With the ever-changing syllabus, primary school maths can get new additions that seem unfamiliar. However, one Year 3 teacher in Malaysia felt truly bewildered by a question on ringgit exchange rates.
The teacher, Mr Mohd Fadli Salleh, felt the question was beyond even bank staff, let alone nine-year-olds.
Furthermore, he found no advantages in teaching ringgit exchange rates to his young students.
He took to Facebook to vent his frustration at the topic, adding that he would skip this in class and invited any dissenters to try to teach it.
Year 3 maths teacher, Mr Mohd Fadli Salleh, decided to study his teaching materials before entering the classroom.
Flipping through the pages, he ended up on page 86. There, an activity in the shape of a doughnut greeted him.
Within the doughnut’s hole was an RM1 note, and within the doughnut itself were various Southeast Asian countries, their currencies, and blank boxes.
Source: Mohd Fadli Salleh on Facebook
The activity instructed the students to state the value of money in the other currencies compared to RM1.
Maths lessons about money are nothing strange, but this seemed a step too far. Mr Mohd Fadli felt bewildered, calling the currency exchange rates question “pointless”.
The teacher argued that even bank employees, let alone young children, would be unable to complete this assignment.
Yet difficulty was far from his only issue with this. Mr Mohd Fadli questioned the usefulness of learning about ringgit exchange rates. He challenged the syllabus drafters to list five advantages of nine-year-olds learning this topic.
He even said that the syllabus drafters would be unable to answer how many Myanmar kyats equalled RM1 without consulting Google.
Source: Niels Steeman on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only
“I don’t know when the syllabus will be revised. Making children study this syllabus at this age is outrageous,” he said.
As such, he declared his intention to skip teaching this. He also invited government staff who questioned his decision to personally educate his classes on the topic.
One exchange rate Singaporeans are likely familiar with is the Ringgit to Singapore dollars, which hit highs of RM3.41 to S$1 earlier this year.
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Featured image adapted from Mohd Fadli Salleh on Facebook and Niels Steeman on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only .
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