Culture and Education 1.

Academic Writing

1.1 Concept of Socio-cultural Diversity. Since before Malaysia had it Independence Day, cultural diversity was recognized as a vital component of education. In those years, Malaysia has been thought of as a country whose citizens were mainly of three races, Malay, Chinese, and Indian. But until now, the fact is Malaysia is a country made up of citizens from every nation of the world. or e!ample, we do have Bangladeshi, Indonesian, "ietnamese, and even #hilippine who are a part of Malaysian and they must not be ignored or put aside when it comes to education. $o define socio%cultural diversity, &#arvis, '(()* define cultural diversity as the result of various social structures, belief systems and strategies that other cultures use to ad+ust to life situations in all parts of the world. Meaning that, socio%cultural diversity represents the variety of social aspects that we have from the variety of culture resulting from the multiracial citizens of Malaysia. or e!ample, the gender, location, and social class which can contribute to ine,uality in education opportunities.

1.2 Concept of Ine uality in Education !pportunities. 1.2.1 Introduction. $his issue has been a great debate between many of the researchers and #rofessionals of education. $here has been different views and opinions of what are the factors that adds up to the ine,uality. -owever, most of the studies gave a result that ine,uality of race and ethnic towards academic achievement is closely related to socioeconomic ran. and schools effects. Based on Coleman /eport &0112*, the low performance among minority groups and low social class children is not due to lac. of learning resources in the schools but it is because of the impact of student3s family bac.ground. In order to curb with this ine,uality, our government had come up with a number of programs and initiatives such as Bantuan /a.yat 0 Malaysia, 4edai Bu.u 0 Malaysia, and also Baucer Bu.u 0 Malaysia. $he ob+ective of all these programs and initiatives is to reduce the gap between the upper class and lower class society thus increase the e,uality of educational opportunity among people regardless of the social%cultural differences. Besides that, the purpose of the 5ew 6conomic #olicy &017( 8 011(* was to build up unity among the citizens of Malaysia.

9s time flies by, educational programs also changed to suit the diversity of Malaysians. It was designed and planned to lin. the gap in educational opportunities. or e!ample, the 4uri.ulum Bersepadu Se.olah /endah &4BS/* has now changed to 4uri.ulum Standard Se.olah /endah &4SS/*. In this writing, we will discuss further about the ine,uality in education opportunities in the conte!t of Malaysia classroom based on the main elements such as social class, gender, minority groups, and special needs groups. 1.2.2 "ey concept. $he notion of ine,uality can be defined as opinions, views, thoughts and beliefs that there is a difference between members or other ethnic groups from various aspects such as resources, accommodations, career opportunities and others. Defining ine,uality in education opportunity, is a situation where access to education is not e,ually dispersed to all citizens because of several factors. :ocation of the school, student3s family bac.ground, students3s interest, language differences, and socioeconomic status may be the factors of educational ine,uality in the Malaysian conte!t. ;n the ne!t paragraph, we will be discussing more on the important elements that mainly related to the ine,uality in education opportunities.

1.# $ender Ine uality in Education !pportunities.

9ccording to the result from the recent inde! published by the <orld 6conomic orum &<6 *, Malaysia was ran.ed at 0(' from 0=2 other countries in terms of gender e,uity. $he inde! measures gender e,uality across four areas of, education, economics, health and politics, including 1(> of the world3s population. 9nother report by Social <atch, an international organization placed Malaysia at the bottom of 6ast 9sia and the #acific in terms of gender e,uity. -owever, the report computed Malaysia as one of the country which did fairly well in closing the gap in education. <hat I am trying to show here is, the gender gap is still e!ists significantly in most countries. or e!ample, the access to secondary school in Cambodia were =(> for men and only 01> for women, while in #apua 5ew ?uinea, the total of '7> male and '0> female &@5?6I, '((7*. 5evertheless, not all areas are disadvantaged for women providing the countries such as Mongolia, Malaysia, and #hilippines where more girls go to secondary and further their study compared to boys. $he factors that effect to this ine,uality is the social economy of the family.

