My PhD Journey (Part 4) - TE901

This was also written in February, 2010

Salam everyone! This part adalah sambungan daripada part yang lepas, about courses that I took during my 1st semester. 

Untuk kelas TE901 pulak nama panjang dia Proseminar in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education. Nama macam simple je bunyiknya tapi requirements nya masyaallah!! Tuhan saja yang tahu. Faculty namanya Dr. Peter Youngs. An extremely nice guy in his late 40’s. Masalah dia ni, dia cakap macam bullet train and monotonous pulak tu! Selalunya bila dia berhenti cakap kita orang suma terpinga-pinga sebab tak tau dia tanya soalan ke or he was merely making a statement. Ha..ha..I ingat I je yang confuse macam tu. Tapi bila sembang ngan kawan-kawan omputih tu rupa-rupanya dia orang pun selalunya confuse jugak! 

Kelas ni start dengan discussion pasal education scenario in the US start dari 1800 sampai la sekarang. So keluar la asal usul sekolah dia yang start dengan republicans, protestants, catholic ..with conventional curriculum..Aristotle, Socrates, Plato… bla..bla...then immigrants flooding in, dia orang start establish public schools, zaman Horace Mann fighting for equality in education, school as a tool to unite the people, to Americanize the immigrants.

Then masuk zaman progressive education yang promote modern sets of curriculum, to prepare youth for job market, vocationalization, etc. Masa tu curriculum jadi rojak. Public schools offered subjects yang complex macam English literature hinggakan subject macam hobbies (fishing, landscaping, fashion designing). Lepas tu public criticized cakap public school’s curriculum had been watered down, dah tak mencabar, jadi mediocre, tak de quality. Bila Russia launched Sputnik, orang US dah gelabah. Semua blame the education system. So, keluar la report Nation At Risk. It was actually a public pressure suruh rombak curriculum.

Then group-group sociologists macam Dewey, Thorndike, Rury, Cohen ni pun tak habis-habis la dok promote theory masing-masing. Keluar la teori-teori reproduction, resistance, critical, functionalism, existentialism, etc…with their own beliefs, their own arguments. Yang lecehnya kita kena tau tiap-tiap satu ni, apa yang dia sokong, apa yang dia bangkang. Kadang-kadang tu ada overlapping pulak among the groups. Payah betul nak ingat satu-satu. Final paper soalan ni jugak yang keluar! Dah habih belajar pasal tu, dia masuk pulak US education policies yang ada sekarang dari zaman Clinton, Bush, sampai Obama. Belajar la benda-benda macam charter schools, magnet schools, school vouchers, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), etc. Budak-budak mat salleh tu ok la pasal dah belajar sejarah US, tapi international students terpaksa la terkejar-kejar. Kalau tak ketinggalan hogwart express la jawabnyer ..

                            (Dr.Youngs yang pakai dok kat tengah2 tu..)

Tapi yang bagusnya si Peter ni faham masalah kita orang. Dia siap buat extra class untuk international students to brief us on US education system. Kalau masa discussion dalam kelas pun hujung-hujung dia akan tanya, ada tak similarities or differences tentang apa yang berlaku kat US dengan education system di negara masing-masing. Masa tu kita orang pun ada peluang la nak bercakap. International students yang ada dalam kelas tu dari Pakistan, China, Chile, Israel & Malaysia. Peter ni sebenarnya lahir kat Korea tapi lepas tu family dia pindah balik ke US. Dia pun supervise ramai international students. So dia macam ada open sikit la. Tak macam lecturers yang tak pernah involve dengan bangsa lain, dia orang ni kurang sensitive pasal ni. Dia main langgar je discuss pasal US, tak peduli pun kami yang tak faham hujung pangkal.

