19/05/2026

TUESDAY | MAY 19, 2026

12

EDUCATION NEWS

Death of essays might mean your A grade is a lie

Ű COMMENT BY YONG XIN JIE

ONE of the most frequent questions asked by students and parents today is a difficult one: What is the point of learning? In an era where artificial intelligence can generate complex proposals and essays on a whim, many wonder if the traditional learning process has become obsolete. As educators, we are observing a worrying trend where students rely entirely on technology to do the writing for them. While a homework assignment can now be completed in mere minutes (thanks to AI), the hidden cost is the rapid erosion of critical skill sets. When a student allows a machine to write their essays, they are not just skipping a task. They are bypassing the cognitive weightlifting required to develop skills in elaboration, observation and problem solving. For instance, the true purpose of a persuasive essay is to force a student to form an independent opinion and then defend it with evidence and real life examples. However, when technology takes over, the focus shifts entirely to the synthetic perfection of the final product. Even when a student takes the initiative to write a draft, the temptation to let AI enhance the content is high because scoring an A has become the ultimate prize. The result is a polished paper that masks a hollow understanding. This trend is becoming dangerously universal,

aged 14 to 18 and will be held in 13 locations across eight states: Selangor (Petaling Jaya), Penang (Straits Quay), Malacca, Perak (Ipoh), Kelantan (Kota Bharu), Johor (Muar, Batu Pahat, Kluang, Johor Bahru), Sabah (Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu) and Sarawak (Kuching, Sibu). The grand finale and awards ceremony will take place on July 26 at The One Academy’s main campus in Bandar Sunway here. The Gold Award winner stands to win RM90,000 worth of The One Academy scholarship, followed by the Silver Award with RM70,000 and Bronze Award with RM50,000. Each will also receive RM3,000, RM2,000 and RM1,000 in cash prizes respectively. Apart from that, the Young Artists Awards will also award seven winners with RM30,000 worth of scholarship and RM500 cash prize each. Furthermore, 80 of the best participants will also walk away with scholarships of RM8,000 and RM5,000. For details visit www.top10.toa.edu.my. not have an independent mind, they will not be able to step through the door. When these students eventually join the workforce, the mask of the polished essay vanishes as quickly as mist under the blazing sun. Employers in Malaysia are increasingly reporting a disconnection between a candidate’s written credentials and their actual ability to communicate in a boardroom. If a student never faces the struggle to structure a complex argument, they will not be able to utter a word when a manager or client asks an unexpected question during a meeting. In a live professional setting, we cannot simply let our fingers fly across a keyboard and expect a machine to defend our ideas. Ultimately, we must ensure our students remain the primary thinkers while using AI as a supportive tool for their own brilliance, instead of those who are merely led by it. Yong Xin Jie is an English language lecturer at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s largest secondary school art competition, the Malaysia Top 10 Outstanding Young Artists Awards (MT10), returns, promising to be bigger and bolder than before. With lucrative offerings of The One Academy scholarships and cash rewards as top prizes, this is a chance to show off your creative skills and impress the pros. More than RM910,000 worth of scholarships and cash prizes are up for grabs. Now in its 29th year, MT10 brings back collaboration with The Walt Disney Company, featuring Disney Pixar’s Toy Story 5 as the theme. This year’s drawing prompt, “A Toy’s Promise”, invites participants to relive their childhood and illustrate the role that toys played in their journey and memories of growing up. Contestants are encouraged to explore the unseen bond between a toy and its owner through their art. The national-level drawing competition is open to high schoolers concept of cognitive friction. Learning is naturally a process of friction. A learner only grows when they struggle to find the right word or when they must rewrite an essay multiple times to make it make better sense. This struggle helps the brain form new pathways of learning rather than simply accepting what pops up on a screen. When a student uses AI to skip the research step, they remove this vital friction from their learning process. The outcome of learning only sticks when one works for it. By relying on machines to structure their thoughts, students are essentially choosing to go on intellectual autopilot when they still need to learn how to walk. In our local culture, we have long prioritised grades over growth, sometimes even thinking both of these are the same. Unfortunately, this ‘A’ obsession has created the perfect environment for the growth of the machine rather than of the learner. A certificate might open the door to a career, but if the applicant does

communicate clearly in person will wither. Should students become comfortable with letting machines do the heavy lifting, they lose more than just their grades. They lose their own voice. They no longer feel the need to memorise. They stop the vital habit of reading and researching because they trust the machine to sort out their thoughts for them. We are approaching a crossroads where we must decide if education is about producing a perfect document or certificate or about building a capable human mind. If we do not protect the process of learning, we risk raising a generation that can operate a machine but cannot think for themselves. This does not mean that the use of AI should be discouraged entirely. It is impossible in this day and age to avoid exposure to AI, even if one is deliberate about it, and especially when even basic search engines have integrated these functions. The goal is not to hide from the learning progress but to emphasise the

o Trend of students relying on technology to write for them has hidden costs creating a generation of graduates who look excellent on paper but struggle to think on their feet. The “death” of writing skills inevitably leads to the “death” of speaking skills. In linguistics, we categorise both as productive skills. Writing provides the luxury of time to sit down and organise thoughts. Speaking, however, happens in real time. It is an immediate response that tests how a person can articulate thoughts to different demographics simultaneously. If a student no longer knows how to elaborate in writing, we cannot expect them to be fluent or even decent speakers. Without the practice of structured thought that writing provides, their ability to

Largest nationwide school art competition returns

Scholarships for deserving Perak pupils Saarani (centre) with some of the students who received the scholarships. – P. CHANDRA SAGARAN/THESUN

Ű BY P. CHANDRA SAGARAN newsdesk@thesundaily.com

2022, is in line with Perak Sejahtera 2030 aspirations for food security and to help churn out a workforce skilled in modern agriculture. SADC has allocated RM1 million annually for the purpose, while Yayasan Perak will coordinate the administration and implementation of the scholarship. To date a total 65 students have been sponsored to pursue their studies in various institutions of higher learning. This year alone 10 students would benefit from the programme. The ceremony also saw SADC CEO Mohd Azhar Mohd Yusof presenting a mock cheque of RM1 million towards the scholarship to Yayasan Perak general manager Dr Nasreen Khanum Nawab Zadah Khan.

Banking & Finance Meanwhile, the state also offers the Agrotek Perak State Agriculture Development Corporation (SADC)– Yayasan Perak scholarship to those who wish to pursue higher studies in the fields of agriculture, plantation and agriculture technology. The programme, which began in “They include SPM candidates who will be given RM1,000 each, while students sitting for STPM and Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia will receive RM1,200,” he added. The distribution of the financial aid has so far benefited 7,627 students with a cost of RM8.12 million since 2019. This reflects the commitment of the state government to expand access to education to children in Perak, he added.

IPOH: The Perak government recently presented scholarships to 10 SPM students from B40 families who sit for their examinations this year. Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad presented the scholarship certificates during a ceremony held here recently. The Menteri Besar Scholarship, as the inititiave is known, was launched in 2019. It is aimed at helping to cover costs of education, miscellaneous school requirements and preparations for examinations. In his speech, Saarani said that the state authorities have also targeted to provide 900 students with scholarships this year.

Held across eight states, the contest is open to high schoolers aged 14 to 18.

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