DR Maszlee Malik,

First of all, congratulations on your appointment. I, and all students in this country, have high hopes for the changes you will bring to education.

As a Form Six student, I have gone through the education system’s evolution and devolution. As someone who has experienced it, I am happy that your mission is to bring back the joy in teaching and learning. I have a few ideas that I believe should be relatively simple, but perhaps, not easy to execute.

Censorship of thought and speech

This Orwellian tendency to skirt around taboo “sensitive issues” or other topics construed as anti-government, such as corruption and failed policies, has stunted our teachers and students.

Instead, we spew, dogmatically, the phantom successes of the government of the day, while blatantly ignoring its failings, in our exams. This tendency to dictate the norm is not education, but indoctrination.

Thus, my suggestion is to remove, or at the very least, loosen, the restrictions on “taboo topics” in the language used, specifically in written work, to encourage constructive criticism and independent thought.

Examinations and creativity

Teaching for the purpose of having students sit exams is not the way to bring joy and creativity into classrooms. It certainly runs counter to the latter aim if our examiners have set work schemes and do not encourage well-substantiated, thoughtful, critical and open discussion in essays and debates.

From what I have experienced, most teachers accept and even encourage this new style of writing, but often, they tell us to remember that honest argument is not appreciated by Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia, or in my case, Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia. If we refocus our examinations to reflect what we value in education, then change can happen sooner.

Teaching logical thinking and fallacies

Looking at previous parliamentarians, and the nonexistent culture of discourse and debate among Malaysians, we should have a component on thinking in schools.

Constructive criticism should be just that – constructive, objective and factual. Care must be taken so that discussions do not disintegrate into crude insults and name-calling. It must be made clear to students that being critical has its own responsibility, and that is “solutionising”: highlighting areas where improvement is possible, and sharing new knowledge within the discussion. In the long run, we will have better thinkers, speakers and citizens.

How would this happen in schools? Thinking logically creates intellectuals and knowledge-seekers. Students will be able to relate current events to their learning, independently and realistically. Thus, they will be able to create original ideas instead of using and reusing approved, government-friendly ones.

How do we encourage this divergent and critical style of thinking? Please bring back writing classes, because in this age of 140 characters or fewer, it is impossible to structure thought.

Empowering students

As an aspiring social activist, I want my fellow students to have what I did not: freedom of thought and expression. Such freedoms will lead to a more mature, media-aware, politically attuned society.

The Malaysians voters of the future can make the best informed choice, and not be hoodwinked into becoming a docile, complacent public. We really need to have an active civil society through empowerment.

To achieve this goal, there should be student councils and groups set up at the primary and secondary levels. They should be a part of the decision-making process in developing and shaping schools.

The democratisation of schools should reflect the processes that any civil society should have: accountability, involvement, discourse. As an example, student councils in the US hold elections based on policy and manifestos. This process fosters successful democracy at the national level, where debates on policy and agenda are the basis for election.

To be a true democracy and civil society, we need to move away from racial and identity politics and hegemony, towards a more rational approach.

I wish you well, Dr Maszlee, and though I am in my last year of school and will not be able to be a part of this new creative and joyful learning you will bring to the system, I hope that you will make changes, and free my brothers and sisters from the shackles of dogma, and give them a voice.

* Saeshen Prabakaran reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.