Re-inventing Education

Should our education system cater for our immediate needs or prepare our future generation for future challenges?

That was one of the issues raised by Tan Sri Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, the Vice-Chancellor of USM at a forum on sustainability at the 8th Asian Academy of Management International Conference in Kuantan yesterday. He argues that education is about preparing for the future so that we could continue to enjoy meaningful life. In doing so, leadership of universities should stand up and do the right thing rather than conceding to the demands from politicians and industrialists who may not have our long term interest in mind.

Tan Sri Dzulkifli also make a point about the need to address the sustainability issues and ensuring a mode balance distribution of wealth among the world's population. At the end of the day we need to re-learn to be human.

As a co-panellist, I discussed my perception about business and the need for business to add value and manage the changing environment. To me, the collapse of the global financial system was mainly driven by greed and the only way forward is to address this issue. However, developed countries do not want to accept the fact that we have ignored the fundamentals of being human.

I also touched about form over substance, that we are obsessed to demonstrate conformance and missing the meaning of our effort. My sharing how different institutions react to change, I strongly propose for a meaningful civil society to be nurtured in Malaysia to provide a check and balance against business which may not be concern about our long term sustainability.