My conversation with son regarding Iman.

Today my 8-year-old son asked me a question which I simply could not ignore. I'm sharing it here with everyone in the hope that it may benefit any moms and dads out there facing similar challenging questions and maybe to get ideas from others on how I may improve my explanations to my children. Also, if others may share their experiences of questions from their little lovely ones. Children are amazing MashaAllah!

Son: Mommy! can I ask you something about Iman?

Mommy: Sure, what about it?

Son: What is Iman? like...how do you get Iman?

Mommy: Well...Iman is not something you can hold or touch. It is not like your green toy that you can play with (he has his favourite green toy). It is about believing that God exists.

Son: (looking slightly confused)

Mommy: It is like this, do you believe in Allah?

Son: yeah...

Mommy: Well, you either believe that there is God or you don't. You cannot think God created the world today but He doesn't tomorrow. It is like, do you believe you are a human being?

Son: of course! (laughing)

Mommy: Okay, do you believe I'm your mommy?

Son: yeah...(DUH!!!)

Mommy: Well then you believe I'm your mom today and tomorrow and everyday so is the same with believing that God exist. When you believe that there is something that created the world and He is God then you always believe that. So that is Iman. Iman is to believe in Allah. He is the Creator.

Son: oh okay...

Mommy: Do you believe that the Qur'an is from Allah like it is Allah's words?

Son: err... (not sure)

Mommy: Well, every book has an author right? Who wrote Harry Potter?

Son: err...Harry Potter

Daughter: HAHAHA...you think that Harry Potter wrote Harry Potter?!!! haha...

Mommy: No...does Harry Potter even exists in real life to write Harry Potter?

Son: (smiled) no...

Mommy: and no! Daniel Radcliffe the actor did not write Harry Potter but it is JK Rowling. So every book has an author, a person who wrote the book.

Mommy: So, who wrote the Qur'an?

Son: Allah

Mommy: Well, okay...Allah did not write the Qur'an as such. People write down the words of the Qur'an but if I ask you to copy down Harry Potter's book, will it be your words or JK Rowling.

Son: JK Rowling.

Mommy: Yup...so, the words of the Qur'an is from Allah. Allah passed the words to Angel Jibrail and Jibrail passed it on to Prophet Muhammad (saw)

(thought I'd talk about the miracle of the Qur'an later...when he's a bit older)

Mommy: So, you believe that Allah exist, Allah is the Creator and that the Qur'an is His words. Do you believe in the day of judgment?

Son: Yes.

Mommy: Well, how do you know that there is day of Judgment?

Son: because Allah says so in the Qur'an

Mommy: That's right so, whatever Allah says in the Qur'an, the things that we see and the things that we can't see but we believe in them because God tells us about it. So, the six Rukun Iman that you learn at school, about belief in Allah, the angels, the prophets, the books, the hereafter and Qada' wal Qadr...when you believe in these things that means you have Iman. Anyone who believes in this has Iman. A Muslim has Iman, that is what makes him/her a believer.

Son: but sometimes Iman can be big or small right?

Mommy: Well, a person who believes in the six things have Iman regardless of whether they believe it themselves or through taqlid meaning just blind following...but Iman can be more or less. Sometimes like when we read Qur'an and remember Allah then, our Iman is stronger but sometimes when we're playing or doing other things and we forget about Allah then our Iman maybe weaker but we still have Iman. It doesn't mean that when we forget to think about Allah that we no longer believe He is the Creator. If one doesn't have Iman then they are not Muslim.

Mommy: Sometimes we remember Allah more and sometimes we don't remember so much. Sometimes we do bad things and make mistakes but whatever it is, if we believe in Allah that He is our Creator then we have Iman. We just need to work harder to make our Iman stronger, to be a better Muslim.

Mommy: It is like the story of Ibrahim in the Qur'an when he asked Allah to show him how Allah brought life to the dead and Allah asked if Ibrahim did not believe? but of course he believed but he said he wanted to be stronger in faith. It is like the other day snowy the cat caught a mouse and ate it. If I say to you, "I saw snowy the cat ate a mouse" would you believe me?

Son: yes...

