conformity are buried.

The authoritarian principle has long been established in the building’s architecture, making you feel small and oppressed.

The pupils bear the brunt of the debilitating impacts of this environment, but it extends to others as well. This machine also places teachers, primarily in heavy working loads, regular assessments of performance, and a lack of empathy with the personal problems of the student.

The environment is ultimately designed to prepare pupils for the working environment.

In classrooms, we see students working as obedient and silent clerks with pen and paper just like the civil servants of Big Brother, as described in George Orwell’s 1984. Our school system, on the other hand, is not designed to damage the intellect of the proletariat; rather, it is intended to reinforce it. Society teaches us to become worker bees, following a specific path: Go to class, pay attention, follow rules, and work for the collective good.

We must accept and obey commands without question. We’re supposed to spend the rest of our lives in various professions, from doctors and lawyers to taxi drivers and industrial employees. Anything else is a “waste,” the pinnacle of failure. We’re compelled to follow these predetermined courses just like we’re forced to choose a route called “stream” in secondary school.

I echo Zul Fikri Zamir’s ‘Sekolah Bukan Penjara Universiti Bukan Kilang’ (Schools Are Not Prisons, Universities Are Not Factories) when he expresses his concern that the schooling system has become increasingly rigid and oppressive, even to the point where it resembles a factory.

The only time you may enjoy being a student is perhaps during recess and lunch when we have our short time to socialise. This is obviously not random. Because of the environment’s demands, we have no time to think about anything except what’s in front of us. In order to stay on track with class assignments and exams, students are dedicating all of their energy to their homework and work. This leaves them with little to no room to get sidetracked, forcing them to be dedicated to their responsibilities.

The vicious cycle continues, as we go to work, return home, watch TV, and go to bed. What a life! We spend our most productive and interesting years in schools, imprisoned in a job we don’t want, with little possibility of saving money in the dignity of retirement. Is this the top of life’s ladder?

The pressure to do well at everything especially your grades

The most vivid demonstration of the harshness of Malaysian education may be seen in the way that even though they attend lessons for six hours a day, most Malaysian parents still choose to send their children to extra classes. They have high hopes that by putting their children in additional classes, their kids will improve their chances of entering a higher institution and gaining a better job. Parents understandably want their children to succeed, but the question always lingers: At what cost?

In order to be successful students, we are making it impossible to experience our youth or the benefits of having a childhood. We spend our formative years imprisoned in a place that stifles our creativity and suppresses our natural tendencies. “This is how you should think,” and “this is what you should value,” the education system tells us.

It’s no surprise that many of our teenagers are rebelling against this type of lifestyle. They undergo this system for 18 years, just to say that their thinking and ideas are mistaken. They feel anger and confusion because of how they were treated by the system, and those two emotions are unsurprising. Many of these young people become drop-outs and criminals. After all, since primary school they have been marked as failures. They have the impression that they have nothing to lose.

Even those of us who manage to thrive in school are left feeling like a failure, living with little creativity or passion. We are being asked to obey a particular scheme where we must: achieve decent grades, attend a reputable university, get stable employment, and live a mundane life of scrambling to make ends meet. The system is horribly broken, and must be changed immediately.

A shortage of passion and imagination is dragging our society down. We must encourage our children to pursue their ambitions rather than forcing them to conform to the educational system. This is what our children and grandchildren deserve.

The pressure to earn good grades might have a harmful impact on us. If we don’t do well in school, we begin to feel inadequate. Worse, we might acquire a phobia of failure. We’ll constantly feel afraid, even as grownups, and it will sap our ability to deal with challenges. The educational system teaches us that if we do not achieve in school, we are failures. This perspective will continue to effect us for the rest of our lives, and we’ll carry it with us into every element of our personality.

The unspoken rule that you should abandon your aspirations in favour of achieving decent marks

We don’t appreciate individuality here. Actually, it is looked down upon. People never consider how deeply rooted cultural expectations of conformity are because they are in our culture. It is often believed that we should serve our communities, and that we should place our interests secondary to everyone else’s. One reason many people feel fearful about pursuing their aspirations is due to this attitude.

In fact, most people don’t have a clear idea of what they want to do with their lives. They follow the safe road and acquire a secure employment, usually doing something they were interested in as children. The issue is that not everyone is lucky enough to discover their passion at such an early age. I believe that the educational system should encourage children to pursue their aspirations and aid them in discovering what they enjoy. Sadly, everyone in Malaysia thinks a good career is one that makes the greatest money, due to the strong collectivist mindset there.

This ‘unspoken rule’ that everyone should abandon their goals in return for a secure future benefits no one. It squelches originality, favours conformity, and cuts off our nation’s potential.

