This is my first assignment for Philosophy.... the task is to write the impacts of Islamic, Eastern and Western Philosophy on Malaysia Eduction System.
INTRODUCTION
“Plants
are shaped by cultivation and men by education.
... We are born weak, we need strength; we are born totally unprovoked,
we need aid; we are born stupid, we need judgement. Everything we do not have
at our birth and which we need when we are grown is given us by education.”
(Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile)
From the quote above, it is proven how important
education is to human being. Without education, human will be uncivilised and
will be left out. Education is more than just writing, reading and arithmetic. Often
people being sceptical that education is something bored, something that is
factual which need the learner to be serious all the time. I quote Charles M.
Schulz, “Try not to have a good
time...this is supposed to be educational.” This is among the
generalisations made on education. People assumed that by doing something
educational, they will not have a good time which is obviously wrong.
“When you know better you do better.” (Maya Angelou)
From what I understand through Maya
Angelou words is that, you will do better when you know better. The terms “know
better” here can be understand as getting enough education. When an individual
has enough education and he is educated well, he will do better in life. It is
a basic rule of life that you will be happy when you do better in life.
Therefore, the idea of not having a good time when you are studying is totally
untrue.
Education is one of those important
elements that a country can make in its people and its future. Education is
important in reducing poverty and inequality among the people as it helps them
to provide better life for their children and of course, for themselves.
Besides that, education also helps people to work better and it can create a
sustainable economic growth now and in the future. Education also helps to
prevent the spread of pandemic diseases such as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
(AIDS) or Human Influenza (flu), reducing the mortality of mothers and children
and also help improving their health. In addition, education also helps in
encouraging transparency, good governance, stability and helps in fighting
corruption. Thus, these are all the good impacts the education has on a
country.
The government of Malaysia begins to
pay high attention on the matter or education because of all these reasons.
Malaysia has focus on education since the independent time. Many reports have
been made over the years to enhance the education system. Starting from the
Barnes Report in 1951, the Barnes committee was set up to study and improve the
education system for the Malays. Unfortunately, this report failed to bring
about an improvement to the Malay schools without having to revamp the whole
education system. This is because the Chinese and the Indians are being told to
gradually give up their vernacular schools and to send their children to Malay
schools where only Malay language is used as the medium of instruction. This
obviously will rip off their mother tongue skill from their children.
Then, Fenn-Wu Report comes in 1952.
It is a report that focuses on retaining the Chinese language as the medium of
instruction in Chinese schools. This report is a failure too because it only
focuses on the benefits of the Chinese.
Last but not least, the Razak Report
which has established in 1956. This report focuses on making the Malay language
as the national language and the main medium of instruction in schools and all
schools must use the common syllabus. Thus, this is the start of the complete
education system for Malaysia since the Independent Day.
From Razak Report, Education Act
1996 was introduced. It is to strengthen the aims of Razak Report on the
education system of Malaysia. The two main aims of the Education Act 1996 are
to further consolidate the national education system for the young generation
in accordance with the country’s aspirations of making a centre of excellence
for education. Next, is to outline the legislation related to education.
Due to the aspirations of the
different ethnic groups in our country and to cope with the educational
challenges of the 21st century, the National Philosophy of education
is introduced.
2.0 CONCEPT OF NATIONAL
PHILOSOPHY of EDUCATION (NPE) & PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHER EDUCATION (PTE).
“Philosophy of education” is made up
from two basic terms, which is philosophy and education. Philosophy is
characterized as much by how it examines these questions as by the questions
themselves. The answers are not concrete and cannot be determined through
experiments. This does not mean, though, that philosophy is just opinion. Like
natural scientists, philosophers form hypotheses that must be validated by
fact, reason and logic. Therefore, philosophy is serves as an outline for
living, as it addresses basic issues which determine the direction and courses
we taken in our lives.
Next is the concept of education.