Mommy: you believe but you might want to see it for yourself. You might be curious to see how snowy the cat catch a mouse. So, Ibrahim wanted to see it for himself to increase his faith and Allah SWT asked him to catch birds, to slaughter them and scatter them in four different places and then Allah SWT easily brought them back to life.

Son: and Ibrahim saw this?

Mommy: Yes... it is easy for Allah. He only needs to say 'be' and it happens.

إِنَّمَآ أَمۡرُهُ ۥۤ إِذَآ أَرَادَ شَيۡـًٔا أَن يَقُولَ لَهُ ۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ
His practice, when He intends to do something, is no more than He says, “Be”, and it comes to be.  (Surah Yasin:82)

Son: Mom, what is Qada' wal Qadr?

Mommy: Qada' wal Qadr means that everything that happens in this universe has been written by Allah.

Son: Oh! how is that then?

Mommy: But it is not an excuse for us to do bad things then say it is all written by Allah. We do not know what Allah has written so, whenever we do something, it is our responsibility to do it the right or wrong way. We cannot blame anyone if we choose to do bad things.

Son: Okay...okay... I get it!

Mommy: Is that okay?

Son: yeah...

May Allah help us in explaining things to our kids. Amin

My dream of meeting a great man, Tun Mahathir

Today, I achieved one of my dreams.

It has always been a dream of mine to meet Tun Dr Mahathir live! Today, my dreams came true. 

I arrived at Dewan Agong Tuanku Cansellor (DATC), UiTM Shah Alam at 7.30am with my daughter. She had read Tun Mahathir's book and was interested to listen to his speech. Tun Dr Mahathir was invited to speak on 'Transformasi minda penyelidik muda'.

Whilst waiting for the programme to start, they showed a video of Tun Mahathir's biography taken from the History Channel. A lot of his story was from what we've already read in his book but there were photos and more personal touch. The most interesting aspect for me was the fact that he was a medical doctor; the first Malay doctor to open his own clinic in Alor Setar. He has the attributes of a true doctor, compassionate and the passion to treat and help his patients. He said that some of his patients were poor and he would never turn down a patient just because they couldn't pay, because that would be wrong. To me, that is the true nature of any doctor. A person can't do medicine if they do not have a small part of them that says, they do it to help people.



Finally, Tun Mahathir appeared and as he began his speech, the audience fell silent. The 5000 capacity hall was filled up by lecturers, staff members and students. I don't know anyone else in Malaysia who could still pull a crowd after retirement. He gave an hour long speech but when he said he thought it was a good idea to end his speech, it felt like he started only a minute ago.


As he walked down the aisle accompanied by UiTM vice chancellor, people crowded around him to take photos, asked for autograph and to shake his hand. I felt sad...I was only 8 years old when he became the prime minister. My mom was constantly praising him especially since he was a good looking man. He was young, energetic and full of ideas. He introduced the metric system and got rid of the old colonial measuring system, he told us to look towards the east instead of constantly blind following the west. He was brave enough to state the obvious problems faced by the Malays, for us to reflect upon ourselves and our weaknesses in order to change and be better. He made us understood history and the reasons behind the Malays being left behind in terms of education and economy.


His intentions were not to blame the British Colonialist and neither was it to create hatred or resentment for those who emigrated to Malaysia to seek better lives and richness for themselves and their families. It was to make the Malays realize their position, their situation, their weaknesses, their complacency and to change their mentality and behavior. Sometimes only those who truly care and love us will be honest enough to point out our faults and tell us the most painful truth about ourselves. 


Every race in this world has a story, a history and they share some cultural norms and values. They even share some similar traits...although individuals may differ and every individual have their own strengths and weaknesses but every particular race often have stereotypes. The younger generation often pose the question regarding their ancestry. They often question the origin of the 'Malay' itself. It is difficult to find a satisfactory answer and even the experts differ in their opinions as to the history of the Malay origin but I guess like any other race; these things evolve with time. The English origin are a mixture of Anglo-Saxon, Danes, Normans and over time, there has been inter-marriage with Welsh, Scottish and other European nations. It is even harder to determine the origin of Americans who were all immigrants from Europe, South America and other countries.


