For who

The eyes still not sleepy as my mind is wildly wandering, thinking about something heavy, endless. I'm thinking about job, mid-term examinations, assignments, interview, money, family etc. Then snap, i have that mental image where i arrange all my academic certs in order; UPSR, PMR, SPM, A Level, Bachelor's Degree, Diploma and still collecting. What are these papers for? Just to get some acknowledgement? A better job? For who? I took a long sigh. This poor me keeps checking the calendar to find some free time to escape to the beach, the place i love the most. Nope, no free time until next 2 weeks, if there's no addition to the planner. Being so particular of a person is really tiring. Blame myself for being so particular about stuff, blame the family for having so high of expectations, blame the lecturers for giving too many of assignments, blame the society for putting standards and being judgmental. I always tell a joke to my mates; what if there's no need to find a job and we keep receiving money everyday out of nowhere? I thought i was joking, but it was my mind talking, hoping something like that could happen. Money, that evil thing. 

Then i give myself a phrase to complete. "If i am rich one day, have lots and lots of money, i would like to....". I close my eyes for a while, then the answer comes into my mind. Its not about having a big bungalow, driving a Lotus and partying hard all night. For myself, i just want to fly to Salzburg, my ever favourite place during winter, get on the train and just sit by the window enjoying the white view and dont want to get up like  there's no end to the train rail. A harmonious moment it is, for me.

Words to ponder

"A diamond is a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well" - Anonymous

Learn nothing or everything?

The Science of Learning; my interest has shifted towards how do people learn and it is such a fun field to look into. From what i have read so far on learning sciences, most of the articles have their main focuses on creating such a "perfect" and conducive learning environment by listing out typical and common problems, hence blowing their brains out to think the best solutions to encounter these problems.

But rarely the authors highlighted on the very root of numerous problems within learning environment. I have my special focus on one norm question among learners; "Do we have to learn this?". Collin mentioned in his article that much of what is learned in school is never used because it is often the wrong knowledge for modern world. The keywords here are "modern world" and "wrong knowledge". Lets put aside about crappy education systems, and have our thoughts on the objective of learning. In the past, people learn something because they want to learn it with pure interest and be good at it. Thus learning occurs naturally where learners can accept, understand and transfer the knowledge they are interested in efficiently. Authenticity it is.

Meanwhile, in our very own "modern world", we have our learning goals set up wrongly. I still remember when i was 7 years old, we were asked to fill a blue form of personal details where it had ambition section with 3 columns. Realistically, 3 columns are meant for 3 different ambitions. So i wrote doctor, prime minister and architect and these careers had my best interest at that very moment. We submitted the blue form and never heard about it until then. My point here is no correlation between what learners want to learn and specific goals that was set up in the very beginning of education. I could have chose one career when i was 7 years old, for example my best interest is medical profession. My learning areas should then cover those appropriate and crucial knowledge for medical profession. This is where the term "wrong knowledge" comes into play. Student nowadays are forced by education system to learn everything to anything that so-called "eligible" policy makers think it is important. Define important.

A few parties might point out that the costs of learning only those fields that are related to the profession we have our best interest in will outweigh the benefits in terms of basic knowledge like reading, measuring etc, kill that. I would say that basic knowledge learning is one whole different story. If we would to compromise basic knowledge learning and the field we have our interests in, this would lead to generalisation of learning objective. If that is the case, what is schools and formal education system for they ask?

....updating......

Hola! :) Its been a year this blog has not been up-to-date. The last time i posted on here was before my final exams. Now, i finished my study in the United Kingdom, gained a degree in Genetics, and also a Diploma of Education last July. Currently im pursuing Master of Learning Science in one of the local universities (this is a secret from my future employer), just to kill time while waiting to be posted into schools. Oh yes, i am an educator-to-be baby!

When people around me asking what i am up to at the moment, their faces like ..."whattt??" (only the expressions, lol) when i told them i am continuing my study. And it always follow with a statement "thats your one and only job, studying.. (or in Malay, tu je lah kerja kau, belajar je memanjang)". I answered them with a smile, that should be more than enough of an answer.

With Allah's willing, and with good health and longevity, my aim is to gain a Ph.D and then i'll be satisfied. I really love studying. Some people said studying is just an escape route of penniless life. Wrong! I have seen individuals with no degree or even school certs living a comfortable life. There are so many escape routes from difficulties, yet our eyes and minds only see a few.

I starved myself from writing my minds out, and now i realized i do need some "writherapy". For time being, thats it from me. 

Salaam Jumaat :)