NOR FATIKAH BINTI YUNUS

TESL 1.2

According to James Mackay, emotional development refers to a child learning on how to control and manage their emotions and being taught when is the right time to use certain emotions. Emotional development should be started at an early age as soon as children start nursery and pre-school so that their interaction with others will help develop them in both social and intellectual ways. As for physical development, it is the process that starts in human infancy and continues into late adolescent concentrating on gross and fine motor skills as well as puberty. Physical development involves developing control over the body, particularly muscles and physical coordination. Eventually, these two types of development are important as they help in managing, educating and improving our skills in daily live. Besides, the government also are focusing on both development by implanting various activities whether inside or outside the classroom. However, there is still imbalance between both development as there are more activities conducted on physical development compared to emotional development. Physical education programmes in schools have been one important mechanism as it promotes fitness and a platform for student to enhance their skills in sport. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that sports could not only promote healthy living but also allow the younger generation to bond with each other (New Straits Times, 11 May 2009). He also wants to make sports a priority in schools so that students can get balanced education. Recently, 1Murid 1Sukan programme have been enforced in schools to make sure that everyone in schools can play at least one type of game. This shows the government is being serious in producing students who are not only knowledgeable but skill in sports as well. Paya Jaras assemblyman, Datuk Muhammad Bushro Mat Johor who launced the Larian

1Murid 1Sukan at SK Bandar Baru Sungai Buloh said that when students are occupied with sports activities, it will help reduce the social problems, especially among teenagers. Besides, being active in sports can avoid a person from obesity as obesity now is a growing problem among children. In 2008, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia did the research on the prevalence of among children. The result was astounding, showing an increase on obesity of 30% in the 6 to 12 years old age group. In addition, it can also seriously affect the children emotions since these obese children may be the object of teasing and rejection by their classmates. This results in lowered self-esteem, depression and various kinds of behaviour problems. Based on above statements, it is clearly shown that physical development is given more emphasis in schools as it brings a lot of benefits to the students. Based on my experience, children like to act a play with their friends that are conducted in schools and these eventually increase their emotional maturity. Play supports emotional development by providing a way to express and cope with feelings. Pretend play helps children express feelings in simplifying events by creating an imaginary character, plot or setting to match their emotional state (Piaget, 1962). A child who is afraid of the dark, for example, might eliminate darkness or night from the play episode. On the other hand, it also controls emotional expression by repeatedly re-enacting unpleasant or frightening experiences. For example, a child might pretend to have an accident after seeing a real traffic accident on the highway. In addition to expressing feelings, children also learn to cope with their feelings as they act out being angry, sad or worried in a situation they control (Erikson, 1963). Pretend play allows them to think out loud about experiences charged with both pleasant and unpleasant feelings. When the children grow older and learn valuable emotional skills, such as increasingly realistic

self-perception, the ability to manage their emotions and self-control that improves over time through games and inventions. As this emotional development goes hand in hand with social development, they will help children cooperate, learn to share and take turns, which are all things that will need to be followed in the future. By considering all the explanation in this paragraph, it highlights that the education system is concern with the emotional development in schools. Currently, there are two Sports School in our country namely Bukit Jalil Sports School and Bandar Penawar Sports School. The primary function is to gather potential student athletes so that their sporting and academic talent can be nurtured and enhanced under the guidance of dedicated coaches and selected academic teachers. Knowledge about career in the sports industry is also imparted to these students. There are many facilities in these schools such as mini gymnasium, aquatic complex, an artificial turf for hockey, a bowling alley and a synthetic track. The selection of the students is done through the talent identification programme, the talent scouting programme and recommendations by national coaches or sports organisations. Even though the main target is to produce world-class student athletes, performance in national examination is also taken into consideration and the academic programme is similar to the other schools. They follow the same curriculum and sit for similar public examinations. International competitions are organised to give these students experience and exposure in achieving the goal of becoming professional athletes. Even so, these two Sports School have been urged to improve on their achievements and gain worldwide recognition as a model for academic and sporting excellence. Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said that these two schools must carve their own niche so that they can be recognized through their individual achievements and also act as the catalyst for the

development of sports in the country (The Star Online). He also state Bukit Jalil and Bandar Penawar must strive to be different and the government are ready to provide all the assistance they need in order to be different from the rest of the schools in Malaysia. The establishment of these Sports School proves that the physical development is given more focus by the government. Last but not least, co-curriculum activities are regarded as an integral part of the school curriculum and provide opportunities for students to interact develop social skills and encourage team building. Deputy Higher Education Minister, Datuk Ong Tee Kiat has reminded students to be active in extracurricular activities to gain entry into local institutions of higher learning (New Straits Times,11 February 2008). The participation also may be looked upon in the future as a requirement for graduation and scholarships .There are three types of co-curricular activities, namely uniformed bodies, clubs and sports which each student has to take part. Cocurricular activities are actually a platform for youths to express themselves and hone their skills (Ee Xin,2009). Being part of a clubs organising committee gives students an insight into how to communicate, coordinate activities and solve problems. They will not find it a chore to attend meetings, and might even look forward to it themselves, if they are interested and passionate about the clubs that they have chosen to join. Students should not think of co-curricular activities as a burden but should instead participate and regard them as another form of education. To improve the quality of activities offered at each school, the ministry will provide targeted training to teachers who act as advisors for these activities and partner with more community organisations and private sectors in the delivery of these programmes. This shows that the government is being serious in enhancing the physical development of students in schools.

In conclusion, both emotional and physical development are given emphasis but it seems that physical development is given more focus by the government. Schools provide more platforms to excel in sports by conducting various co-curricular activities and encourage students to be more active in order to develop both physical and social skills. Meanwhile, the emotional development only plays a small part in the classroom as the activities conducted are not as much as physical development. In my opinion, both of these development should be balanced because emotions also play an important role in a person live as it shaped ones attitude and behaviour. The government should enforced more programmes involving the emotional development so that the students are balanced and better performance in both aspect. Based on all my points and arguments, it is clearly shown that physical development is given more emphasis as compared to emotional development.

REFERENCES LIST Newspaper articles 1. Gunasegaram, P. (2009, February 27). Increasing tolerance through education. (The Star ). Page N49. 2. Ng, Eileen. (2009, May 11). Sports priority for schools. (New Straits Times). Page 6. 3. Farhana Ab Rahman. (2011, July 6 ). Good turnout at students run. (New Straits Times).Page 54. 4. M. S.( 2008, February 11). What are schoolss criteria? (News Straits Times). Page 27. Books 1. Gardner, Bruce, D. (1965). Development In Early Childhood, The Preschool Years. Jointly published by Harper & Row, New York, Evanston, & London and John Weatherhill, Inc, Tokyo. 2. Santrock, W, John. (2004). Child Development. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 3. Click, Phyllis. (1998). Caring for School-Age Children, Second Edition. Delmar Publishers. 4. Bee, Helen. (1999). The Growing Child. Addison Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.

Internet articles 1. Ramaguru, S. (2007, August 2). Malaysias two Sports Schools urged to get global recognition. (The Star Online). Retrieved on March 22, 2013 from http://martialarts.com.my/community/modules/news/article.php?storyid=43 6 2. Xin, Ee. (2009, January 18). The positive side of co-curricular activities.(The Star Online). Retrieved on March 22, 2013 from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/18/education/3015846 3. Kumar, Punitha. (2012, September 11). New Education Blueprint: Extracurricular activities a must for all primary and secondary students. (New Straits Times Online). Retrieved March 22,2013 from http://www.nst.com.my/latest/new-education-blueprint-extra-curricularactivities-a-must-for-all-primary-and-secondary-students-1.142175