OutSyed The Box |
| Of Rote Learning And Creativity Posted: 02 Oct 2012 02:24 AM PDT Today IKIM has written another column in The Star. You can read it here. Titled "Of balance and holism" IKIM says the following (among other things, I have truncated the article)
E pluribus unum is Latin which means 'out of many, one' and is found on the Great Seal of the United States. But how does "adab" become "diversity in unity"? These are Syed Naguib Al Atas's followers again - the blind following the blind. Anyway, most definitely all non-Quran based religious thinking is definitely "low order thinking" or LOT. This applies to IKIM as well seeing that they are a religious outfit. And folks - this is not the first time they have done this - IKIM has not quoted even one verse from the Quran in their article. Not even one. IKIM means Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia. I say brader, macam mana kita nak faham Islam kalau kita tak rujuk Quran? Non-Quranic 'religion' seldom allows for high order thinking. The Quran on the other hand records terrible consequences for the human being who refuses to use his akal or brain. Dont believe me? Here is the verse : Surah 10:100 "No one can believe except in accordance with Allah's will. For He places an abomination (al-rijsa) upon those who refuse to use their akal" (laa ya'qiloon). Anyway, here is some first class gobbledygook by IKIM again :
To our friends in IKIM, here is OutSyed The Box's FIRST PRINCIPLE OF WRITING ANYTHING - the reader must understand what you are saying. By hook or by crook, get the people to understand what you are saying. Here I think IKIM sendiri tak faham apa dia cakap. Dont write to show off. I have deleted the rest of IKIM's article. Folks, much has been said about how bad is rote learning. Let us not be too hasty ok. Today the world's most vibrant economies, the most scientifically advanced societies (meaning societies where the use and appreciation of science is being maximised) and the most innovative people in the world (measured by the number of published scientific papers and patents) can be found in the traditional "rote learning" countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, India and even tiny Singapore. There is no doubt that these countries still stick to the "old fashioned" rote learning systems where students are thought to imbibe, memorise and recall volumes of knowledge. These are also among the wealthiest nations in the world. Singapore's per capita GDP is now No. 1 in the world. India is still the leader in computer programming for the whole world. Writing software requires tremendous amounts of innovative logic. (The idea is to minimise the number of lines of code to achieve the maximum output from the computer). And they do this quite well in India. Almost 30 years ago, in the early 80s when I attended Industrial Engineering classes in the US, the name that was buzzing around was Narendra Karmakar's Algorithm. This Indian guy in the US, a product of the Indian rote learning system, had produced a once in a lifetime "inspired by all the gods in India" type of algorithm for linear programming which reduced problem solving by a huge multiple. He achieved a type of "demi god" status at that time. Even the Americans could not match his creative genius. Instead AT&T (for whom Narendra Karmakar did the research) patented his discovery as theirs and made money from Karmakar's Algorithm. Similarly China is now leading the world in scientific research in many areas. And even separately India and China produce more published scientific papers than the US. Not just in science, mathematics and engineering but even in the arts the "rote learning" countries are leading the charge. Hollywood has world class movie directors who hail from India, China and the Middle East. The South Koreans are now capturing the world stage singing English songs !! Now that takes plenty of creativity. Dunia dah terbalik dah. In Literature, Indian and Iranian writers are winning Nobel Prizes and other world class literary recognition. Creativity depends on the type of knowledge you acquire. Yes there is rote learning in physics, chemistry, psychology etc. However the kids are taught to experiment and find empirical answers to scientific questions. Why does water boil? Why is the rainbow of seven colours? Rote learning is a tool to get children to ingest and recall the rules, discoveries, subject matter and the facts. All this also add up to become knowledge. What rules? That you must always observe and question. What discoveries? The discoveries that have been achieved through study and research. What subject matter? Subject matter that is relevant to make human life better. What facts ? The scientific fact that can be verified or the sound logic behind an argument. More than the method of learning, the type of knowledge you learn is more critical to make creative human beings. If you study physics, you can study Newton's Laws of Motion which tells you that a body has a tendency to move when a force is applied to it. No force no motion. The kids have to know this. Once they learn this, they can use this knowledge to become more creative. But if you are forced to accept that a winged horse can fly through the skies to a place even beyond Mars or Pluto (with no obvious propulsion other than maybe the flapping of magical horse's wings) then you will not be able to generate any new creativity. Believe me you will have zero creativity. To me, the most important result of any education system should be manifested in a better society within the shortest possible time. If you cannot create a better society within one lifetime, then all your "HOT" learning, your "LOT" religious thinking, your un-Quranic religion are all a total waste of time. Today we see better societies emerging in "huge quantities" in China, Japan, South Korea (and North Korea too - just wait and see), Taiwan, Singapore and other rapidly developing countries. Not only have they developed their physical and tangible resources but also their soft skills, their human potential, their arts, literature, music and dance. Now this is where I hope IKIM can contribute towards making the Muslims in Malaysia more dynamic and to be able to think and use their akal. Unfortunately this is not happening - not just among Muslims in Malaysia but among most Muslims all over the Islamic world. IKIM should work to overturn the fact and the reality that Muslims are NOT allowed to think. You just shut up and accept what the religious people tell you. Muslims attend thousands of sermons but they are not allowed to ask questions. If they ask tough questions, they will get scolded or frowned upon. In Malaysia if Muslims question a gazetted fatwa, they can be fined, jailed or both. If Muslims question the orthodox / mainstream version of the Shafiee religion, within the larger cluster of the Ahlul Sunnah Wal Jamaah religion - again they can be fined, jailed or both. Or books that do not reflect the "orthodox" view can be banned. This is worse than rote learning - this is called teaching by throwing in jail. And without a doubt IKIM is one of the praetorian guard that contributes to maintaining this brain dead system in Malaysia. It also makes all your religious scholarship quite cowardly because people will be afraid to seriously question you for fear of being sent to jail. Who wants to learn by "going to jail"? IKIM will never hear the different viewpoint or the critical views. So I think IKIM is a tad too hypocritical to be talking against "rote learning' when IKIM's own position is bolstered by 'teaching by throwing in jail'. I hope IKIM can contribute to the Muslim's thinking capacity (the use of akal) by advising the Muslims, the Gomen, the State Gomens, the fatwa people etc to annul or repeal all those Enakmen Agama that seek to prosecute Muslims for their beliefs and thoughts that may differ from the religious beliefs of Shafiee or the religious beliefs of Ahlul Sunnah Wal Jamaah.  |
| Money And The Church In Sarawak Posted: 01 Oct 2012 04:18 PM PDT OK to the Most Reverend Dato Sri Peter Chung Hoan Ting, DD, DCL, PNBS (Bishop, Archdiocese of Kuching) I think some of your parishioners want some questions answered.  Wah!! Handsome nya! 1. Why does the local padre in Padungan, Kuching travel to London for a month at least once a year? 2. Why not go to the Vatican for a month once a year and pray at St Peter's for guidance? 3. Was the padre's last London trip deliberately timed to coincide with the Summer Olympics? 4. How much does it cost the parish to pay for the local padre's month long sojourns in London? The money has to come from the Church. 5. The parishioner is none too happy that they are asked to donate for the maintenance of the local padre's mansion. I say, in Kuching tak ada double storey terrace house ke? 6. The parishioner says that you are sleeping on your job. Better wake up Dato Peter Chung. 7. Finally why arent you announcing the weekly Church collections anymore ? Too much money collected ke Dato? If this Blog post results in any positive action being taken by the Church in Sarawak, then OutSyed The Box is only too happy to be of service to the parishioners in Padungan, Kuching. Are we not all the handiwork of Allah the Creator?  |
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