TASK 1 : WRITTEN ESSAY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself (Bluzey. B, 2011). Education
is essential for everyone throughout the country because it helps in developing a solid
foundation for a life-long learning in them. Innovative thinkers and personal well-being
are also created through education. Malaysia has a standardized curriculum that has
been established years ago and the governments are always improving the curriculum
as well as the lesson plans in order to fill up the requirements in this present days and
also for the future. The idea of National Education Philosophy (FPK) was sparked off
during the Cabinet Committee Report 1979 under the review of Education Policies
Implementation and it was implemented in 1988. FPK was based on some national
ideologies which were National Principle (Rukun Negara), New Economic Policy and
the National Education Policy (Choon Lean Keow, 2008). Briefly, FPK encompasses the
aims, policies and educational practices and also to facilitate the trend of education in
the future.

2.0 ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY

Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further developing the

potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce
individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced
and harmonic,

FPK consists of six main elements. The first element is education as an on-going effort
followed by the development of holistic and integrated individual as the second element.
As for the third element, it is focusing in producing balanced and harmonic individuals.
Next element is belief in and obedience to God. The forth element of FPK is
knowledgeable Malaysian citizens while the fifth element is to produce competent and
responsible Malaysian citizens. The last element is Malaysian citizens who can
contribute to the harmony and betterment of family, society and nation at large. In
summary, each and everyone in the education organization should uphold the FPK in
performing their responsibility in order to achieve our educations goals.

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2.0.1 BALANCED AND HARMONIOUS INDIVIDUAL

As clearly stated in the FPK, one of its elements is to produce a balance and
harmonious individual. According to Noriati A. Rashid et. al. (2016) a balance individual
is one that has a balance in physical, emotional, spiritual and social development,
meanwhile a harmonious individual is formed when all the four aspects are completed
and balanced. The stability of the four main aspects will develop an individual who can
live in harmony with himself and also with the surrounding (Choong Lean Keow, 2008).
This positive condition will definitely develop a good relationship with the mankind,
environment and as well as to God when all the aspects are totally in balance. A
balance and harmonic individual is also resilience in facing lifes obstacles and
problems.

In order to develop a balance and harmonious individual, teacher is the most

responsible person in education system who plays the crucial role. As we know,
teachers are not just to plant the seed of knowledge and teaching but they also act as
the agent of changes (Mok Soon Sang, 2001). Teachers are responsible to educate
students to become useful citizens who are knowledgeable, poses noble character and
able to contribute for the development and progress of the society and nation. In the
meantime, they also act as the agent of changes to fulfill the aspirations and progress of
the students in realizing the goals of FPK.

3.0 ONE STEP TO ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE

In achieving the objective of having a balance and harmonious individual, teachers

should nurtures the good moral values in students through schools activities. Carol
K.Sigelman (1995) defined moral as the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Value on
the other hand is defined as judgments of right and wrong (Benninga, 1991). Bertens
(2000) claimed that value is something that is interesting, something that we look for,
something that pleases and in short value is something good. Therefore, moral value is
referred to a set of principles that guide an individual to evaluate right versus wrong.

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First and foremost, teachers should nurture the moral value of loving and appreciating
knowledge and willing to share the knowledge with others. By having this kind of value,
students will always strives to acquire new knowledge from time to time without having
a limitation. For instance, teachers can organize an English carnival for the students.
there are a lot of activities that can be organized such as choral speaking, storytelling
and many more. Throughout this carnival, students will be able to enrich their
vocabulary and encourage them to interact in English without fear of making mistakes.
Therefore, this will improve their intellectual and cognitive elements by participating in
the activities provided.

Moreover, sportsmanship is another moral value that needs to be focused on. It is to

develop students physical and mental elements. The National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA), (2003), defines sportsmanship as exhibiting behaviors that are
based on fundamental values such as respect, fairness, civility, honesty and
responsibility. In order to make it a success, school can hold a sports day annually.
Students can take part in various type of games such as 100m run, high jump, long
jump and so on. This activity will surely develop their individual potentials emotionally
and physically which will lead to personal well-being. Students also can create a
positive competition among each other which producing a harmony environment.

Last but not least, in developing students spiritual element, teachers can nurture the
moral value of godliness. This can be obtained through religion and moral subjects
(Warren A. Nord and Charles C. Haynes, 1998). Teachers can develop the value by
teaching those subjects as it will help to produce a higher morality individual (Mok Soon
Sang, 1993). However, teachers should use an updated teaching and learning method
to make it a success. Therefore, a balance individual in spiritual aspect can be achieve
when someone has belief in God.

4.0 CLOSURE

In conclusion, a balance and harmonious individual can be developed through nurturing

good and noble moral values by having various type of activities in school. When the
four main aspects which are physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual elements are
complete, it will definitely produce a balance individual which will lead to a harmony

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individual where he can live in peaceful environment with the surrounding by having a
positive relationship. Thus, this will realize the educations goals as clearly highlighted in
the FPK. (1056
words)