Educational issues yang dibincangkan kat sini sebenarnya  lebih kurang sama je. Teacher quality, access to quality education, inequality, segregation (black community & Latinos), curriculum, standardized exam, etc. Cuma yang bezanya kat sini school council/school board dia lebih banyak authority. Dia orang yang lantik principal, and pilih cikgu. Dia orang decide on the curriculum. Duit dia orang handle sendiri. Monitoring is done by the District Office. Federal government paling sikit power.  So macam terbalik la dengan system kita. Tu yang kadang-kadang susah nak relate tu.

Satu yang I perasan  menarik is the way we define democracy and equality. Kat Malaysia bila cakap pasal demokrasi, kita cakap pasal freedom. Semua bangsa diberi kebebasan untuk belajar di sekolah dia sendiri. Ada sekolah Melayu, sekolah Cina, sekolah Tamil, sekolah Orang Asli. Kalau suruh tutup and suruh semua masuk sekolah kebangsaan semua bising, meletup, macam nak berperang. Tapi kat sini bila cakap pasal democracy and equality, the blacks and Latinos tak nak sekolah asing-asing. Dia nak anak-anak dia masuk sekolah yang sama dengan anak orang putih. Kalau ada la sekolah yang tak terima anak dia masuk, siap bawak ke court. So, orang putih yang tak suka anak dia campur ngan the blacks akan hantar anak dia ke private schools or home-schooling. And lagi satu yang lain sikit, while our civic education focuses more on our similarities (Malay, Chinese & Indian) to promote unity, civic education dia orang highlights ciri-ciri orang Amerika based on budaya orang putih. What makes them different from African American, Latinos and Hispanics.  Ironic sungguh. Kononnya  dia promote freedom and democracy, tapi racism is still a huge issue here.

               Apa-apa pun kelas ni memang inspiring, sebab lecturernya bagus, I pun dah jatuh cinta dengan sociology. Memang berhasrat nak ambik satu lagi kelas sociology as an elective dalam semester lain kalau ada peluang.

Okey friends. Sekian saja buat kali ni. Assalamualaikum ..

CEP 930

This was written in February 2010

Salam you all!!

In my last writing janji nak citer pasal CEP930 & TE901. Tapi sebab citernya agak panjang so I decided to devide it into 2 parts. We’ll start with CEP930. Sebenarnya ni kod kelas yang I ambik untuk Fall semester ari tu. CEP930 tu nama panjang dia Educational Inquiry, salah satu compulsory courses bawah research method. Tapi kelas ni macam introduction to research method la. It’s not really focusing on quantitative or qualitative, but more on exposing us to various research methods under social science. Lecturernya 2 orang: Dr. Susan Wilson and Prof. Philip Cusick (pak cik ni memang famous ...lepas dia publish one research on US curriculum, banyak states yang rombak curriculum dia orang based on his report!). Tapi si Cusick ni selamba je orangnya. Dia selalu kata as a researcher kita tak payah sibuk nak bagi suggestions  to anybody on how to do things. Giving suggestions and recommendations is not our responsibility. We just table our findings and it is up to the decision maker to do what they think they should do. Bila tanya what makes a good study? Dia cuma cakap a good study is a study that provides answers to the research questions. Tak kisah la method apa pun guna, as long as it’s consistent with the research framework. Orang lain nak refer tu your study or not, it doesn’t matter. Tapi kalau dapat bagi big impact, tu kira bonus.

Dia kata ada juga research yang framework and method suma ntah apa-apa tapi bagi BIG impact to the whole nation. Dia bagi contoh research on effective schools kat US. Suma orang quote sebab the research was done throughout the whole country, bajet besar, involved a big sum of taxpayers’ money, suma orang aware of it tapi findingsnya banyak yang tak accurate. Bila tengok indicants satu persatu, and buat research semula, suma findings lari. Contohnya class size was later found not even a factor, expenditure pun cuma factor sampingan je. Lagi satu study yang dia buat on School Dropouts. Dia kata at the beginning , the purpose of his study was to find a solution for dropout issue. But in the end, instead of finding the solution for the issue, he found out that dropping out is actually a solution. A solution for families yang tak nak anak dia sekolah, solution for families yang miskin, yang tak mampu, families yang anaknya face inequality in schools, yang selalu kena buli, yang tak score, yang banyak create problems di sekolah. Bila berhenti sekolah, anak-anak dia orang bole kerja and bantu family. So, dia kata dropout maybe an issue to some but actually a solution to others. Menarik kan analysis dia?

