conversations with a nephew

nephew:pacik nak pegi mana ni? Pacik nak pegi sekolah ke? Ijat pegi sekolah besok
me:ha'a pacik nak pegi sekolah. Pacik nak pegi universiti
nephew:universiti? Pacik belaja apa kat universiti?
me:pacik belaja komputer
nephew:waaa. Pacik belaja komputer ke? Ijat kat sekolah belaja buat kerja. OK pacik bye! (runs downstairs to finish his homework)

I, a (soon to be) 26 year-old am learning computer science. Well, sort of. Put more precisely, I'm doing something related to computer science. And my 6 year-old nephew is learning how to do work. At school. A 6 year-0ld. Sadly, I think that's what kids learn to do at schools today; how to do work. They're fed with enormous amount of 'information' and 'tips' and 'advice' and taught; more than anything, how to memorize without much knowledge of 'why the hell do I need to know these stuffs?'

I teach physics and when kids today do theis physics' experiments (or whatever experiments, for that matter), they just do it. They read their lab manual, learn how things should be (properly) done, and just do it. Then they'll ask me; 'apa kesimpulan dia a, bang?' And I do not think that this is merely because of laziness. When I was 18 I was lazy too -for the record; I still am (lazy, not 18)- but I always know how conclusions are derived; what I learnt when I did the experiments.

A system of 'these are the facts, now start memorizing, dammit!' might very well lead to a frightening conclusion. Now don't you 'apa kesimpulan dia a, bang?' me.