In the 20 years — and counting — that I have attended school, many things have happened that are of importance; but one vital thing is the need for curriculum developers to let go of traditional approaches of execution regarding syllabus development. Students are primary stakeholders in education management, but where is their stand when it comes to curriculum development? This reminds me of a friend who told me that his child will remain home-schooled and identify, on his own, what best suits his goals, instead of ‘jumping on a bandwagon in pursuit of education’. Given his experience with education, I pushed to find out why he chose home-schooling, rather than mainstream learning. He said there is no such thing as ‘solid’ knowledge, therefore, learners should have a position in developing the curriculum or education, and have a place in society. In The fourteen precepts of engaged Buddhism by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist, he states: “Do not think that the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice non-attachment from your views in order to be open to receive other’s viewpoints. Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times.” We must understand that students and teachers are all learners, in one way or the other, and that we keep learning from each other. For this to work well, we should embrace an approach where teachers and students discuss education, and in the end, both will acquire vibrant experiences. According to Paulo Freire, teaching is banking contents into the heads of the students, while learning is interacting with students. And during the learning process, knowledge is developed based on the needs and experiences of students. And with the guidance of a teacher, a course can be re-designed to align with the needs of the students. When you look at our teaching space environment, it is an imbalanced situation between the teacher and student. However, this relationship is of no significance to teachers or students, as it instead exerts all powers to the teachers, leaving students voiceless in the learning process. While we can’t rule out the fact that teachers are curriculum makers, we must understand that they are not the overall supervisors; a broad curriculum plan should be created in advance, but we should not be limited to a systematic approach, particularly regarding defining objectives and evaluating the learning outcomes. Students’ interests and experiences also need to be considered as this has proved to create engaged learning. Teachers should pay attention to levels of participation and be willing to talk to students about what and how they learn. I will admit that this might be difficult to do when there are expectations and deadlines to consider, however, adhering to a strict schedule will not produce the best students if the content is ‘stiff’.