Untuk kelas CEP930 ni  mula-mula dia suruh baca article written by Max Weber yang cakap pasal all sorts of studies in general and conclusion yang Weber ni buat  suma kajian tak semestinya 100% betul. Kebanyakannya bias kepada apa pengkaji tu fikir betul. And apa yang kita fikir betul, itu la yang betul..and apa yang orang lain fikir betul..itu pun betul la jugak based on apa yang orang tu fikir betul….confusing kan? Memang pening bila baca article ni. Sape-sape yang pernah baca article tajuk Objectivity In Social Science by Max Weber (1949)ni tau la betapa payahnya  nak synthesize apa pak cik ni nak cakap sebenarnya. So this class started with this broad idea of what research is all about. Not so much on trying to prove who is wrong and who is right, but more on understanding what is there and what makes it like that.(betul ke apa I cakap ni? Ntah?)

Then dia suruh kita analyse banyak research reports, tengok apa yang dia orang  nak kaji and tengok method apa yang dia orang guna. So untuk class ni students kena analyse and critic at least 10 kajian yang dah dipublish di journals. Kena submit kat dia orang seminggu sekali. Nanti dia comment la pulak apa yang kita kritik tu. Kadang-kadang dia setuju ngan kritik kita, kadang-kadang dia defend article tu. Kalau ada issue yang menarik, dia orang akan bawak masuk kelas for open discussion. Students mat-mat salleh dalam kelas ni memang suka kritik suma orang. Tak de research yang bagus. Ada je yang dia orang nak komen (kalau depa ni join MKK suma report kena belasah). Tapi memang dah budaya dia orang macam tu. Bagus jugak in some ways. Dia orang memang dah expert buat critical analysis ni. Macam kita orang Melayu ni banyak rendah diri, tak berani nak kritik orang punya kerja tak tentu pasal..kita dah biasa terima je apa orang bijak pandai cakap..so tak banyak la kita nak kritik kan? Dah yang buat research tu bukan calang-calang orang. Kebanyakannya lecturer university yang gah-gah. Tak kan depa nak buat hentam saja. Mesti dah study banyak sebelum tulih report tu kan?

Apa-apa pun..banyak la yang kita dapat belajar dari kelas ni. Mula-mula dia kata suma study tak 100% betul. Pastu dia beritau kita social science studies memang susah nak convince orang sebab banyak isu reliability and validity. Survey saja tak leh nak buktikan apa-apa. Kalau pakai human samples there’s no way to generalize sebab humans are very individualistic. Then dia cakap pulak even experimental studies or quasi experimental studies pun ada issue especially bila melibatkan pre-test and post-test, and even causal and effect tu suma kebanyakannya cuma inference saja, especially when we are dealing with abstractions, such as, teachers’ motivation, parents’ aspiration, students attitudes, etc. Then dia kata even pure scientists pun ada yang sampai ke tua tried to convince people with all sorts of theories, apa lagi la social scientists. So? How? Dia kata good luck and try not to be too ambitious..ha..ha..

          Tapi yang paling best untuk kelas ni dia suruh kita cari article yang focus kepada tajuk dissertation yang kita nak buat. So, in the end, kalau kita buat betul-betul kita sebenarnya dah boleh siap kita punya Bab2 (Literature Review). Cuma nanti tambah sikit je lagi. Cool kan? Lepas ni kena ambik lagi 3 kelas research method yang akan focus terus kepada quantitative (2 kelas) and qualitative(1 kelas). Plan nak ambik jugak kelas during summer. Terpaksa la korban cuti kalau nak habis cepat…

Till then…adios amigos! J

One Semester Down – Seven More To Go (I hope..)