The system influences both how students think and how teachers educate. Most of them lack a burning desire for what they do. They just work because they want to earn money. This thinking gradually infiltrates students’ minds, resulting in a never-ending loop of boredom. Teachers, themselves uninspired and bored, impart the learning process to students who are also uninspired and bored. And as much as they are being criticised, it’s understandable when you consider that work in an industry that asks for a lot but rewards you minimally can be hard to find excitement in. Teachers are stuck in the same system as the students.

On this system, all individuals are required to remain in the “acceptable” course by societal pressures. Teachers and administrators certainly have a part in it, but it’s also our parents, friends, peers, and the media, as well as ourselves. We’re constantly fed the message that our ambitions should be put aside for a comfortable life and that following our passions is reckless. We’ve been trained our entire lives to focus on making our careers more stable, and so youngsters struggle to be creative or curious because their upbringing taught them that stability is what’s most important. Everyone is expected to do their part in society, and it is unimaginable to criticise the existing quo. That’s why most people don’t comprehend the extreme dysfunction of this system.

I saw children lying and cheating blatantly only to gain a better mark. I’ve seen kids depressed and sad because they didn’t perform as well as they hoped. I’ve witnessed children belittle and mock other children for their interests, making them feel crushed and ruining any passion they had for their aspirations. I’ve witnessed my friends become disillusioned with the system, gradually losing their passion and become numb to the world. I’ve seen people get disconnected from the world around them, and I’ve let myself get disconnected, too. I’m sick and tired of this never-ending loop.

Things have to be drastically improved. A new outlook is required in order to interrupt this vicious cycle, as if we do not alter our thinking, the present system will continuously manufacture dispassionate, indifferent, and jaded people. The truly awful thing is that they will go on living like this till their dying day. This is something that I’m sure none of us want. It is imperative that this existing state of affairs is overturned. It’s time we began to have more control over our lives.

Our educational system reinforces racial stereotypes

It’s likely that many of you have already noticed that society tends to stereotype various races. These preconceptions are, of course, not always true and do not all people of a specific race reflect. But it cannot be denied that race influences our society and that racial prejudices do, in fact, exist, therefore I wanted to note that here.

In many of our minds, Chinese people are known to be dishonest, Indians are seen to be violent, and Malaysians are thought to be lazy. While it’s simple to write these off as nothing more than laughs, they actually do have some substance to them, which is why they cut so deep. Additionally, many of these harmful images are being reinforced by our own educators and media figures.

How are stereotypes like this affecting us? First of all, we begin to trust them. It’s no surprise that we start to believe such stereotypes if we are constantly hearing about them in the media, at schools, and at home. Although our education system purports to be colorblind and promotes equality, it’s really just propaganda.

Consider the issue of Pendidikan Moral (Moral Education). The subject is only available to non-Muslim students, whereas Muslim students must attend ‘Pendidikan Islam’ (Islamic Education). It’s clear from this example that our educational system has subtle division. Although non-Muslim pupils are not instructed to be better than Muslim students, the very presence of this topic reveals that the education imparted in both groups differs.

The ramifications of this are quite serious and can be seen in today’s culture. Though most people will agree that racism is still prevalent in Malaysia, it’s unclear what is most responsible for this, as several variables have influenced the issue. Among the things contributing to the issue include the limited interaction with people of other races while growing up. When it comes to education, it’s not possible to improve things by splitting them into several groups. Doing so just furthers the divide between “us” and “them.”

What implications does this have for us? Well, it’s no wonder we tend to stay with our own most of the time. Crossing the racial lines is hazardous: if you do so, you get shunned by the people who dislike your race, even if you’re in the company of people who are of your own race.

The education system in Malaysia is built to keep different groups apart rather than bringing them together. One piece of evidence that this is the case is that many different types of schools are open to the public, including non-public schools (tahfiz and private schools) and vernacular schools, the existence of which suggests that many people think it is preferable to send their children to a school managed by people who share their views rather than receiving an education from people with different beliefs.

However, we should be more understanding of their choice. It’s apparent that the current system has had an influence on us because we’ve been through it for years. We’ve been classified, segregated, and almost exclusively converted into label-minded people. The belief has not dissipated, even with the rise of worldwide connections and the rise of internet learning.

What I look forward to is that our kids will discard their biases and replace them with true solidarity. I want students of all races and religions and backgrounds to come together in a sense of harmony instead of being separated into misunderstandings created since childhood.

Though this concept is well-received in theory, there seems to be some hesitancy on the part of the Malaysian school system. Nothing will change because the system has endured too long and has too strong a presence in our society. I simply want that someday everything would improve.