why i think the way schools handle KOKURIKULUM - Badan Beruniform, Sukan/Permainan & Kelab/Persatuan suck big time.
in one of the many messaging groups i am in, i came across a parent's inquiry on how do students get sorted into extra-curriculum activities for schools..
"untuk koko badan beruniform & sukan memang pilihan dibuat oleh guru-guru ya? tanpa pilihan minat anak-anak sendiri?
anak saya tak minat langsung dengan catur tapi diletakkan dalam group catur. bila suruh tukar apa yg dia minat, cikgu pesan terima sahaja pilihan yang guru tetapkan.
bagi pendapat saya, sekurang-kurangnya anak murid berhak untuk memilih 3 pilihan yg mereka minat dan selebihnya guru tentukan dalam 3 pilihan tadi.
mudahkan urusan guru, tapi anak-anak terus ditentukan tanpa pilihan anak-anak sendiri."
sad to say, my kids have this problem too. the school gives out a list of all available clubs, badan beruniform and sports but when students don't get into the clubs that they want to join - with the school's excuse that their chosen clubs are full - they're forced to join clubs that are of little interest to them.
first of all, these kids should be allowed to join clubs that they are interested in, isn't that the whole point of joining them in the first place?
i still remember the day my daughter told me that she was supposed to sign up for extra-curriculum. she was interested in joining the cooking club; she used to tell me she wanted to be a chef one day (not to be a wet rag, but i don't think that ambition of hers will last, but at least she had ambition, yes? =D). anyway, on the day they were supposed to choose, she called later to tell me she didn't get to join any of the clubs and badan beruniform that she initially wanted.
just imagine, there were about 150 students in Form 1 who wanted to register for extra-curriculum activities for the first time, so what are the odds that most of them would want to join the same club?
- the Cooking Club apparently had limited spots available, so of course my daughter didn't get to join. she tried for English next, but that one was full too. finally decided to join BM just because that club wasn't full yet;
- Tunas Puteri / Puteri Islam was filling up fast too, but they prioritized students that already bought the uniform, as well as former members, so she was pushed aside and had to settle for TKRS;
- Badminton was the only one she chose and managed to get in. haha.
just so you know, these days she's slowly starting to lose interest in the kitchen, which is a bit saddening to me. i wonder if she did happen to get into the club she wanted, she'd still offer to help me out in the kitchen once in a while. i may just never find out. drama kan. haha.
she sends her younger sister to help me instead. CHIS.
i haven't even begin to elaborate on student favoritism. and let's not start on situations where the student was one of the earliest to sign up for her preferred club, but was transferred into another club instead because there weren't enough people in the other clubs (they supposedly had to even out the quota). ironically, a friend of hers signed up much later but managed to get into the club, so where's the fairness in that?
and why do you even limit the number of students in one club anyway? nak jaga quota la konon. it's a free country, what's wrong with letting them belong in a club they enjoy and actually want to be in, apa susah? imagine you have a judo club with only 3 members. takkan la you nak force students into the club just for the sake of evening out the quota? well okay, statistically 2 or 3 students might get smitten by judo, but what about the others? then what? be stuck in a club they're not interested in until they graduate? kids can try something and not like it the same way adults do.
the excuse "kita nak beri pendedahan semua jenis sukan kepada murid-murid" defeats the purpose of allowing the students to choose in the first place. you might as well just decide for them who gets into what, am i right? tak payah bagi harapan palsu kat students if you won't even let them join the clubs of their liking.
another daughter of mine was put into chess club (i have no idea how she winded up in that club haha) but until today she has no idea how to play chess T___T. tu pun satu. isn't the club supposed to teach her how? i'm sorry, but why again do we have clubs and persatuan if she has no idea what she's doing in the club in the first place? pendedahan, what?
you can't force hobbies / interests onto kids. you can introduce them to, sure. but that's not the reason schools have all these curriculum in the first place, yes? you join clubs to gain knowledge, skills and experience in regards to the club of choice. and it's also the best way to expand your circle of friends. these school clubs are supposed to be fun and exciting for the students, BUT when they get thrown into random clubs to 'even out the clubs' member count (which is such a lame excuse, mind you), you're just simply forcing a kid to do something they have very little interest in and suck all the fun out of it. and that's just sad.
i don't think i'm the only parent that feels this way, but nothing much can be done about the system anyway. now that everyone's stuck at home and everything is conducted online, i can't fathom why they don't just let students join anything they want to. i'd want to leave school with happy memories, and extra-curriculum is an important aspect to make that happen, trust me.
