Just yesterday there is this education issue that comes to my mind, sparked by a conversation between my mum and dad at the dining table. My dad (he is a professor at Universiti Malaya) went for an invigilation earlier as an assignment given by his superior to observe how students are being taught in the “last” few classes, “last” being those classes which consists of students who are considered academically inferior in the system.

When he came home, all he bragged about was how terrible the students were, going in and out of the classroom without the teacher’s permission, and how the teacher did not even bother to rectify things and control the situation.

As my dad continues to make fun of these students, my mum, who is a teacher (part of the system), joined him later, as if they were talking about the clowns in a circus.

I didn’t feel good; I was convulsed with that oh-so-familiar rage. Pushing the rewind button, I recalled that I was once an “atrocious” student in the system; I was a deliberate-rebel of the system. I remembered how disappointed I was not being able to take part in a Physics rocket making project just because I did not manifest great grades. I know how it felt like having the desire to move forward and not being able to do so. I simply know how it feels to be considered academically inferior.

I know why we can’t function well, and continue to not function well. We are being segregated.

The educators are doing a fine job, only to those considered “smart”. “Smart” students and “good classes” receive the most attention in school, receive most resources in schools, and have more privilege to participate in all forms of activities to improve themselves. On the other hand those in the “weak classes” are being segregated, and lessons are being taught without any effort to generate improvements from these students. Some “educators” like my parents even make a fool out of them.

To paraphrase the famous adage of “the rich get richer and the poor become poorer”, in the Malaysian education system, the “good” students are better off whilst the “not-so-good” students become worse.

The point I am trying to put forward is that in most education-related publication, there is little effort to bring out the voices from the most important component of an education system – the students. More so from students considered to be academically inferior. It was as if they were such a disgrace to the system that they deserve to be completely isolated from it.

Doctorjob, for instance features articles on course selections, career choices, etc. These might be relevant to those academically superior, but the “other group” has absolutely no reason to read these items. And it is not because they do not care about their future, but because they are not being exposed to a true and complete academic process, which subsequently keeps their passion and true interest hidden and undiscovered. Some internal education fairs in my previous schools are only available to an exclusive group of people (read: those who presumably will go on to higher education and those who are perceived to have sustained interest in studying)

The Star Education, arguably the education publication of the country, meanwhile, focuses more on what the decision makers have to say, as well as some campus insights and school happenings, and never really dissects what really happen in government schools. Perhaps there are a couple or two special reports on these segregated students once in a blue moon, but as far as I am concerned, this group of people is the one that will contribute to the unemployment figures annually, the very group that deserves more attention from the media.