2) What do you think literature mean for your future students (typical Malaysian Secondary School student)?
When I was in secondary school, I always consoled myself to like literature. I think that my batch (Form 4, 2002) was the last batch having to start studying literature when we in Form 4. When I was in Form 1 till Form 3, we did not have literature subject, therefore I am not familiar with short stories or novels like "How Dalat Got Its Name", "Prisoner of Zenda", "The Pencil" and to name a few. Only when I was in my second semester of my degree, I was exposed to Form 1 to Form 3 literature because of the subject I was taking at that very moment required me to study those short stories and novels.
Back to the old days, my English teacher (we had the same teacher from Form 4 till Form 5) had tried her very best to make us have the interest in studying literature. Some of my classmates did show their interest and the others just did not. For those who had the very least interest to study and to learn and understand all the poems, short stories and novels, they perceived literature merely as one subject that needed to be passed with flying colours. Learning literature back then was like parroting. Our teacher "pampered" us too much by providing us with notes that explained the whole thing. For instant, Sonnet 18 had been "translated" into simplified text, we barely discussed on the issues for everything that we wanted to know had been provided in one sheet of paper. All we needed to do was memorize the meaning and whatnot. Moreover, the teacher favoured more to teacher-centered method.
Additionally, when I was in secondary school, I was in the advanced class (unfortunately). Despite being in the advanced class, I was the low achiever (for mostly on the Science subjects). I did quite well in English, though. Only in English. And students in the advanced class, when it came to English lesson, especially literature, we really did prefer parrot-style learning. We did not bother to understand the texts at all. And my class consisted of 70% non-Malay students. Most of them had high interest in Science and Mathematics subjects, not literature. Learning Science and Mathematics required them to memorize all the formulae and theories. Perhaps, that was one of the reasons why the whole class preferred parroting/memorizing.
And to answer this second question, I personally think that if my future students have no absolute interest in literature, I would encourage them to learn the subject just to pass for the examinations. Because I know I once learned literature that way. And my English teacher used to advice that if you do not have the interest in literature, you better study it for your exams. The teacher cannot simply force the students to like the subject anyway.
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