CHAPTER 9 - Moral Education in a Developing Society: The Malaysian Case

Abstract

This chapter discusses moral education in a developing society of Malaysia. The country has made much progress in developing and implementing a moral education curriculum, but many achievements have to be assessed against the tensions inherent in such an enterprise. There is a great divide between the moral education curriculum and the real world where success in life is equated with monetary achievements and status. Fraud in the corporate world has eaten its way into many homes and schools, while pupils regard the efforts of the moral education (ME) teacher with growing cynicism. Pupils are aware also of the ethos of schooling where a “good” pupil is one who performs well in examinations. Pupils from upper-class backgrounds are favored and usually have a head start in the occupational stakes. To add to the problems of planning and implementation, the impact of ME programs is neither readily assessed when pupils are in school nor can their behavior in life after school be attributed to ME and similar programs. Moral action is the only authentic criterion of the success of socialization in the moral domain, and its arena stretches beyond the purview of the school. Schools and the public have to understand that schooling is only one of the agents in the socialization process for a child.