At the end of the day, we are all part of the human race but we do know that a particular race has similar features, collective identity and they share a history. History is one of the most important aspect of knowing who we are. Our own family history gives us knowledge of any inherited diseases or specific talents. By knowing our family history, we get a sense of who we are and a certain standard to uphold. My grandfather was a translator in the courts of Teluk Intan, he could speak English, Dutch, Tamil, Malay and Japanese; so we know from where my brother got his talent from. My great grandmother was a midwife or also known as 'bidan' and maybe that is where my interest in medicine came from.


Our knowledge of the Malay history and history of Malaya will make us understand where we were and where we ought to be. We should understand Islamic history from the birth of Islam i.e. the time of Prophet Muhammad SAW and until the demise of the Caliphate in 1924. That knowledge would make us aware of many political events and reasons why things are the way they are today and how did the West suddenly became a superpower from being in the dark ages.

If we are unaware of our history...if our future generation are illiterate with regards to the past then, they will be at risk of being manipulated by those who are attempting to re-write history and re-interpret things. 

The past is what we were; everything that is good, bad, mistakes and all. We need to face up to the past and reflect upon things in order to learn from them. The future is where we want to be and we need to identify what we want to be, what kind of people do we want to be? What do we wish to achieve? The present is where we make those changes... changes from the weaknesses that we have identified in our past and the changes that we need to make in order to achieve the things we want to achieve.


I wish that the Malays would first identify where we went wrong. We went wrong by viewing the occupier as being superior; that the British were superior than us. The British might have been superior in their military power and technology but they were no more superior in the capability to use their minds. Allah SWT has given all human beings a mind to think...we can all use it intelligently.


Secondly, we went wrong in accepting the British secular system as an official system. By accepting the secular system, we have isolated Islam from our daily lives...secularism means religion has no role to play in political life meaning, in anything that involves ruling and making laws in society. By doing so, we have shot ourselves in the foot because we are saying that Allah's presence is limited. He is limited only in our worship, in our personal activities but in society and how we govern ourselves and conduct our life outside of worship, Allah is somehow absent and that He somehow cease to exist in our minds.

Even though the British failed in converting the Malay Muslims to Christianity but they succeeded in making us 'secular'.

So, what is my dream for a Malay future...

To reject secular values. To know that Allah SWT is never absent and he never cease to exist in whatever we do. We could be sending our kids to school, waiting for a train, going to the bank, trying to buy a house or a car, looking for a job. He is there at all times and for everything we do, Allah SWT has given us guidance and rules on how these things should be conducted. Hence, whatever we can do within our individual capacity, we should be doing it and whatever we can't, we should be demanding for a system that will help us to worship Allah SWT and not a system that forces us to commit haram e.g. riba (interest)

Throw away this feeling of  'inferiority'. There is nothing great about any other race anywhere in this world. We are all human beings and we have been given the faculty of mind. It is up to us on how we want to use it. It doesn't mean that we should go about being arrogant but it means that we should be sure of who we are. We are Muslims and as Muslims, we are knowledgeable, hard-working, compassionate and obedient only to Allah SWT.

Collection of short notes in UK 2009

 Just a collection of short notes I wrote when I was in the UK. Re-posted with permission.

The quiet life in Britain

by Farrari Davis on Wednesday, 28 October 2009 at 22:21 ·

I was awake the other night listening to the sound of soft rain tapping on my window. It's funny how you seem to pay attention to small detail when you think you might never experience it again. It suddenly dawned on me how quiet life in Britain is. Apart from the sound of soft rain, there was nothing! Is there such a thing as the sound of nothing? I heard intermittent sounds of traffic passing by swiftly but in between there was nothing.

It was strange how I never noticed it before. I was raised in Malaysia and I remembered the sound of crickets at night. Then, after a heavy rainfall there was always the croaking noise of toads. Sometimes there will be cats miaw-ing in the background especially during mating season! Then, there's always some dog barking or my least favourite sound, the buzzing of mosquitoes.Occasionally, you'll hear a very strange sound possibly from a bird - and you wonder am I in the amazon? When I used to visit my grandmother at the 'kampung', I woke up to the sound of cocka-doodle-doooo and quacking ducks all ready for breakfast but not here, not where I live anyway. Even the chirping birds have migrated south. It is all quiet.

When I first came to the UK, I was told how the British people love peace and quiet. Finally after 18 years I understood what quiet means. Still waiting to find out what 'peace' means.

