Money is Not Enough
A common solution in third world countries to a policy problem is to pour more money into the project. It's a seductively tempting idea, since it is true that the odds of the problem being solved probably increase as more funding is allocated to it.
However, the problem with this thinking is illustrated clearly by the economic theory of diminishing marginal returns. Basically, when you increase one input without varying the amount of other inputs, at some point, you start seeing smaller increases in benefits, and eventually may even get less while paying more.
After all, if the fundamental premise of a policy is flawed, what good will more money do? And even if the policy is fundamentally a good idea, pouring more money in may just be a licence for those involved to spend profligately without tackling the actual issue.
Today, I heard an interesting proposal for tackling the decline in the quality of Malaysian universities. Why not simply stop funding all those students who go overseas to lacklustre universities, and pump this money into our local universities?
It's a seductively simple idea. After all, nobody ever saw a university die because of too much money. And we would definitely see some improvements in the unfortunate state of higher education here just by spending more money.
But the pertinent question is, does this go to the root of the problem? The Malaysian government's usual solution to any problem is to throw more money at it (it's good for the cronies, after all).
But has this ever really addressed the original cause of the issue? The reason our universities are struggling, the reason our roads are potholed, the reason we can't sleep safely at night, the reason for almost every problem Malaysia has, often has nothing to do with money.
Take our universities again. The reason they cannot produce quality research and quality graduates is because their faculty and students simply have no freedom to think. It's really that simple.
No matter how much funding you pour into them, no matter how grand and lavish the facilities are, if the people using them are not free to do as they wish with them, then how can you expect results?
Malaysians and the Malaysian government have to resist the temptation to throw money at every problem that crops up. Sometimes, it may even be worse than doing nothing.
(Infernal Ramblings is a Malaysian website focusing on current events and sociopolitical issues. Its articles run the gamut from economics to society to education.
Infernal Ramblings is run by John Lee. For more, see the About section. If you have any questions or comments, do drop him a line.
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| Related comments from forum thread "Why we shouldn't go to our public universities": | |
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johnleemk
Infernally Rambling Thoughtless Mind Head Administrator Posts: 948 IP Logged | Posted at 12:04:48 pm Oct 30, 2005
In recent days, two revelations have been made concerning the state of our local universities. The first is something everyone probably knows about - Universiti Malaya has fallen to 169th from 89th in the world according to the Times Higher Education Supplement. (One blogger speculates that this was caused by inaccurate methodology in compiling the 2004 rankings, at it seems the Times thought Chinese and Indian students at UM were international students.) Now, note the response of UM's vice-chancellor - it is not one of shock, dismay or even resigned apathy. Instead, he is condescendingly happy-go-lucky, as if UM dropped eight places instead of eighty: "I am not worried because we are still within the top 200." That's right - we should be grateful we're still in the top 200 and party like nobody's business. That seems to be the message here. If this is how local academics behave, I'd rather not be under the tutelage. Now, the other controversy is a bit less public but nonetheless remains rather damaging to the credibility of Malaysian tertiary education. The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) is a private institution partially funded by Malaysian taxpayers' money. Now, don't worry, IIUM admits non-Muslim students (one DAP MP, Fong Po Kuan, actually has a degree from there). The catch is that if you're a woman, you have to wear a tudung to your convocation (graduation) ceremony. Even if you're a non-Muslim, it's mandatory. Before 2004, you were supposedly only "encouraged" (even though Fong had to wear the tudung to her graduation) to wear it, but in 2004, the university made it compulsory. Now, remember, you (or your parents) are the ones paying for this! It's just too bad that public universities are more affordable, so undoubtedly some of us will have to attend them. Still, it's clear that we ought to steer clear of them. Even the faculty are academically straitjacketed by the "akujanji" (an oath not to say anything that the government doesn't like). Even if UM is one of the top 200 universities in the world, it makes you wonder whether it's being boosted only by its graduate institutions, with the undergraduates being woefully left behind. Edit: Check out the interview with our Higher Education Minister, Shafie Mohd Salleh (yes, the same guy who said he would ensure the quota for Bumiputra entry into public universities will be raised "higher and higher" in the October 31st NST. When the interviewer says "Critics say the Act has stifled students' potential and made them docile compared to their overseas' counterparts who are not governed by such an act" (referring to the University and University Colleges Act), Shafie doesn't blab about how we value freedom of thought or independent thinking. He doesn't even pretend we try to encourage it here. Instead, guess what he says? "We want our students to score 4.0 in CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average)." This is the same as being asked "Do Malaysian schools value thinking?" and responding "We want our students to score straight As." It doesn't matter if you can't think, skor A saja, pun boleh! MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!!!!! |