This piece was written on Nov.24, 2009

Salam everyone!

Yes! As the title of this piece goes..sedar tak sedar dah nak masuk 12 minggu I kat sini. Kalau flash back cerita awal-awal dulu I pun tak sangka I’ve survived all that. Tapi like most of them here said it’s not going to get easier though (saspennyer)..so, I just hope that Allah will have mercy on me and continue showering me with all His blessings…(huih! Speaking US la pulok!)

Rasanya belum cerita pasal courses yang I ambik kat sini. Kalau ikut offer letter from Bhgn. Tajaan dia tulih Policy Analysis/Analisis Dasar. Tapi offer letter dari Michigan State University (MSU) dia tulih Educational Policy. Bunyik macam lain je. Kalau ikut my own interpretation, EPRD would vote for Policy Analysis but Bhgn. Tajaan will definitely go for Educational Policy. Dia orang ni kalau boleh nak jugak nama ‘education’ tu ada dalam offer letter and certificate nanti. Kira I selamat la. (Ye ke?)

Before cerita pasal MSU kena la explain TOR yang digunakan kat sini. Fakulti dia orang panggil college. So, dia ada college of education, college of natural science, etc. Lecturers dia orang panggil faculty. Tu yang pelik sikit tu. So, bila lecturer introduce him/herself dia akan cakap I’m a faculty at college of  bla..bla..kalau faculty yg junior2 tu jawatan dia org Assistant Professor. Yg senior tu dia org are mostly Distinguished Professors. Maybe macam Prof. Madya and Professor la kot..I teka je la..I might be wrong..tapi yang kelakar sekali dalam kelas dia orang prefer kita address them by their first names. Americans memang sempoi tapi kita org Asia ni kan penuh ngan adab sopan so my Pakistan, Chinese friends and I akan panggil dia orang Dr..tapi I kadang-kadang saja gak cuba-cuba panggil dia org by first name..he..he..

So, bidang I kat sini nama glamer dia  Ed. Policy. So bila introduce myself I cuma cakap I’m a first year ed policy doctoral student. Awal-awal dulu blur jugak sebab bawah college of ed ni ada banyak department. Teacher Education (TE), Educational Psychology (Edpsych), Education Administration yang bawahnya ada 2 sub dept higher education and long life learning (HALE) and K-12. Then ada pulak MQM.  Bila orang tanya my course bawah dept mana I pun tak sure. So, masa first ed policy students gathering (ada Deputy Dean and seniors) I pun tanya la soalan bodoh ni. Excuse me Dr. Sedlak, I’m just wondering  which department are we under? Dia orang senyum2 je. Then dia jawab ed policy is actually a small program that doesn’t have a department. Because it is so small so they put it directly under Assoc.Dean’s office (Assoc. Dean tu dia la). The biggest kohort yang dia org pernah ambik 10 orang. My kohort (2009) ada 9 orang je. And I rasa baru ada dalam 4-5 kohorts altogether. And the best part is belum ada Malaysian yang grad from MSU buat program ni. Isn’t that awesome? Kalau I grad, I’d be the first!! Tu yang buat lagi semangat tu..he..he..perasan lebih.

Lagi satu yang best jadi ed policy student, we all dok direct bawah Assoc Dean’s office so byk la ‘kelebihannya’. Pertama sekali kami ada office sendiri yang lengkap ngan PC (with internet access of course), printer and phone. Bilik ni boleh masuk dalam 5 orang at one time and boleh guna suma facilities yg ada free!. I selalu jugak lepak sini (I was given my own set of keys) and regular occupant bilik ni sorang final year student form Korea. Most of the times bilik ni memang available. Mat-mat Salleh suka lepak kat lobby and corridor je. So selalu la sembang ngan si Wang Jun ni. Biasanya I tanya dia tips macam mana nak grad cepat. Dia kata dia dah nak grad. Unlike other people, he took only four years. So I mmg berangan nak ikut jejak langkah dia. Kalau dia boleh buat, I pun boleh buat. I tengok English dia pun serabut jgk tp dah nak siap thesis dia. Yakin boleh!