Back to where it all began.

by Farrari Davis on Friday, 16 October 2009 at 00:18 ·

Last Tuesday I went to Central London for a meeting. On the way home, I stopped by Marble Arch. As the doors of the Underground train opened, I felt a sense of dejavu. This was where it all started around 18 years ago, my life journey in the UK.

Marble Arch platform greeted me. "MIND THE GAP" it says. I stepped out and looked around. It was almost exactly the same as it was 18 years ago except it was looking rather bare due to renovations. Still, the same old squeeky elevator greeted me (renovations hasn't done the elevator any good!). I came out to the busy bustling Oxford Street and went into one of the London Souvenir shops for the very first time.

I'm leaving this place POSSIBLY for good so, might as well get a souvenir. I wouldn't have thought about it if I was staying here another 20 years. How many times have I gone to visit family back home and not bothered to buy them any souvenirs from a London souvenir shop? I looked at all items on display, miniature double decker buses, red post-box, red telephone box, underground signs, houses of parliament, Tower bridge, soft cuddly toy of the 'bulldog'.

I bought myself a miniature red post-box and a little double-decker bus. My friend told me to get something from UK that I won't get in M'sia but...disappointingly, it was still Made in China. Still, I felt that it was these little things that will remind of the UK.

Valentine's day: today I love you, tomorrow I hate you.

The Star Newspaper today is filled with articles promoting and explaining the reasons for celebrating Valentine’s day. 

I don’t understand the rationality behind a Malaysian newspaper promoting a celebration that was invented by the west. The origins of Valentine’s day is based on sketchy historical facts and legends but does the origin really matter? Let truth be known, that it definitely did not originate from China or Indian subcontinent, neither did it have any historical or cultural origins from this part of the world. Hence, to adopt a celebration that has no value whatsoever to one’s own historical and cultural background just because the West celebrates it is simply blind following. Nevertheless I have no reasons to advice the non-Muslims in this country about when and what days they should express their love to one another. It is up to them if they wish to copy-cat the West. 

The Western countries are notorious for their irony. It is no surprise if the origin of Valentine’s day is in actual fact an irony of the story of this man called Saint Valentines who performed secret wedding ceremonies against the ruling of the Roman emperor and he was then persecuted for it. Well, the irony is that now people celebrate ‘love’ without the actual marriage. Some Muslims may argue that they are married and would like to celebrate Valentine’s – well read on! 

My main concern is the Muslim leaders and Islamic scholars who have failed to convince the Muslim population in this country about why they should not celebrate Saint Valentine’s day. 

Is it really just about Valentine’s day? Let’s talk about unmarried couples. Are we sending a message that couples should not date on Valentines but can go out on any other day? If adhering to Islam is the issue then, isn’t it a message that couples should not date at all? And what is ‘coupling’ anyway? Why do two people go out with one another? If it is sex that they want then marriage is the only method acceptable in Islam. If it is love that they want, then Allah SWT is the only one who truly loves us. 

I mean coupling is really not that special nowadays, two people meet either on the internet or in real life, they ‘fall in love’, they go out and they break up. It is like "I love you today, I hate you tomorrow" and few weeks down the line, they meet someone else and the cycle starts again...and each time, they believe ‘this is the one’. It is almost like watching a mouse on a wheel... the mouse never goes anywhere.

So, let’s talk about Valentine’s day but let’s make it a more meaningful discussion rather than just a ‘fatwa’ on the haram of celebrating Valentine’s day. Let’s talk about what is love in Islam, how love can be pursued in the halal way and that romance and relationship also comes with responsibility.

Part of the problem is (sorry to say this but...) the Malay method of talking about Islam is pretty boring as though the only way you can pursue romance and fun is through the haram way. Why don’t we talk about how amazing love is within marriage?

We know that the only one who truly deserves our heart is Allah SWT. He made us, he gave us life, gives us everything we have. He was there before we were born and He will be there after we die. There is nothing else like him. There is nothing out there that can give us help, guidance, protection and security like Him. 

Then of course, the Prophet Muhammad SAW who sacrificed his whole life to bring us the message from Allah SWT; the real life example of a man who was the best leader, the best husband, the best father and the best companion.