1.#.1 Students from %o& Income 'amily. or instant, the boys who came from low income family are forced to stop study at the primary school or maybe some at half way of their secondary school because they need to go to wor. and earn money to support their family. $his what happen to 9mirul Izwan -amzah, who are 07 years old when he decided to drop school and help his mother at a stall for the past year to support his three school%going siblings and also grandparents, whom he shares a house with &5ews Straits $imes,'A Ban '(0=*. $his recent case shows that family socioeconomic is still a factor of ine,uality in education opportunities. or this case, the students had to ,uit schooling +ust because to help his mother and also because his mother could not afford the cost of the schooling. Boys always have to bear the responsibility to ta.e care of the family rather than girls. $hus it is always more boys ,uit schooling compared to the number of girls who may not affected by the factors of low income family. 1.#.2 Different Interest (et&een )oys and $irls. ;n the other hand, interest towards certain topics or sub+ect in education system is the reason why ine,uality still happening in the education. or e!ample, girls are always referred and assumed to be good in the sub+ect such as Se+arah and Bahasa while boys in Mathematics and Science. $his is totally wrong of mind set that should not have in our society especially the teachers. By having this assumption towards different genders, the teachers are limiting the individual potential of the students who could have done better in the sub+ect if the teacher has been giving the same focus and attention to both genders. Besides that, the limitation of the education system for both genders also the reason why some of the girls or boys are not doing well in their education. 9s e!ample, the sub+ect of 4emahiran -idup is meant only for boys while /ancangan /umah $angga is only for girls. $his scenario had restricted the s.ills and talent of both genders. or instant, some of the girls may have more interest towards engineering and manufacturing while some of the boys

perhaps prefer to be a chef or fashion designer. <e cannot deny the fact that interest is the best motivation for a person to strive their best and do well in that particular area. 5ot only that, the society also plays an important roles where the family always thin. that it is a taboo for a men to be professional in women career such as chef and fashion designer. <hat happen here is, the parents will ma.e sure that their son will further his study in doctoring or engineering course but at the end of the day its end up by the boy did not pass his study simply because he does not have the heart and soul in what he is doing. 9dditionally, the pedagogical practices also adds up to the reason why ine,uality happens in education. or the past few years, women has mainly dominate the teaching career where the number of women teachers is more than the number of men teachers. $his situation has caused a se!ist in the classroom where teachers tend to teach using the teaching aids or topics that themselves prefer and not based on the students learning styles. or instant, a women teacher would prefer to teach on topic about -obby such as coo.ing or singing whereas a boy student would prefer to learn about hobby such as fishing or riding. $his would diminish the student3s interest for the lesson. 1.* Ine uality in t+e ,inority $roups. Minority groups is define as a small group of people of the same race, religion, culture and so on living in a place that the ma+ority of the inhabitants of different race, religion, etc. &4amus Dewan, '((7*. In other words, minority group is a group of people whose opportunities being constricted in terms of success, wealth, education, and etc. which are too low compared to their numbers in the society. or Malaysia, Malay is .nown as the ma+ority group while Chinese, Indian, Iban, Bidayuh, indigenous people and other ethnic groups are considered as the minority groups. $he ine,uality in education opportunities can clearly be seen among the aboriginal people where they live in a rural area. $heir placement region such as mountain and tropical forest is one of the reason why they always being neglected in most aspects of development. $hese locations ma.e them hard to have access to all the facilities and services provided by our government. or e!ample, some schools in these areas do not even have a proper water supply and electricity. <ith this .ind of situation, it is hard for the teacher to deliver a good lesson and the students did not get a convenient environment for them to focus and study. Due to the location of this minority group, some accommodations such as transportation and school facilities is a huge problem for them whereby they need to ta.e a boat to cross a river or wal. across a bridge before they can go to school. $hey may have no school facilities such as

computers, science lab, or hall. Compared to the ma+ority groups that live in urban areas, they are provided bus and :/$ to go to school and school facilities such as computers, internet, and even :CD pro+ector. :i.ewise, the digital gap between these two groups amongst students and teachers are e!tensive enough to create ine,uality in education opportunities. Students and teachers of ma+ority groups are well e!posed to all the gadgets that can help to ease the teaching and learning process while the minority groups are still using chal. and board.

1.-

$ap in Social Classes. /eferring to the dictionary, social class is define as a group of people of similar status,

usually sharing e,uivalent levels of power and wealth. Most sociologists would describe social class into four main groups which are the lower class, the wor.ing class, the middle class and the upper class. In this point, I would li.e to focus on the lower class and upper class where the gap is apparent. $he lower class is classified by poverty, homelessness, and unemployment. $hey usually do not finished high school, having difficulties in health and medical care, sufficient housing and food, proper clothing, safety, and career training. ;n the other hand, the upper class includes those aristocratic and the family whose have high monthly income within /M=)(( and above &6conomic #lanning @nit,'((0* In this aspect, ine,uality e!ist in education when the upper class have the privilege to easily access to the variety of educational services and options provided. -aving advantage in financial reward, stability, and ability to purchase things, upper class will be a few steps ahead from the lower class. or e!ample, parents who have the budget can afford to buy supplements or vitamins for their children development or they afford to send their children to e!tra classes and tuitions. or the lower class groups, sending the children to school also may be a problem for them as their income are only enough for basic needs of the family. In addition, students from lower class family are always left behind because they could not get the same facilities as the upper class students get such as the e,uipment to help them boost their performance in education. or e!ample, the te!t boo.s, e!ercise boo.s, stationeries and etc.

