Category: Thoughts

The Problem with Teaching & Education


 

What are my thoughts on teaching & education?

The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.
Alvin Toffler

I think that teaching and education has reached a sad state. We no longer teach, we dump facts. We no longer educate, we expect memorisation. We are no longer taught to think as individuals but to think in a certain way. We are no longer educated, we are brainwashed. We no longer learn to think, we no longer think to learn.

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
Anthony J. D’Angelo

The most important thing that should come come abut after 12 years of formal schooling is the ability to think. Thinking is very much underrated in school now. You are no longer encourage to be creative, and to think outside the box but instead to be a square, follow the line and remember that there is only one way or a certain way to answer a question.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
William Butler Yeats

I thank my mum for forcing me into Cosmotots, the place that taught me the way of thought and thinking. They did this through literature, they showed me that a book wasn’t just a story, that you didn’t have to take something at face value. That anything can be deconstructed and analysed, the something ins always not what it seems. Thank you mother and thank you Sir.

The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.
Robert M. Hutchins

If we cannot think, if we cannot form out own points and opinion then are we not just robots and clones? Programmed to think a certain way, taught a certain way, taught the same thing.

Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Malcolm Forbes

I apologise if I insulted anyone, that was never my intention, I am not saying that all teachers are doing this, I have met many teachers that have actually taught me, teachers who knew what education was supposed to do, but unfortunately there aren’t enough of them. We need to take a page out of the education playbook of the West. The teachers I had when I was at ICPU (International Canadian Pre-Universirty which is the Ontario High School certification) we’re amazing, they encouraged us to think and developed our minds, I have never had so much fun in English or learned so much in an English class, thanks Mr. G.

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.
John W. Gardner

Education is the key to personal growth,

Yes knowledge is power, but only if you know how it use it.

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay 6

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The New Pot of Gold


 

Good evening readers, I hope that today has been a good labour day so far for all of you.

A couple weeks back, i read a story on The Edge, the story on “Rail Poltiics”, a story about the lucrative train projects up for grabs, the end of the ‘Highway Gold Rush’ and the people involved.

What I realised is that we have a lot of highways… The NPE, Kerinchi link, Guthrie, Penchala Link, NKVE, North-South Highway etc etc etc. our government spent a lot of money laying down roads for us and a lot of people made money laying down roads for us, and that’s all fine and dandy, the NPE is brilliant, I love the Kerinchi, so no complaints here. But public transport was neglected.

What’s happening now is that we’re moving on to a new “Gold Rush”, mass public transport, trains. Projects estimated to be worth about RM70 billion. Malaysians, we’re going to see a public transport boom in the next decade or so, and yes it’s pretty late, but better late than never.

“More than RM70 billion worth of rail-related projects have been slated for the next decade, including the prized RM50 billion Klang Valley mass rapid transport project.” – The Edge

But then, I thought about this, why didn’t we spend all that “Highway & Road” money on public transport and now work on highways… I mean that would have been more beneficial for all of us right? But then if we already had a public transport boom and had trains running everywhere, then we really wouldn’t need that money highways would we? Not to mention that we needed people to keep buying cars to prop up Proton but I digress, the point is we would have spent less only if the government had started with the Public Transport Boom instead of the Highway & Road Boom, it’s not like we didn’t have the tech then, we made the LRT back in ’97. But I guess if the government had spent less money overall, then the parties involved wouldn’t have made as much money and wouldn’t be able to further make more money now is this new Gold Rush.

But it’s fine, better late than never, the money was pumped into our economy and we at least have some pretty good highways, and we can mow look forward to the betterment of our public transport system. Over the next decade plus we are going to see a lot of money (billions) being poured into infrastructure, I just hope that the regular players aren’t the only ones making money form this.

“This makes rail-related construction the second fastest growing sector after oil and gas.” – The Edge (follow @Lopeztheedge on twitter)

We’re moving out of The Highway Gold Rush and into the Rail Gold Rush.

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay6

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Review: Volkswagen Polo TSI


To kick start the reviews on arkay6.com, I introduce to you, Giselle, my Volkswagen Polo.

Ok, maybe she isn’t technically my car, but I am the primary driver and the she in under my care and is my responsibility.I have to thank Jasjeet Singh Sidhu for introducing me to the world of the Polo. Thanks Jas. 🙂

But anyway, back to the review.

The Polo is a 1.2 litre car, super charged and turbo charged (whatever that means). It’s a small car, but it packs a mean punch, even though it’s only 1.2. All of the people that have been in my car never believe me when I tell them the engine capacity, especially after I “test” the car out. It’s remarkable how much power this little car packs, definitely the most powerful among its competitors in its class ( Ford Fiesta, Honda Jazz, Suzuki Swift) but also more expensive. The car is priced at about RM105 000.

What I like: She gets about 400km to RM70 (RM0.18 per km according to my fuel app), there are plenty of little compartments to put things in, drawers under the drivers seat and “shotgun” seat’ another compartment in the booth ( and not this is not where the spare tire is, the spare tire is under this compartment) which i really like, cause it helps keep the car organised. as for power, I’ve taken the car to 190kmph and it felt stable, and it picks up so damn fast, the power can actually be shocking at times. The stock speakers are pretty decent.