Kalau ada apa-apa news pasal fellowship, budak2 ed policy akan dapat tahu dulu i.e. summer program fellowship, World Bank research grant, seminars,etc. Fellowships ni biasanya fund dalam $5000 - $6000 utk graduate students kuar buat mini research. Ada byk category. Ada yg utk senior, and ada jugak utk first year student. Kalau nak apply kita just buat a three-page proposal ttg project yg kita nak buat. Contohnya nak buat base-line study ke, nak kumpul literature review ke, ..apa-apa je la utk persiapan buat proposal. Kalau dapat bestkan? Boleh balik EPRD cari bahan kat pusat dokumentasi he..he..announcements pasal benda2 macam ni Dr. Sedlak hantar je through personal email kita org. Bila dah dekat tarikh tutup dia akan hantar lagi email remind yang berminat suruh send in application kat dia cepat because he controls the money!! Isn’t that great? Kalau kita ada nak attend seminar kat luar, or perlu software utk kerja-kerja kita, suma boleh apply for fund. Seminar tu dia akan cover fees, flight ticket, lodging, food. Software tu nak beli Microsoft office or SPSS pun boleh..tapi kita org Melayu ni biasa la pemalu..sampai la I dok pakai office and SPSS yg I beli kat IT Mall kat PJ ari tu..ha..ha  Cuma yg kureng sikit pasal ed policy ni facultynya org ‘lama’. Memang pure putih. Dari kaki sampai kepala suma putih. Uban penuh. Kalau tak de uban pun pasal kepala dia dah botak. He..he. Susah nak cari yang muda-muda. Most of them are well-known sociologists and some are economists. So paham2 je la school of thought dia org. Reading materials yang dia org selalu assign pun jenis yg zaman-zaman dia org punya materials. Zaman kunta kinte. Sepuluh kali baca pun garu kepala. Payah betul nak relate.

Kalau tengok content bidang ed policy ni ada:

1.     Policy and practice in Education;

2.    Politics of Education;

3.    Economics of Education;

4.    Sociology of Education;

5.    Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education;

6.    Educational Policy Analysis and Evaluation;

7.    Educational Inquiry

8.    Quantitative Methods in Educational Research

9.    Qualitative Methods in Educational Research

10. Political science; and

11.  Comparative studies.

No. 1,2,3,5,7 & 8 tu wajib. Yang lain tu electives. Graduation requirement 70 credits hours termasuk 24 credits for dissertation. So, basically kalau nak grad dalam masa 4 tahun, satu sem kena ambik at least 9 credit hours. (petua Wang Jun) Maknanya 3 kelas seminggu sebab satu kelas carries 3 credits. Tapi untuk semester ni sebab kira adjustment semester, I berani ambik 7 credits je. 2 kelas (Isnin & Selasa and satu kelas pro-seminar yang carry 1 credit je). Pro-sem ni penting sebab soalan2 untuk comprehensive exam hujung 4^th semester nanti lecturers akan ambik topic2 pro-sem ni la. Seminggu 1 ½ jam je. Hari Jumaat pulak tuh! Apa nak buat..dah nasib badan. Kat MSU ni tak banyak kelas hari Jumaat. So, bila I pegi kelas ni college macam lengang la sikit. Biasanya Zahrin hantar ondway dia nak pegi solat jumaat, and ambik ondway balik. Kira  convenient  la.(bukan convenient sampling aa..)

So far tak de miss kelas lagi. Walaupun kadang-kadang rasa malas, tak de mood, (tapi selalunya berat nak pegi sebab lom habis baca) tapi ku gagahkan juga demi membuktikan kesungguhanku kepada lecturer mat salleh ku itu..ha..ha..

Ok, stop sini dulu sebab dah panjang. Next I akan cerita detail pasal CEP930 and TE901, Susan, Philip & Peter Youngs. Wassalam.

Selamat Menyambut Aidil Adha!