1.. 'undamentals of Special needs groups. Special needs groups are students who have differences intellectually, physically, emotionally, and socially compared to other normal students. $hese students needs more

attention and focus from the parents and teachers because they usually have problems such as autism, 9D-D, dysle!ia, late development, hearing and visual impairments, genius, gifted and others abnormal features or characteristics. $he ine,uality occurs when they do not get special educational treats from the society thus leads to lac. of opportunities for them to learn in a condition where their development is optimized. or e!ample, the special student was put in the same class with normal student. or gifted student, their abilities are narrowed and limited in the normal class while for student who is having learning difficulties will facing problems to follow and catch up with the same lesson of the normal student. $he facilities and accommodations at normal schools also a problem and ine,uality for them because they cannot ma.e full use of the things provided. or instant, the sports e,uipment, the toilet, and other information and communication technology. 1./ 0eac+er1s 2oles as Stated in S+ift 1 ,alaysia Education )lueprint 3241# - 242-5 Ine,uality in education opportunities has been a long term issue for the government to curb. "arious programs, incentives, systems, and campaigns has been brought up by our beloved government in order to reduce the gap of ine,uality among multicultural citizens. $he Malaysia3s Ministry of 6ducation had come up with a plan and guideline in Shift 0 Malaysia 6ducation Blueprint &'(0= % '(')* where the ob+ective of this aspiration is to provide e,ual education in aspects of ,uality and access of an international standard. $his is the first ob+ective in the Shift 0 Malaysia aspiration which focuses on our education that can helps to overcome and control the issues that has been mentioned above. In this plan, it is stated that the years of schooling will be move from 2 to 00 years of compulsory starting at age 2CD supported by retention initiatives and +ob%ready vocational training &Shift 0 Malaysia 6ducation Blueprint, pg ''*. $he purpose here is to ma.e sure that all the students get enough years of schooling and to avoid them from drop school at early age. 9s a teacher, they play significant roles to ta.e care of their students whether they are at the school or outside the school. $hey need to ma.e sure that the incentive li.e /ancangan Ma.anan $ambahan and Bantuan /M0(( from the government are fully benefited for the student3s education. $hese incentives could help the students from low income family and also the students from minority groups. @sing the /M0(( given and also free food at school, they can buy the things they need for their study. $eachers must guide students to spend the money wisely by helping them to buy the boo.s and stationery they needed. In the Shift #lan, teachers also responsible to provide as much s.ills as possible to prepare the students for real life situations and +ob%ready. $eachers can ma.e use various teaching aids that are related to +ob%ready

vocational training such as accounting, technical s.ills and others. $eacher3s +ob is to e!pose the students to multiple s.ills that can develop their multiple intelligence. 9part from that, the Shift #lan also stated that the government will increase investment in physical and teaching resources for students with specific needs &Shift 0 Malaysia 6ducation Blueprint, pg ''*. $his point is focusing on the needs of groups with special needs as mentioned above. In this aspiration, teachers can help to minimize the ine,uality by giving more focus to those with special needs. or e!ample, be e!tra sensitive and alert to spot the special needs students in the normal class students. $hen, ta.e further actions by sending them to the special schools that provide better facilities and services for them. In conclusion, teachers need consistently assure that all the government plan and programs run smoothly because all this plans certainly can overwhelmed those issues of ine,uality in education opportunities. 2. Critical Writing

2.1 'actors contri(uting.

Based on the scenario above, the students of class =9 do not mingle and communicate well with each other because they do not .now each other good enough in terms of their different bac.ground, social, and culture. $hus, it ma.es them feel aw.ward and alienated among them. or e!ampleD when a Malay and Indian student eat at the canteen using their bare hands, the Chinese will loo. at them weirdly and assumed them as unhygienic simply because they do not .now that eating with hands is the culture of the Malay and Indian. Moreover, the lac. of e!posure to different ethnic also may have built ethnocentrism among groups of the same ethnic. $hey felt that their group is better than the others. or e!ample, Chinese students tend to have better achievement compared to other students thus they feel that other ethnics are inferior then them so they do not see the necessity for them to socialize with other students from different ethnics. :anguage also may be the factor of them separating according to their ethnic groups. Students at their age are well versed with their mother tongue language such as Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, and $amil. <hen socializing with other ethnic groups, language would be their biggest hindrance to communicate and understand each other. Being around the people they do not understand the language will ma.e them uncomfortable thus they prefer to be in the same ethnic that spea. the same language.