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johnleemk
Infernally Rambling Thoughtless Mind Head Administrator Posts: 948 IP Logged | Posted at 9:44:49 am Nov 2, 2005
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/7162/varsity0107ff.jpg Simply unbelievable. This is the product of Wawasan 2020 in our universities. First they boasted about being 89th in the world, and now they find reason to be proud that they're in the top 200? MALAYSIA BOLEH |
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johnleemk
Infernally Rambling Thoughtless Mind Head Administrator Posts: 948 IP Logged | Posted at 12:36:23 pm Nov 4, 2005
BEHOLD THE MASTERY OF THE OLD GLORY. Can anyone who speaks the dialect of English Universiti Malaya speaks please explain this to me? |
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bosslepton
Member Posts: 1 IP Logged | Posted at 11:03:20 pm Mar 13, 2007
John, mind me but this is the first time I've ever been to your site and this really is an eye opener. For starters, I wasn't even thinking anything to do with politics even when I was in Form 5. I'm not sure if u're already a university student or not, but when you're in university(like me), rankings doesn't matter to us anymore. To me, once a university is recognized, it is a good university. What actually matters is the quality of professors and lecturers they have in these universities. I'm pretty sure UM and USM have a good deal of outstanding professors and lecturers, maybe some of them didn't even have the chance to show what they are really capable of, if you get what I mean. The way a university gets recognized is pretty much very simple to understand. Just think of universities as a factory churning out graduates prepared for the working world. Now, I'm not gonna involved any medical degrees because they work on a different platform as any other professions. When companies start to recognized the quality of the graduates of a certain university, the university itself will start accumulating the much needed fame. One thing that we have to bear in mind however, is that universities in Malaysia currently are not that open to freedom of speech. I would say not expressing ones mind clearly is a built-in trait in Malaysians, particularly those not from a big city like KL. This I think is a worry for us, for universities live on new ideas. It is however a good sign that the current internet boom is helping to improve on this matter. And it also helps the exchange of ideas, like what I'm trying to do now. I agree on your view that going to as many As as possible is just unrealistic and a waste of time. I however cannot agree that we blame the drop in universities ranking solely on the the Higher Education Ministry. They are part of the reason but not all, students are just not living up to expectations enough currently. And I have to admit I still haven't live up to my expectations yet. Hahaha, ohh and 1 more thing, I think this view of scoring more and more As is mostly due to the generous award of JPA scholarships. Correct me if I'm wrong. |
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johnleemk
Infernally Rambling Thoughtless Mind Head Administrator Posts: 948 IP Logged | Posted at 7:23:42 am Mar 19, 2007
What actually matters is the quality of professors and lecturers they have in these universities. I'm pretty sure UM and USM have a good deal of outstanding professors and lecturers, maybe some of them didn't even have the chance to show what they are really capable of, if you get what I mean. Of course, but from what I understand of our public universities these people are preciously few in number. We haven't had academics of true calibre since the time of Syed Hussein Alatas and Ungku Aziz. They are part of the reason but not all, students are just not living up to expectations enough currently. And I have to admit I still haven't live up to my expectations yet. That's partly because there's no incentive to truly succeed in terms of academic prowess. The only competition is for scoring As, and our education system seems to have a lot of false positives in this area. Our students can't compete internationally and can't be employed simply because our education system isn't giving them the right incentives and the right preparation. And who's responsible for the education system? The Education and Higher Education Ministries. Hahaha, ohh and 1 more thing, I think this view of scoring more and more As is mostly due to the generous award of JPA scholarships. Correct me if I'm wrong. LOL, I'm not sure. Most people I know just seem to want score As for the sake of scoring. Not much thought goes into whether or not having an A is actually worth it. Most people only realise how worthless our way of grading students currently is after they leave the public primary/secondary education system. |
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flim1961
Member Posts: 2 IP Logged | Posted at 12:36:08 pm Jul 23, 2008
Another well written and insightful article. I share your frustrations even though secondary school to me was almost 30 years ago. sadly, most of my friends who migrated have indicated that they will not send their kids to a malaysian public school for the same reasons you outlined. Not to say that the alternatives in foreign countries are that much better, but at least you are given to shine as an individual and your passions in a particular topic is encouraged and that is where you shine. Hope Dartmouth is treating you well. |
