ESSAY: One thing that I would like to see changed or improved in my own country

NAME: NUR AISHAH BINTI ABDUL MANAN

MATRIC NO. : 10DIB14F1003

When morning comes, reality intrudes and dream begins to slip away. But I am
determined to make my one dream into reality which is of Malaysia being a country that
truly excels in education globally. I want this dream within my grasp because I believe
Malaysia has the potential to go higher in our education level. I am a patriotic citizen of
Malaysia, a country that encompasses freedom, integrity, honour, heritage, compassion
and so much more. These are all good qualities, but knowledge is brings the most power.
Knowledge triumphs above all. Therefore, one thing that I wish to see changed or
improved in my country is definitely the education system.
South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland, United Kingdom, Canada,
Netherlands, Ireland and Poland. These are the top 10 countries with excellent reputations
in hailing internationally for their extremely high education system. Since my country are
not listed above, the Malaysian government should make improvements to take about
education excellence by implementing education reformation first and foremost.
Nowadays, a lot of successful countries carries great educational achievement that is
promoted by an exam culture. In Malaysia, we are very familiar and accustomed with
plenty of tests that students need to undertake especially in primary and secondary
school. However, the major problem with Malaysias examinations is that it focuses
solely on the syllabus. The trend of exams should be changed from syllabus-based
questions to the ones that actually requires critical thinking and analysis. The Ministry of
Education in Malaysia should ensure that examinations throughout the country is set
purely based on students analytical thinking skills and their ability to relate broad general
knowledge with the syllabus. I am talking about a set of questions that will challenge the
students minds during examination. This kind of examinations are the ones that will
determine competent students worth internationally. Instead of pushing students to study
rigidly by memorizing the textbook line by line just to pass the exams, we should

embolden them to think out of the box under every circumstances. We should promote an
academically challenging environment in Malaysia to bring students totally out of their
comfort-zone. The teachers must play a vital role in molding students to fully utilize their
mind not for the sake of examination purposes but to become the future leaders of
Malaysia. In order to achieve this goal, everyone should change the students fallacious
mentality that the amount of As in examinations symbolizes their intelligence. They
should transition the students mentality to a professional mentality. We should emphasize
on the knowledge gained as a priority instead of getting good grades.
Besides, teachers should start shaping students to be more diverse, productive and
innovative by promoting active learning, community-building and risk-taking in school
activities. We should encourage students to seize every opportunity to be recognized as a
high quality student. To produce high quality students, my country should first produce
high quality teachers. Those days with inspiring teachers are slowly vanishing. Great
teachers are considered as rare gems in Malaysia. So now we should produce not some,
but all high quality teachers that exude strong willpower to mentor and inspires students
into becoming extraordinary leaders. The government must make it compulsory for
aspiring teachers to go through extensive teaching programmes before getting involve in
the education arena. Once a teacher has the ability to inspire and mentor students into
accomplishing amazing things, only then they shall be selected to continue the noble
career of a teacher/lecturer. I highly demand that the teachers should stop providing only
textbooks information but grant students with a broad variety of learning experience
which will come handy when they start their career in the future. The reality in the
modern world is that if we are lacking of leadership quality, communication skills and
global knowledge, then our straight As and Diplomas will not do any good at all in
pursuing a remarkable career. My deep concern is that the result of Malaysian education
is usually students that studies according to syllabus only. This will surely not give us
good job opportunity. Therefore, students should be good in their leadership role and
utilize their potential into contributing to the society since the early level of education.
We could improve the leadership element of students in Malaysia by promoting plenty of
activities such as organizing their own forum, involving in an international conference,

public speaking and so much more activities that will boost up their confidence level and
brings them out of their shell. Every students should be made compulsory to participate in
these programmes so in the end, Malaysian graduates will exude high performance in
their career prior to that organizational experience they had. With all these initiatives
taken, I hope to see every students in my country flourish and thrive in everything they
do.
A long time ago, South Korea and Finland had terrible educational system and yet,
look at how distinguished their educations are now. So, that serves as a motivation for us
to never give up and never surrender until our country holds the best education system in
the world. Every single step that we made is equally important from the mundane to the
monumental. Mahatma Ghandi said we must be the change that we want to see in the
world. I urged every citizen to rise up with me and take every step necessary to
significantly change our countrys education system with what we can, what we have and
where we are until our country is recognized internationally as a leading country with an
outstanding educational system. We can and will make a change.