THE KANSAS CITY KANSAN

– Feb. 2004 –

During my recent travels in Malaysia, my young leaders group visited an Islamic magnet school in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. In some ways it felt like a Catholic or Presbyterian religious high school here in the U.S. The Malaysian national government funds all education, including 56 Islamic magnet high schools nationwide, by giving each school a simple operating grant based on student enrollment. The school funding is 100% from the Malaysian national government, which also provides health care and retirement benefits for the teachers and staff and all costs for building construction. The government also funds a system of Chinese magnet schools in deference to the large population of Chinese citizens.This Muslim school operates like a magnet academy and admission is competitive and restrictive. Each year, 600-700 students apply for entry, but only 125 are admitted based on entrance exam scores. The students tend to be from Malaysia’s middle and upper class families. Although the national government funds all the capital and operating expenses of the school, a small tuition is charged to the families. Students who are not admitted to any of the magnet academies attend a normal public school. Special education students are segregated and educated in special schools. Malaysian students spend six years in primary school, three years in secondary or junior high, and two years at high school.

There were 676 students with a teaching staff of 53 and 21 support staff. This equates to a teacher-student ratio of 12:1. In comparison, most American public high schools have a teacher-student ratio of 16 or 18 to 1. Teachers are paid about $600 per month, and enjoy the same well-funded national health care and retirement plan enjoyed by all Malaysian citizens.

The school’s curriculum includes math, science, religion, history, physical education, English, and Arabic. Evolution theory is discussed, but the main religious emphasis is on Islam.

The student’s schedule is regimented and controlled – out of bed and a shower at 5:30am; morning worship and prayer at 6am; breakfast at 6:45am; and an all school assembly at 7:10am. Classes run from 7:30 am until 2pm. Athletics, exercise and chores take place in the afternoon. Evenings are reserved for worship, dinner and study time. The students wear uniforms with young men in white shirts, dark slacks, dress shoes, and traditional Malay caps when outdoors. Young women all wear beige or white scarves covering their hair, and long colorful, floral-print sarong type dresses. Discipline, attentiveness, good posture and manners are excellent.

Students live on campus in dorms during the school year, and they go home only about once per month. Visits by family take place on weekends. A pass from the headmaster is required to leave the campus.

The school campus included a classroom building, separate boys and girls dorms, a combination mosque and assembly hall, dining hall and laundry facility complete with open air hang-drying, tennis courts and soccer field. The building architecture and layout was simple and spartan, but extremely clean. The classrooms had older, but clean and well-maintained furnishings. The dorms reminded me of Army barracks. They were simple and clean. Students slept on bunk beds, and had only a small locker for personal effects. TVs and stereos were not allowed in the dorms. A common study hall was utilized by all students. While the school buildings were not of the architectural splendor or roominess of the new Turner High School, they were not as expensive either. They reminded me of Kansas public and religious schools from the 1950’s: sturdy but simple brick construction, frugal, practical and without air conditioning. The grounds were lush with tropical vegetation including coconut and palm trees and a variety of tropical flowers. The headmaster, principal, and assistant principal all had modest homes on campus. Slogans, religious verses, and encouragements were abundant on the walls and grounds, always exhorting the students to study, behave, and achieve. “The excellent student always follows the rules.”

Malaysians value education as much as we do. The big difference is that their education system is fully financed and controlled by their national government, whereas ours in the U.S. is controlled by local school boards, state legislatures, and the federal government, and no single entity fully funds our schools. Their system also provides government support for religious and ethnic magnet schools, a policy of much discussion, but not in policy here in the U.S. I learned many lessons during my travels in Malaysia. Most importantly is that most Muslims are not like the Middle East radicals, as seen on TV, and in fact are peaceful, productive people. I also understand that Malaysian people are much like Americans: they just want peaceful and happy lives for themselves and their families.

02/2004