Of Gunnysacks & Sempoa, or, Geishas That Speak English

Zaim Al-Amin
0228 hours, Tuesday
18th April, 2006
Ampang - Petaling Jaya
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Salam & salutations,

Re: Article for my Transcendentia Column, Rentakini (Lifestyles) Section, Malaysiakini

Title: Of Gunnysacks & Sempoa, or, Geishas That Speak English

It’s hard to be a parent nowadays, you hear people sigh now and then. Once in a while, yours truly included. That, coupled with the ubiquitous work, traffic jams, baby sitters, school vans that didn’t come, bills, fees, tolls and what have you haunting your days and nights like Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam. But then, since when has parenting been easy? Had it been any easier then; or rather, should it be any easier now? Or then again, perhaps it should actually be the other way round; it’s now hard to be a child.

This train of thoughts hit me squarely whilst watching my younger offsprings routinely packing their books into their school bags. It struck me as to how many subjects they actually have to take. When we were of that age, all we had was about five or six subjects, and for each subject we only had one text book and one exercise book. And that was that. The even better part is that both books if combined would be less than a quarter of an inch thick.

Now, our kids have more subjects, and for each subject they have one bulky text book, one revision book, one work book, one activity book and a few exercise books plus a couple of CDs thrown in for good measure. Instead of exercise books just being either singular or square lined, now they have exercise books numbered from 1 to 12, supposedly to cater for different needs of the various subjects. On top of that they’d also have to bring an assortment of jotter, journal, communication, `buku tulis Jabatan Pendidikan Daerah’ and other type of books. Add to that optional subjects like Arabic or Mandarin or Mental Arithmetics, and their schoolbag plus all the sempoa and whatnots weighs just slightly less than a gunnysack of paddy.

And if that is not enough, they are also subjected to a whole set of afternoon religious classes, and at night they have to attend tuition lessons. Quite a few further send their kids to Kumon classes, some to enable their child to catch up with the rest, some in order to realize their `true potential’. In our eagerness to ensure that our child receive `what other children also get,’ we register them to all these classes and more. Anything less and any Kak Long or Kak Ngah would gravely predict that your child would head into prospective oblivion insofar as his future career is concerned.

And on top of those, they are now expected to learn their Mathematics and Sciences in English. This, when in the first place their mastery of English is still at its infancy. A friend of mine (an ex-teacher) once commented: some of these kids are still struggling even if the subjects were taught in Malay; hence in English it’d be a sure disaster. It would have been better if the subjects were taught in Japanese, another friend quipped. Indeed, if nothing else, it would be a more level playing ground for all. I myself narrowly missed having to learn Japanese as a compulsory subject in secondary school, for which I am forever thankful. Never mind the occasional missed opportunity of having casual conversations with some Japanese tourists. After all, in Steven Spielberg’s Memoirs Of A Geisha, all the Geishas speak English. Fluently.

At one end of the spectrum, there are bright kids who can’t get enough education even at an early age. The whiz kids the likes of Adi Putra, or that 17 A1 Nur Amalina immediately comes to mind. But at the same time, we also have more ordinary kids with ordinary intelligence, for example, like someone from St. Anthony’s Primary School in Teluk Intan following the very same syllabus.

It’s not unlike someone going to Low Yat Plaza to purchase a computer for use in his Legal Firm. Whilst at the Plaza, he’d buy an assortment of programmes (cetak rompak, of course); some of which he knows he’d never use. Yet he buys and installs them all the same, not because he thinks it would be of any use, but simply because he thinks that’s what the computer should have. Or maybe because his Architect friend had them in his computer. The end result is that the computer becomes slow or worse, wham!, the hard disk crashes.

On the other hand, even if their `hard disk’ don’t crash, but the way their teaching is conducted in modules puts the kids at risk of becoming parrot types with limited processing capabilities. Thus they find it hard to react to a different situation, hence their inabilities to adapt into real working conditions once they have to leave the comfort and clinical environment of their schools or universities.

Having said that, I’m not advocating for parenting to be reduced to an act of the parents watching ASTRO whilst the kids play PS-2 (or vice versa). For both parties, it’s still a tough job that cannot be shirked. But, as in all things, the key is balance. And moderation. Life is not always about being the best or winning. Sometimes when you win, you actually lose. Or you could actually win whilst losing. Now, don’t ask me what those double talk really mean. Ask any motivational speaker and they would invariably tell you that the real, albeit elusive, answer is to `Think Outside The Box’. Which box?

Perhaps then, it’s a time to reflect. To stop looking at the kids as the ultimate reproduction of our ego. It’s simply not fair to burden them to repeat whatever success we had, or to be a symbol of redemption to whatever failures or mistakes we made. Let them learn and live their lives according to their own capability, not according to our whims or what we think should be. Don’t force them to, say, learn Mandarin, French or Japanese just because you think `it might come in handy’.

At the end of the day, what do we hope to achieve? Trilingual or quad lingual professionals and scholars? Well, I do happen to have a friend who could fluently speak at least seven major languages, but to me his is a special case; perhaps a cross between nature and nurture. He was lucky to have been `born’ into some of the languages, and had enough `Pentiums’ in his brains to master a few more. And of course, one would certainly envy his classic tales of lucky brushes with some Spanish or Italian bambinos. Ultimately, it’s truly an advantage to be multilingual, but I for one won’t force it on my kids. Bilingual, yes but certainly not multilingual.

Unless, of course, if they actually aspire to become Tourist Guides…

P/s: I purposely refrained from mentioning `Stewardesses’ for fear of getting sued for defamation.

~ This article is dedicated to my wife Nina Norfaizah and my kids Daniellia Zainisya (11), Hilmi Firdaus (9), Daniellia Zetrisya (7) and Iqmal Firdaus (7), and of course, to all parents with school-going kids ~

Cheers & best regards,

Zaim Al-Amin
E 28, Fellowship of Kingtho (MCKK Class of 84)
Founder/Chairman, Bargreaves Ballerz (MCOBA Theatre Group)
Editorial Board Member, Berita MCOBA (MCOBA Bulletin)

Zaim Al-Amin, Esq.
Group Legal Advisor
Legal, Secretarial & Contracts Department
PROTANK GROUP OF COMPANIES
No. 30, Jalan SS25/23
Taman Mayang, Section 25
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, MALAYSIA.
Tel : +603-78053190 (ext. 224)
Fax : +603-78052930
Mobile : +6016-2388909
E-mail : zaimhq@mcoba.org
URL : www.protank.com.my