Somewhat randomly I decided to do an activity on role models with my teenager and adult classes. This basically meant that I asked them to think about who their role model is and to make a short presentation on who that person is, what they did, and why they admire them so much. The results took me a bit by surprise.
It's actually amazing how much you can say by a culture just by this small exercise. And no, I don't mean this in a stereotyping kind of way. I just mean that people exposed to certain values and behaviours, will obviously display some sort of similar pattern. It goes for ROmania, the Netherlands and obviously Malaysia also.
The first class I did the exercise with was pretty straightforward and did not produce many surprises. It was my teenager class (13 to 16 year olds) - the more mature ones chose as role models their mothers or fathers (which was quite surprising considering that at that age you should be mostly fighting with your parents:)). The boys went mostly for football players - it was funny how they chose...they all went for captains of local teams and kept telling me that they chose them because they are "brave" :). For the girls it was quite diverse, with a predominance of singers. And yes, I did get one Taylor Swift too!
My main surprinse was my adult class. For two reasons:
- firstly, it got super emotional! Most people here chose relatives - parents or even siblings. Some of them talked about close family who had past away. One girl almost cried sharing about her mother. Another one was super emotional while telling us why she "adored her father"
- secondly, two of my adults told me they have as a role model the former Prime Minister of Malaysia. In all honesty, he does deserve some credit. He was a PM for a looooooong time, and during this period Malaysia did become richer and more stable, he built quite a lot of the impressive infrastructure that they have and he even basically had the idea of building Putrajaya (the city where I live and teach now, that was constructed about 20 years ago:)). Obviously, he also has the great merit of brainwashing an entire population, of prolonging a set of privileges given to Malays that were supposed to be abolished like 30 years ago and of basically creating quite some division among the main ethnicities of the country. For more detailed information on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahathir_Mohamad. In any case, I doubt many people in Europe would ever choose politicians as role models. So it was truly surprising to hear it from my students.
The third class I did the exercise with is also a teenager class, but they all go to religious school. I guess I should not have been surprised by the fact that 3 of the kids actually chose religion related figures as role models - prophet Muhammad, one of the prophet's friends, and a famous Malaysian ulama. An ulama is basically someone who is recognized as a scholar and a great authority in religious education. So he holds sort of "lectures" where he teaches about the Quran. One of my favourite students actually chose this ulama, and then told me he wants to become an ulama, hence the choice. I found it quite endearing.
Side Note: I know and I can see on the kids that religious school makes them in a way a bit close minded and reluctant to certain things that I would find normal. But at the same time I am always moved by how much they value things like "being kind, being generous, sharing what you have, being hard working". I am not sure how many 14 year olds in Europe would mention these as main things that are important for them.
Going back to the role model part, quite a few of the students gave parents and siblings as examples. One girl gave me as a role model - which was truly touching and a bit embarrassing. I didn't really know how to react or what to do with myself then. And I also had one student who chose Gandhi. This was a very pleasant surprise, especially as the education system here doesn't really encourage knowledge about affairs external to Malaysia. SO the fact that someone actually knew about Gandhi was definitely a great plus. It also gave me an idea for my next project with the teenagers: Great Leaders :)