Potatoes' experience during school visit

I had the privilege to visit one of the top Chinese private independent secondary school as part of our course and had gained much from the visit. The experience was an unusual one but an interesting one at that.

Despite having recently graduated students giving tours around the school and taking the time to answer our questions, somehow I can’t help but feel that it’s too perfect. Too good to be true and duh, of course the students have to say good things about the school! They mentioned how well equipped they are in terms of facilities, how the teachers encourage learner autonomy, how extensive the extra-curricular programmes are (pun non-intended), and how the school focuses on the Multiple Intelligence mode in terms of mastering the 3 main languages i.e. Bahasa, English and Mandarin.

There is however an acknowledgement that the school’s vision and missions are indeed impressive, being detailed and ambitious – placing the students’ welfare and need ahead. Most of their counterparts, i.e. public schools focus on becoming the top schools in their district, and raising academic scores. This school has shifted their priority and so achieving and obtaining a recognition of being one of the top secondary schools is a bonus.

It was all too perfect. Students accessing their eClass portal to do extra assessments and exercises for every single subject outside of classroom hours? Students open to learn and master 3 languages altogether despite being in a vernacular environment? Plus, I had forgotten to ask of the accessibility to all the facilities provided in the school – doesn’t mean that it’s used to the fullest if it’s there. Needless to say, from my personal point of view, it’s all too perfect.

Although it is admirable that some students aspire to achieve what the school intends to in their vision and mission, not all students feel the same way. I find the school very heavily influenced on Chinese culture i.e. it makes the school seemingly exclusive for people who are not from the Chinese community. In this environment, I find it hard to believe that the teachers would not portray any personal opinions about learning other languages especially English. What teachers feel and say in front of students can greatly affect the thinking of students.

I am most impressed that the school management takes another stand in developing the students’ academic and non-academic welfare. Providing teachers with many training courses, and putting monetary resources into infrastructural development to accommodate the increasing intake of the students and also the comfort of the staffs.

Also, I believe the school has made it clear to the students’ the benefits of participating extra-curriculum activities, which is very commendable. Regardless of the picture perfect image that was attempted to illustrate, the teachers seem to know very well the advantages to being exposed to more training courses, being reflective in their lessons as well as trying to be more student-centered in their lessons.

It’s a slow and step-by-step approach, but credits must be given to the teachers for trying to execute and the management for considering this as an important factor in an education institute. I hope that more public schools take on the role of Hin Hua Private Chinese Independent High School at Klang.