The word “education” is originated from the Latin word, e-ducere which means
“to lead out”. Education is a process of teaching, training and learning,
especially in schools or colleges, to improve knowledge and develop skills.
This definition is also quite similar to the famous John Dewey. According to
Dewey, “Education is a process to elevate man’s status. School is seen as a
special environment which is the same as the social environment. It can be understand here that education is a
process of learning that will lift up one’s status in the social cycle.
Therefore, the term “philosophy of
education” can be defined as a list of idea on the learning process to produce
a good quality of human being. A good quality human being here can be interpreted
as a fully functioning adult that can serve the nation. Good human qualities
also consist of being honest, creative, courteous, motivating, spiritual,
flourishing and etc. It is from education that only a great person can be
produced. One person in a society can make a huge difference. Eventually he
will affect the whole nation in a good way with his bright and splendid ideas.
This can be supported by Dr. Yusuf
al-Qardawi’s speech in 1980 which saying, “Education encompasses our whole
being – physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. Its purpose is
to prepare to face the world which is continually faced with good and bad,
sweetness and bitterness.” It is evidenced from this quote here that education
is the main tool to prepare an individual with all the challenges on the world
and this concept is applied in the NPE.
The goals of NPE are to produce a balanced
and harmonious individual intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and
physically knowledgeable, honourable, responsible, competent and able to
contribute to a harmonious family, community and country. So, to ensure these
goals are achieved, teachers are given the responsibility to teach and to
nurture the pupils from the start. Like the old saying, “it is better to bend
the willow when it is young”, the pupils too, should be educated at a very
young age that is when they are in the primary schools.
The cabinet has come with philosophy of teacher education
(PTE), to help the realisation of NPE. PTE outlines the kind of teachers
aspired by Malaysia. The kind of teachers wanted to work NPE out are teachers with good personal well-being,
progressive and scientifically oriented, ready to uphold the nation’s
aspirations and preserve her cultural heritage, promises individual development
and maintains a united, democratic, progressive and disciplined society.
Therefore, to further strengthen the NPE, the cabinet has
absorbed some elements of the Islamic, Eastern and Western philosophy into the
nation’s philosophy. Hence, this action has created a huge impact on our
education system.
3.0 IMPACT OF ISLAMIC
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION (IPE) ON MALAYSIA EDUCATION SYSTEM
Education is taken rather serious in
Islam. Past Muslim rulers had emphasised on education because they knew how
significant education is to a person. The noble prophet, Muhammad, peace be
upon him, is a great educator himself. He teaches everything about Islam
anywhere possible such as in the masjid, madrasah and even in the open place
like markets. The objectives of Muslim education were achievement of worldly prosperity
and social distinction. The main aim of education is ‘to understand the
relation of man with God as revealed in the Holy Quran’.
According to Al-Syaibani (1979),
Philosophy of Islamic Education aims to provide Muslims with experience and
enough knowledge that he knew himself and his duties and responsibilities, knew
how to carry out the responsibility as a servant and ruler to become a good
human being. Based on this excerpt, the meaning is somewhat similar to the
goals of NPE that is to produce a knowledgeable person. Thus the impact of IPE
on the education system is the formulation of Kemahiran Bersatu Sekolah Rendah
(KBSR) to Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR).
The Islamic Philosophy of Education
emphasised that education unifies all knowledge and that education is grounded
in the Quran. Education plays an important role in creating a balance for the
physical, intellectual and spiritual potentials of the individual. These
potentials are needed in order to produce a first-class individual. Among the
potentials needed are respectful, responsible, strong willed, trustworthy and
considerate. These potentials need to be tutored to the pupils starting from
the early stage that is from Standard 1 and that is why these potentials are
teach in the new KSSR. The KSSR is emphasising on the students rather than the
KBSR that focused more on the teachers. There are 4 based for the KSSR which
are integrated approaching, development of an individual as a whole, equal
quality and opportunity for all students and last but not least, lifelong
learning. These bases resembled the Islamic Philosophy of Education, which
aiming to achieve a balance level of life in all aspects.
