One has to consider the nature of aspects of change in the structure of human society. There must be dialogue of a new dimension between parents and teachers, between people in all walks of life whose activities impinge upon the development of the child. This has to be reinforced by the development of educational research of a new direction, because much of the existing research is only of a pseudo-scholarship nature that contributes nothing (or almost) to the well-being of child and community. Unless we are able to show positive sensitivity and imagination about the child’s intellectual, social and spiritual growth, we will have to face elements disruptive of what is desirable in education. Simply paying lip-service and entertaining discussions in a vacuum by pseudo educationists, devoid of a proper sense of direction, can only lead to educational disaster. There is no place for amateurism in education. Unfortunately, education is the domain where one can commit “murder” and get away with it.

The world of tomorrow is certainly going to be dominated by the application of technology. Life is going to be richer in the material sense. In addition to the basic unchanging requirement of the child, there will be significant differences in emphasis upon the content and methods of approach. More emphasis will have to be put on communication skills, learning skills, social skills, values, among others.

The written word is the window that opens on the world of the past and present. The one who can read and write is able to acquire all the knowledge of the ancient and the modern world. He/she can, so to say, entertain conversation with the living and the dead whose immortalised messages and discoveries as well as inventions are for his enjoyment and learning. It is through reading that we enrich the repertoire of our knowledge and promote self-development. Writing is a vehicle that enables us not only to express our ideas, but also to “immortalise one moment of our geniality” for the benefit of others in our constant struggle towards perfection. From that viewpoint, we can say film, radio and television may provide direct and vivid experience, but they are only a supplementary mode of communication that cannot supersede the written word. The advantage with the written form of words is that they can be referred back to and pondered upon. Consequently, the possession of fluency in written words is certainly a priority gift for everyone.

As a result of the application of technology in the exploitation of natural resources, people are bound to be more mobile. The constant learning of new skills and the compulsion to change the nature of their jobs several times will result in people having to adapt themselves quickly to different patterns of society. We can no more concentrate our learning process solely from the teacher’s point of view. Independent learning or learning how to learn is the more important skill to possess rather than the acquisition of bits of ready-made knowledge and information watered down our minds.

During the past decades, much effort has been made towards curriculum reform in the world. But the rate with which knowledge is at present accumulated appears to make such an objective ridiculous. Globalisation is now contributing its share to making unsatisfactory the content of education with a local vocational bias. To the devising of any satisfactory curriculum, I would like to ask the following question : what element of knowledge should a student possess in order to become an intelligent and cooperative citizen, possessing the ability for fulfilling himself? One thing for sure, he must acquire the knowledge in how and where to look for information. The teacher should also be equipped to enable himself to handle whatever data and material appropriate to the learning needs of the child – the objective should be for the child to make of experiences his own.

I would also like to mention how exceptionally important is the pre-school experience. There is considerable evidence that between birth and the age of about four years is the period extremely critical for the potential intellectual development of the child. The releasing of funds for this period of the child’s life and the acquisition of trained teachers with the required skills to deliver the goods is of paramount importance.

Finally, it appears that we are too ready to trust the past mythology of what good education should be. Now that there is a taxonomy of education that can assist in analysis and determination of objectives, educational experts can promote the idea of systematic work within the domain. With a more scientific approach, we can professionally cater for the right education.

Andre WAN CHOW WAH</B> <I>Associate Professor</I>