2.2 Ways to !vercome and C+allenges Encounter (y Enci6 2a+im and students.

$hese problems need a proper way to handle because it is vital for the future of the students and also Malaysia. In the classroom conte!t, 6nci. /ahim can implement a teaching session that e!pose his students to the uni,ue and importance of other ethnic groups. 9s e!ample, teach them on topic about celebration and use Chinese 5ew Eear, -ari /aya, or Deepavali which they can relate to the real life conte!t. 6!plain to them about these celebration and always remind them the benefits of having multicultural society. #atriotism also a good moral value to be instill in them so that they have the spirit of unity and togetherness. Besides that, 6nci. /ahim can also show the similarities between diverse ethnics to ma.e them feel less different among each other and reduce the ethnocentrism in the students. or e!ample. 6nci. /ahim can prepare a lesson with more group wor.s and pairs so that they can independently discover the similarities among them thus it would be a more effective impact to their understanding and acceptance. $he challenges that 6nci. /ahim may encounter in order to unite his students are time constraint due to the fi! curriculum of the educational system. 6nci. /ahim may be having difficulties to carry out the lesson and at the same time focusing on inculcate multicultural elements because not all the topics in the syllabus are suitable to implement the multicultural elements. 5ot only that, a one hour lesson is not enough to carry out activities that are effective to achieve the ob+ectives of uniting and at the same time educate the students. rom the student3s view, the problems are they would not able to digest, remember, or even understand a lesson with so many integrated s.ills or ob+ectives and by the end of the day, they would end up confused and learnt only what has been stated in the syllabus without realizing the multicultural elements presented. In addition, parents also would be the biggest obstacle for 6nci. /ahim to create a culturally friendly classroom because some parents do not want their children to learn the culture of other ethnic because they thin. it is not important or does not have any benefits. 6nci. /ahim may have to face complaints from the parents as his students would practice the different culture they learnt at school and bring it bac. home. learnt form the school especially the language. or the students, they would spent most of their time with the family thus the culture of their ethnic will be strongly dominate the culture that they

:ast but not least, culture shoc. is undeniable when the students learnt new culture they will tend to e!aggerate it. or e!ample, the Malays would wear short pants and tight clothes which is against their religion but it is o. for the Chinese or Indians. 9s a conclusion, being a teacher carries a great responsibility towards the society where you need to be diligent and determine in everything you do because all your efforts will have their conse,uences and rewards.

2.# Impacts of Culturally 'riendly Environment.

Clearly, cultural friendly environment is a good dynamic for a better teaching and learning environment in terms of communicating, understanding and also managing. ;ne of the good advantage from positive multicultural classroom is the students can learn best from each other. 9s what oppose by Bohnson, '((AD formal cooperative learning consists of students wor.ing together, for one class period to several wee.s, to achieve shared learning goals and complete +ointly specific tas.s and assignments. ?roups were dynamic wholes in which the interdependence among members could vary &4urt 4off.a, '(((*. $he learning process can be optimized when the students are able to wor. together as a whole.

rom the teacher3s role, teaching and learning would be easier and more effective as teacher will have more class control and better classroom management. $his can be achieved when the teacher able to understand the differences among students and .now what they needs as multicultural class. $he teacher are able to provide a situations where both teacher and students are comfortable to be with. or instant, a lesson with activities and traditional games such as cong.a., wau, would not be so aw.ward for the students to participate and easier for teacher to handle. $o conclude this writing, there are various ways have been ta.en by our government in order to improve our education system for a better future of our country, Malaysia. It depends on the society to play their roles and help to realize the aspirations of our government.

ENGLISH STUDIES DEPARTMENT

INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU

KAMPUS ILMU KHAS, KUALA LUMPUR

COURSEWORK TASK (INDIVIDUAL) SEMESTER: 5 YEAR: 2014

EDU 310 CULTURE AND LEARNING

PREPARED !Y:

M"#$%%$& '$#() S$*+$) ! S",-(

IC N./: 02011401 111 P-.2-$%: PISMP A%,(3$) 4$)"$-( 2012
GROUP: INDE5 NUM!ER:

G5/1 (67%/ 5)

2012181340141

LECTURER:

P"$) N$9(*$# ,():( S#$(; I6%$(3

D$:7 O< SU!MISSION: DATE O< RECEPTION:

13 <E! 2014