The KSSR has touched on 6 types of
changes which are the ingenious of one self, humanity, morality, communication,
science and technology and last but not least the development of the physical. I
will explain 3 of the changes that are ingeniousity, humanity and morality. A
student needs to be equipped with good morale and characters so that they can
be a full charismatic person once they finished their study. Same with IPE,
Muslims are advocated to be a charismatic Muslim so that they can attract
others to revert back to Islam. One of Islam basic goals is to spread Islam all
over the world. Next, the KSSR has aimed to elevate the students’ knowledge on
humanity. Students will be taught how to socialise among their peers, among
their family and in the public. There are differences on how one should
communicate in a society and among their peers. This also resembles IPE.
Muslims are taught to develop such qualities of a good man which are
universally accepted by the societies which have faith in religion. To be
universally accepted, a Muslim has to master the social skills which varied
according to the surrounding. Last but not least, the KSSR also focus on
implementing the appreciation of religion in every student. In the Islamic
Philosophy of Education, one of the objectives is to produce man who has faith
as well as knowledge in spiritual development. Those who have strong faith in a
religion will tend to do better in their life and this is one of the objectives
of KSSR.
In
conclusion, the Islamic Philosophy of Education has impacted on the nation’s
education system in the sense of the reformation of the KBSR or Kemahiran
Bersatu Sekolah Rendah to KSSR or Kokurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah by
becoming more student centred, more developed and more précised in achieving
its goal.
4.0 IMPACT OF EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
OF EDUCATION (EPE) ON MALAYSIA EDUCATION SYSTEM
The Eastern Philosophy of Education is
originated from China and India. This philosophy focused more on the
development of intellectual and spiritual. This can be seen in the principles
of the Eastern Philosophy of Education. However, this type of philosophy does
not focus on the physical aspect which is a vital aspect too. Two famous
figures of this philosophy are Confucius (551-479 SM) and Rabindranath Tagore
(1861-1941).
According to Confucius in terms of
his concept of education, education is available for all regardless of one’s socio-economic
status or social position in a community. The main goal of his view is to
produce individuals who are capable with high morals, obedience and patriotic.
Through this philosophy, education can instil proper behaviour to the students.
Meanwhile, Rabindranath Tagore's
philosophy of education is that education is a process that provides every
individual a chance to make a living for their future. The educational goal is
to produce a comprehensive individual through interaction and integration with
the environment. He further said that education is a process designed to
produce perfect human minded and able to reach all areas of life and ready to
serve the community and the nation.
The impact that the Eastern
Philosophy of Education is to produce students that are competent, have good
characters and well-disciplined. These elements resembled one of the National
Philosophy of Education goals that are to produce a harmony and well-balanced
individual. For example, the nation expected well-behaved and worthwhile
students from the education system. According to Confucius, education for all
means education that is designed for all Malaysians, including those with
disabilities, regardless of race and religion.
The impact that the Eastern
Philosophy of Education has upon Malaysia education system is that the
implementation of Memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu Memperkukuh Bahasa Inggeris
(MBMMBI) instead of the Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik Dalam
Bahasa Inggeris (PPSMI). This is because, based on the Eastern Philosophy of
Education, it is more vita; to produce individuals who serve and love the country.
The main goal of this implementation is to strengthen English language
proficiency among students because it is one of the national languages and tp reinforce
the English language as a tool of communication. The importance of English is
that it is the language of unity among the races, the main communication
language and the language of knowledge towards building this nation to achieve
the goal of 1 Malaysia. This is in line with the Eastern Philosophy of
Education which to create a society that love the country through the usage of national
language of Malaysia.
Therefore, it can be associated with one of the elements
in the National Education Philosophy to produce students who are able to
contribute to the harmony and prosperity of the family, society and the country,
also prepared and responsible. The basic mean of the formation of the
philosophy is to create people who were loyal to the country. This is because;
the concept of loyalty from the practice of Eastern Philosophy of Education has
been applied in the formation of the nation education system.
