LEADERS cannot be developed in the classroom. We would like to                                                                                        
believe that the student who obtains the highest grades has                                                                                           
the best prospect for leadership responsibilities. Look around                                                                                        
us.                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
Are our political and business leaders and leaders of NGOs the                                                                                        
academic cream of an earlier generation? Where are the chaps                                                                                          
with the best grades? Likely to be enjoying a comfortable                                                                                             
life, perhaps as a professional or an academician. But how                                                                                            
many are leaders?                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
For too long our youths have been chasing academic excellence,                                                                                        
reminiscent of the mugging syndrome of Chinese imperial times.                                                                                        
This in itself is laudable as a means in intellectual                                                                                                 
development.                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
But e&cation is more than the development of the intellect.                                                                                       
Education has to relate to the process of growing a thinking,                                                                                         
responsible and caring person. To focus on the first seems to                                                                                         
be the primary concern of our educational institutions.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Childhood, adolescence and early youth is the period devoted                                                                                          
to shaping the individual. Relieved of the need to earn a                                                                                             
living the student's responsibility is to learn and the rest                                                                                          
of society should be concerned that the learning process                                                                                              
produces the future Malaysian we want-knowledgeable competent,                                                                                        
competitive, tolerant, ethical, caring and socially                                                                                                   
responsible. After all, these are the attributes articulated                                                                                          
in Vision 2020.                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
Individuals are created different. Some are brilliant earlier                                                                                         
in life, but somehow become quite average later while others                                                                                          
who are average in earlier life turn into highly qualified                                                                                            
persons.                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
A person who is good in academic life can be weak in                                                                                                  
non-academic pursuits. Likewise, someone who may not be cut                                                                                           
out for academic pursuits may have talents in other fields of                                                                                         
human endeavour. Sir Winston Churchill was, after all a school                                                                                        
dropout!                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
Learning is derived essentially from school, home and peer                                                                                            
groups.  Egalitarianism and economics tend to reduce schooling                                                                                        
into a narrow band, not dissimilar from assembly line                                                                                                 
operations, with the bright and the weak pursuing a norm.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
The beginnings of a private school system does enable faster                                                                                          
tracking but it is not readily accessible to all bright                                                                                               
students. Neither are there private schools to cater for the                                                                                          
slower learners.                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
The home as a source of earning is under pressure as a key                                                                                            
characteristic of our middle class is the two-parent-working                                                                                          
phenomenon. Children are often left in the care of maids, the                                                                                         
extended family or are nourished by sibling support. A growing                                                                                        
tendency is for parents to invest in part-time tutors.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
Peer learning is a fundamental source of information and                                                                                              
behavioural influence. Informal groups can exert enormous                                                                                             
pressure to conform and to adopt rites and rituals of                                                                                                 
language, expressions and action.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Lepak, boh-sia, gangsterism and drug abuse are activities that                                                                                        
spring from group behaviour. Solutions to these problems have                                                                                         
to be found in ways and means of harnessing youth power and                                                                                           
redirecting it to more useful pursuits.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
But what are these pursuits? What are the alternatives that                                                                                           
can funnel the restlessness of youth into positive                                                                                                    
developmental experiences?                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
It will come as no surprise that our current political,                                                                                               
administrative and business leaders were very vigorous and                                                                                            
robust in non-academic pursuits. Several of our Cabinet                                                                                               
members were active student leaders.  Our Deputy Prime                                                                                                
Minister was once incarcerated for his student activities in                                                                                          
defence of a social cause.                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
Leadership development that is necessary to fulfil the                                                                                                
objectives of Vision 2020 has to begin with the young. It has                                                                                         
to commence with the notion that extra-curricula activities                                                                                           
are complementary to academic development.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
For too long some teachers and many parents hold the belief                                                                                           
that academic learning is everything and that success in life                                                                                         
is measured solely by the grades we achieve. This may have                                                                                            
been true to some extent historically in closed societies with                                                                                        
powerful central administrations, but with the enormous                                                                                               
pressure of change and free market access it will take more                                                                                           
than good grades to be a success in life.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
It will take the whole person, not just his academic                                                                                                  
qualifications, to respond to the forces of change. It will                                                                                           
require the display of soft leadership talent to support hard                                                                                         
academic or technical skills.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
Of concern is the attitude of young graduates who are so                                                                                              
confident with the mastery of technical skills as if the bag                                                                                          
of tricks will see them through all obstacles. Like Don                                                                                               
Quixote, their naivete in the workplace can be shattered by                                                                                           
office politics and by their unpreparedness to handle people                                                                                          
relations.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
Like it or not, the human side of the enterprise does matter.                                                                                         
To handle these requires a concomitant mastery of leadership                                                                                          
skills that will enable us to effectively manage our                                                                                                  
subordinates, peers, superiors and stakeholders. Without                                                                                              
leadership skills the same young graduates will turn cynical                                                                                          
and we will have "lost" them.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Developing leadership skills is not a classroom exercise. It                                                                                          
is an experiential adventure that has roots in the sports                                                                                             
field, the stage, the uniformed groups, the community                                                                                                 
organisations and other interest groups.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
My most pleasant recollections of school are not in literature                                                                                        
or in mathematics, but in my obsession with scouting. I                                                                                               
remember fondly the meticulous care I took to plan, organise                                                                                          
and activate a camping excursion alas, I have forgotten much                                                                                          
of my academic preparation.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
The announcement by the Minister of Education that all                                                                                                
students should join a uniformed group is a step in the right                                                                                         
direction; if, at least to serve as a reminder that schooling                                                                                         
is not just solely dedicated to the pursuit of the 3Rs.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Many organisations are devoting resources to leadership                                                                                               
development.  The Outward Bound School focuses on physical and                                                                                        
interactive development, Rotary has an annual Youth Leadership                                                                                        
Award exercise focussing on personal development, MIM                                                                                                 
introduced a Tun Razak Youth Leadership Awards Programme to                                                                                           
develop the twenty-something in team work and in community                                                                                            
concerns.                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Specialist organisations are involved in adventure learning                                                                                           
for executives. Among participants of the Langkawi Project are                                                                                        
top civil servants and business leaders.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
But the seeds of leadership development have to be sown at an                                                                                         
early age. There has to be a more holistic approach to the                                                                                            
development of the young with a balance between intellectual,                                                                                         
physical and human activities.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
UK's Eaton and Harrow, Oxford and Cambridge are considered                                                                                            
among the finest educational institutions in the world because                                                                                        
of their spread of opportunities for developing human                                                                                                 
potential.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
The good thing about leadership is that leadership skills do                                                                                          
not become obsolete. With continuing change, such skills are                                                                                          
more needed to proact, to take action, and to provide for                                                                                             
stability.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
From time to time we may have produced too many lawyers or too                                                                                        
many accountants but we will never have enough leaders. As we                                                                                         
meet the challenge of modernisation and development, we should                                                                                        
reassess our human resource development and give much more                                                                                            
attention to leadership development, and to begin this                                                                                                
development with the young.