AS a regular participant in forums, workshops, seminars, and conferences covering all kinds of topics, an idea I frequently come across when discussing problems of any kind is: school the children while they are young.

This goes for any problem. Environmental issue? We have to teach the child to have environmental awareness at a young age! Problem with national unity? We have to teach unity in school! Traffic laws are being flouted? We have to teach students to be responsible road users! Gen Z employees lacking work ethics? Must be a problem with our school syllabus, we have to fix it!

The people who make such proposals often invoke the Malay proverb, “Melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya”, which means that if we want to instil a habit, we have to do it when young.

This reminds me of my school days when the “kempen” (campaign) was the an all-purpose answer to all questions in any subject, whether Bahasa Melayu or pengajian am. Pollution problem? Environmental awareness campaign! Littering? Cleanliness campaign! Social issues? More campaigns!

“Lack of awareness” or “lack of education” was always the answer to the question of cause.

Of course, for secondary school students who do not have much life experience, this is not a bad answer as far as tests are concerned.

However, it is a sign of lack of critical thinking if this is all an adult can come up with when searching for a solution for societal issues.

Now, to be fair, school curriculum is supposed to be updated from time to time, so anyone with ideas on how to improve the curriculum is free to give their opinion.

Last November, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan proposed for finance and entrepreneurship to be taught subject in secondary school.

The thing is, we already have the subject of matematik pengguna (consumer maths) in secondary school, which covers matters of personal finance such as savings and taxation.

I am sure that one of the factors that led to the introduction of matematik pengguna as a school subject in 2019 was the low financial literacy of Malaysians and the calls for that to be addressed in school.

As for entrepreneurship, that is taught in kemahiran hidup, a subject for Forms 1-3 students, and perdagangan, an elective subject for Forms 4 and 5 students. Why the need for a brand-new subject to burden the students and teachers? Isn’t it more practical to tweak the subjects that are already taught in school?

Yes, the children are our future and we need to equip them with skills to lead the country.

Some people are probably feeling the urgency to raise more responsible youth after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 a few years ago.

Some may feel uneasy about the way the young people voted in the last general election and wish “mould” the youth into better thinkers.

However, we, as a society, must refrain from proposing changes to our education system as our first line of action to deal with problems in our country.

We should realise that, in most cases, the solution does not lie in school. – May 13, 2024.

* Rayner Sylvester Yeo is a member of Agora Society. He was born in Sabah and is currently residing in Kuala Lumpur. Having grown up in a mixed-ethnic, multi-faith family and spent his working life in public, private and non-profit sectors, he believes diversity is the spice of life.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.