Education and Economics: Unwilling Bedfellows

However much you try, separating education and economics is like separating oil and water---the two don't really mix, but they're stuck together whether they like it or not.

Also an ingredient in this unlikely brew is politics and frankly, that's the case here in Malaysia and in the UK and US, whose leaders are now pressured more than ever to rejuvenate their respective education systems.Education is definitely the 'hot topic' in the latter two countries right now.

We've yet to see such strong fighting spirit from the Malaysian media or public for better education (evidently it isn't as 'sexy' as political or celebrity scandals). But I digress, after reading the following letter to Malaysiakini.com: 

What you must know about our economy

By Pak Sako

A new World Bank country report has this to say about Malaysia:

'The economy seems to be caught in a middle-income trap - unable to remain competitive as a high-volume, low-cost producer, yet unable to move up the value chain and achieve rapid growth by breaking into fast growing markets for knowledge and innovation-based products and services' (see page 53 of the full report).

We are unable to break into higher-value markets because our brightest minds leave the country in droves while our research institutions, such as our local universities, have woefully poor track records as far as research and innovation is concerned (negligible amount of publications in top academic journals and no significant, original product development; innovation effort against GDP per capita is lower than for Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines).

Our education system in general appears to stifle true and unbounded thinking and dissent — the preconditions for creativity and innovation. There are structural and institutional causes for this quagmire.
 

Read the rest of the letter here.