What I don’t like: 15inch rims, the side mirrors don’t auto fold, the stock head unit is pathetic (I got my own one), the car tends to move backwards when on a slope when not moving (but it quickly kicks into gear to counter, but it still takes some getting used to), water enters the car when you open the windows after it rains and most painful of all, when washing the car I damaged the paint by pulling up the wipers (there’s a specific way to pull it up, which includes having to press something in the car).

Overall, after 6 months of being with her, she may have her little quirks but I love her. She’s small, powerful, fun to drive, easy to park, fuel efficient & practical.

I highly recommend this car, and if get one, don’t name her Giselle, that name’s already taken.

Cheers,

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay 6

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Yea, I’m an Apple Fanboy


So yea, I’m an Apple fan boy. I will not apologise for it, I will not hide it, and I certainly will not deny it.

Apple announced its earning and it did not disappoint, I expect the stock to go up again and i really do think, if they keep up the pace, that they’ll achieve a Trillion dollar market capital in a year or two. But anyway, back to me and being an apple fan boy.

Nowadays gadgets are more than products simply because of the difference in rival products and the philosophies of the companies that produce them. It’s the new cultural divide.

I buy apple products because of the ecosystem they’ve created, it all just fits, it all works, it’s simple and yea, they look brilliant. iCloud ties up everything nicely, my MacBook is the hub, though not as important now, of the system, my iPad and iPhone help me maximise my productivity and keep me connected. Apple makes their users feel comfortable and feel apart of something bigger. And even the little things matter, like AirPlay and AirPrint, the lack of mess in their systems, which is a huge android problem (fragmentation). I guess that is what appeals to me the most, the cleanliness of Apples products, the work together perfectly to form an amazing tech ecosystem, everything is in sync. Once you buy one apple product, you’re are more likely to buy another and stay in this brilliant ecosystem. I’m now looking for a way to use Airport Extreme with Unifi and also raise some money for a Time Capsule and Apple TV because I’m trying to bring more wireless was to my home complete the Apple Ecosystem. I just bought an Airport Express and I love it, the ability to play music wireless and control it from my iPhone.

But you get the point, Apple does a great job at integrating its products, far better than any other company. If you’ve already got one apple product, then you know what to do.

Yes, Apple products are more expensive but they last and are worth the money. My iPhone 3G is still alive and kicking, it’s my dads backup phone and the iPhone 3GS is probably going to be passed on to my brother and my iPhone 4, still brilliant.

I’m loving the new iPad, the apps are great, the display is brilliant and I’m getting a lot of reading and writing done now. Newsstand is great, I love reading the Star, Edge Financial daily and Fortune on it. The Bloomberg app helps me keep track of the markets. Twitter on the iPad is amazing. If you want a tablet don’t waste your time looking at anything else. iPad for the win. More when I review then iPad which should be online next week.

Even though I am an Apple fan boy, it doesn’t mean that I hate everything that isn’t Apple. It just means that I like Apple products more than anything else. I like Google, Samsung, HTC and all the other competitors because they keep Apple on it’s toes. The better the products rivals makes, the more apple has to step up. Win for consumer and Apple Fans.

Peace out,

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay6

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What are you Voting (waiting) for?


 

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, and for those who were disappointed I apologize for the long wait.

So a few days back I finally registered myself as a voter… after much procrastination. While I was sitting a the post office, waiting for my number to be called up, waiting to be given my Right as a citizen, my mind went off on a tangent, this one was on change, politics and who I would vote for.

First off i would like to say that i’m neither a supporter of BN or PKR, but i am a supporter of progress for this nation and the only way that will happen is that if there is strong competition between political parties to win the right to lead this nation.

In essence, a government works for it’s citizens… the citizens pay taxes that in turn the government uses to finance itself. A politician is nothing more than a servant to the People, such as a CEO is a servant to his/her shareholders. Unfortunately, the mindset has somehow changed and it has come to a point where the dynamics between the government and the People has… altered. The People have become active, less interested and less aware. This has lead to the abuse of power by politicians because they have begun taken their position for granted. In a word, Complacency had set it. Not just with elected official but with the People as well. Fortunately over the past few years the People have started waking up, waking up to their Rights. Waking up to the fact that Politicians should be afraid of them and not the other way around, that they are not as helpless as they thought that they were. The problem is that not enough people are waking up. I am constantly disappointed by the number of people, especially around my age, that couldn’t care about voting, some because they don’t think they can make a difference, some because they think that it’s just so easy to gain citizenship elsewhere and others who just don’t’ give a damn. These mindsets need to change, you can make a difference, this is your country and why don’t you give a damn. Malaysia is still a young country and we have a long way to go, but let us not forget that we have also come along way since 1957. Just as how the most booming industries are the ones with major competitors, Politics needs major competitors to obtain the best results, not for the politicians themselves but for us… the people because the people who benefit the most from competition, is Us.

So from now on, if anyone asks, I’m voting for the better choice, for change, for progress. I will not be confined to just being a supported of BN or PKR, i will not join this mindset of having to be either a “Republican” or a “Democrat“. I will vote for what is best for my future, our future, the future of this nation.

The only constant in life is change. It’s normal. It’s inevitable. It’s necessary for the progress. It’s necessary for the survival of the human race.

Straight From the Heart,

Arkay6

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Patience, Balance, Focus & Hard Work.