5.0 IMPACTS OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
OF EDUCATION ON MALAYSIA EDUCATION SYSTEM
Western Philosophy of Education is divided into two
types, namely traditional philosophy and modern philosophy. Examples for modern
western philosophy are pragmatism, progressivisms, existentialism and reconstructivisme.
Meanwhile, examples for traditional western philosophy are idealism, realism,
perenialisme and essentialism. Only a few of these is used and they are essentialism
and reconstructivisme.
In the 1930s, the philosophy of essentialism is a systematic
philosophical movement in education. The main concept of this philosophy is to
focus on the basic things only which are what you need to know as individuals,
to be more advanced. The basic things in turn may change from time to time,
being flexible, practical and pragmatic. For the philosophers, knowledge and
key skills should be taught to our pupils. Therefore, the main educational goal
for this philosophy is the teaching of factual information that should be
learned, practiced and maintained by our pupils. The types of curriculum that
will help in the realisation of the above goals are the implementation of the
basic skills such as reading, calculating and writing (3M).
Meanwhile, the compulsory subjects that should be taught are
science and history. The teacher's role in this philosophy is the dependable
teacher. Appropriate teaching methods are used to approach the students.
Student role was only to study hard and concentrate on their efforts in
learning. Furthermore, the members of essentialism suggest that societal values
such as social values, cultural and political should be taught throughout the
school by teachers who are qualified and skilled.
The impact of this philosophy on the education system is
the reformation of the National Philosophy of Education. This related to the
element of education that education is an ongoing effort to pupils ranging from
the easy level to the difficult level. This means students can acquire
knowledge, new skills and values continuously from early childhood to the
end. Lifelong learning can also help individuals to adapt to various changes.
Next, based on the educational philosophy of essentialism,
we can also produce individuals who are intellectually balanced. The curriculum
has been introduced in the USSR is to learn the basic skills in the early
learning of students as reading, writing, calculating and interpreting (4M). In
addition, the application of the values in each subject and the subjects were
divided into two types of which are the core and the elective.
As for the teacher’s roles, the teacher is a role model
to the students and is able to control the classroom that teaching and learning
activities work out smoothly. This is in line with the Philosophy of Teacher
Education, which to produce more teachers and ensure that they are dependable
individuals. In terms of the role of students, the students have to study hard
to succeed in their studies. This is in line with the National Education
Philosophy to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable, competent and
responsible.
The second impact that the Western Education of
Philosophy has upon Malaysia education system is the implementation of the Literacy
and Numeracy Screening, LINUS. LINUS is a recovery program that is designed to
enable students to acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills while they are in
the primary schools level starting with Year One, Year Two and Year Three. This
means every student must be able to master basic literacy and numeracy during
the three years they were in primary schools. Therefore, LINUS helps students
who have 4M problems which are reading, writing, mathematics and reasoning.
This is in line with the concept of essentialism philosophy of education that
emphasizes the basic things in an individual's learning that should be more
advanced.
Therefore, these are the impacts that the Western
Philosophy of Education had upon our country education system. This philosophy
emphasises on the mastering of basic skills and they are essentials for
everyone because in anything you do, you need to know how to read, write and
doing the arithmetic.
7.0 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we can see that the
national education policy is a document containing a statement of policy and
implementation strategies to be used as guidelines for educators to carry out
the teaching and learning environment in the classroom. The National Philosophy
of Education has been established with respect to the branches of philosophy
such as metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and logic and other elements
contained in it. This is because the impacts of Islamic, Eastern and Western
Philosophy of Education have cause changes in the development of philosophy of
education in Malaysia. Philosophy of Education also has implications on the nation’s
education system and the philosophy has been designed to be a guide for the
realization of Vision 2020. Thus, the National Philosophy of Education also has
impacted the education system to produce high quality teachers.
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