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~POSTGRADUATEFROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESKThe rightphilosophy ofeducation'.ProfessorAlfal. Sal/ehisthePresident&CEOof thePutraBusinessSchaolat UniversitiPutraMalaysia.MOVING on from the earlier columns ondecision making, in this column we tum'to the issue of the right philosophy ofeducation as the route to nurture future lea-ders.Why do we need to revisit the philosophy'Because inacademia,we are trained to focus onthe trees rather than the forest. We tend to beconsumed with the detailing to exact decimalpoints rather than with the larger concernof life.Ask any academician if he starts his new termlecture byinviting the new cohort of students toshare their purpose in life. Chancesare that evenwe asacademicsdo not really refiecton our very own lives although thisis one core aspect of life dynamics.Hencewe refer to external norms setby our organisations in performingour duties without having to ,elateto our purpose in life.Of course I hope I am wrong. Westill havehope for the future gene-rations. But Iwould still suggest thatwe (re)-read literary theorist andcritic Terry Eagleton's The Meaningof life - A Very Short Introductionwhere he intellectually highlightedthe death of intellectuals as basedon PhD titles of top-notch universi-ties.1connect to his candid anecdote about theworld of academia today. There are also scholarNaseem Taleb'sAntifragility, philosopher NoamCholmsky's How the World Works and manymore writings that also quiz academia's statusof intellectuality. But my motivation to visit thisissue in my first discourse on nurturing leadersis more experiential in nature. .This was what happened:Very recently, I had an opportunity to attenda discussion with representatives from almostall if not all universities and university collegesin Malaysiaon howto move forwardwith issuesregarding quality ofteaching and learning.How-ever, based on the feed-back raised, I gatheredthat somehow whatmattered mos twasthe score that eachinstitution wasaccorded based onthe rating exercisethat we were sub-jected to. So youmay ask, ·Whatis wrong withthat? Sincerating andranking scoresa r)' what thepublic desire, whyshouldn't we thenmanage the num-bers?"If such is theperception, then we truly Qeedto refiect. Education entails takingthe right path to nurture students'moral values (first) as the underpinning valuebefore developing their skills set. Education isnot an end in itself for one can never be edu-cated enough. We need to view education asa verb to draw out what is inside the studentsso that they cantransform their internal selves.Anyway, backto the issueof rating and ranking,wouldn't we take it asludicrous if an educationalinstitution declaresthat its<pl1fposeis only to geta high rating and ranking score' Yet we moanwhen we don't get one, as if rating or rankingis the only reas.onfor existence.At the end of the day isn't it our graduates'ability to live life as whole humanpersons and actualise proper con-duct contributing to societal well-being that counts? How many of uswould take pride being the teacher ofone who makes all the money in theworld but through deceit'Yet agail.'!"itiswewhodonotteachthemabou,", aodab (proper behaviour and morals)during their student lifetime withus, what more about their purpo-se in life? This reminds me of whatHarvard Business School professorClayton Christensen wrote in HowWill You Measure Your life' about hisformer Harvard mate being behindbars for the Enron fiasco. Isn't it about time wego back to the beginning and re-chart the rightpath?The current doctrinal system needs repla-cement - we needasystem that is based on theright philosophy of life.But lest we educators cannot let go of ourherd mindset. waiting for others to start first, Iimplore that we take a lesson or two from nati-.onal badminton coach Hendrawan. On 1May'he courageously declared to the press that hewould train his junior charges according to tjlsway - no more participating in frequent interna·tional tournaments althoughthis counts to the play-ers' world rankings.He just wants tobuild the corestrength of theplayers firstas the path -the philoso-phy - to seethem win. Sowhat does thistell us' Aren'trating and ran-king all but con-sequential' This issomething that ourinterior constitutionmust adjust to.And vital in this·inte-rior journey is to discernthat the right philosophyof education as the path toan outcome is what counts.And what we are discussinghere is not merely acade-mic.

The right philosophy of education

http://psasir.upm.edu.my/25774/1/scan0075.pdf

The right philosophy of education

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