Uniforms for teachers: Go for thinking, reading

2011/01/25
MAIMUN HUSSIN, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur
letters@nst.com
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I HAVE been following with interest the debate on a proposal that teachers wear uniforms to work. Many arguments have been forwarded to support the proposal, some logical and others simplistic or funny.
One argument is that the uniform would give a corporate look to teachers and this would make them more respected. It looks like dress matters more than knowledge.

With due respect to teachers, many of them do not have the global knowledge required for the creation of a knowledge society.


They may master the subjects they teach but, apart from that, many do not know much about the world beyond their textbooks.

With books to mark, paperwork to do, co-curricular activities to carry out, teachers just do not have the time to read more than their textbooks.

With an exam-based education system, students need not know more than the facts in their textbooks. Thus, there is no necessity for teachers to know about foreign direct investment, the eurozone debt crisis or even the National Key Result Areas or the Government Transformation Programme.


The focus is on, and has always been, examination results, be it the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR), Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) or Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) exams.

At the onset of a new year, teachers and students are reminded of the need to go for straight As, for the school to be in the Ivy League of high-performance schools, cluster schools of excellence and whatever else.

The process of manufacturing straight As thus begins and the students will be subject to a series of examinations until the end of another year.


I wish to thank Samuel Yesuiah, ("Rekindle passion for books"-- NST, Jan 11), for reminding Malaysians to cultivate the reading habit. Please focus on this basic necessity -- reading -- instead of uniforms for teachers which is neither urgent nor necessary.

Teachers have their code of dressing and it is for them to know and to abide by the rules and not dress themselves up like a Christmas tree, nor be so casual that they do not carry the image of a teacher.

Image consultants should be invited to give talks on grooming for teachers, too, but a teacher in decent clothes who carries herself well and is dedicated, hardworking and knowledgeable will earn the respect of the students, not someone in "corporate clothes" but is "half-past six" in language and knowledge.

It must also be noted that a teacher can look like a school cleaner in the so-called corporate uniform. Go for the corporate way of thinking, but in the way the corporate world works, not in the way it dresses.

Make reading our way of life, but remember Mark Twain's words: "A man who does not read good books is no better than a person who does not read at all."

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oerp: Couldn't agree more.