The people who deserve our love are our family members, our parents, our siblings, aunts and uncles. It is the people who help us grow up, nurtured us, looked after us and protected us until we were able to stand on our own two feet. 

Then, comes that special person in our life, the one who deserves our affection and love is our spouse; the husband or wife. The person who has took that step to commit him or herself to us. It is the person who has taken the vow or pledge to build a life with us, to support us through thick and thin, who accepts us for what we truly are, who goes through our happy and sad times, sharing our hopes and dreams, the one who forgives us again and again for our mistakes. 

These are the people who deserve our love and we do not need some pagan or roman or western day of murky origin to express our love and affection. And the experts are right, these kinds of celebrations are haram but why do we need to copy the west? Why do we need to follow the non-Muslims in this country who wish to copy the west? Allah SWT has given us a good brain so let’s use it for a good purpose. Think about how we should behave as Muslims rather than to copy people who have no real guidance.

For a Muslim woman, you are the most special and beautiful thing in the world and it is up to you to value yourself the way that Allah SWT has put value on you. Allah SWT has put Jannah (syurga) at your feet as a mother; he has given you special rights to enter Paradise from any door you want just by being a good wife and He has given fathers the opportunity to enter Paradise if he can fulfil his responsibility to bring up his daughters with love and correct guidance. You deserve more than flowers on Valentine’s day or some crappy dinner. You deserve a good husband who loves you, protects you, looks after you and provides for you. 

For a Muslim man, you are the hope of this ummah to lead the Muslim ummah from our current state of darkness into a state of light and advancement. For that purpose, you need to fulfil your role and responsibility given to you by Allah SWT. You are our leaders, you are our knights and you are the protectors of this Deen. We do not want you to give us Valentine flowers or cards. We certainly do not need your sweet words to get us into bed. You will not make us disobey Allah SWT. Rather, we want you to protect us and give us our rights, to lead us with the beauty of Islam.

I want something but I'm not getting it, why?

Was listening to this talk by Yasmin Mogahed on youtube titled "Why can't I get what I want (click to listen) ". She explained it so simply and beautifully. Of course...the reason is that we have made the thing that we want our goal or objective and then we ask Allah to give us the thing that we want. So, Allah becomes the means or like a 'genie in a bottle'. The correct way round would be Allah SWT is our goal and everything else becomes a means or a tool to get closer to Him. 

She gave a very simple example of 'wanting to marry person X'. Marriage is a good thing in Islam, it fulfills half of our religion but if we make marrying person X our goal such as we want person X. We pray to Allah SWT to give us person X then, we are actually having the wrong goal cause how can we make person X our goal? Rather, Allah SWT is our goal and if we want to use marriage as a tool to get closer to Allah SWT then, we should ask for a husband or wife that will be good for us, someone who can lead us closer to Allah SWT.

This is because Allah SWT knows best and He knows what is good or bad for us. He has knowledge of the past, future and present. Person X maybe bad for us and instead person Y may be good for us. It is not even about person X whether he/she is good or bad. He/she could be a wonderful person, who knows? but the point is he/she may not be good for strengthening our relationship with Allah. Allah knows and we do not know.

This would be the same for anything in this life cause anything could be made into our goal e.g. a particular job, wealth, business contract, children, house, car etc... For example, a couple wants a child. This yearning for a child can be so engulfing and it can take over a person's whole life and existence. We then justify this intense yearning by saying that having a child is a good thing in Islam, it is encouraged by our Prophet SAW. So we pray and pray to Allah SWT for a child but it doesn't happen. We then start to feel frustrated and angry and wonder why...after all, having a child is good. Again, it brings us back to the issue of our goal. Our goal is to please Allah SWT and having a child is not the goal. Allah SWT can give us one, two, three or more children as He pleases. He can give us none at all... but Allah SWT knows best. If we make Allah the goal then whatever He gives us, we will trust that is the best for us.

We should make dua and we are encouraged to make dua to Allah for whatever halal things that we want but remember, we only want it if it is good for us in this life and the hereafter. 

Listening to the talk, it just brings me back to my purpose in life which is to worship Allah SWT.

I have come to the conclusion that all human beings have the capability to be whatever good or bad that anyone else can be. Nobody is all good and nobody is all bad except the Prophets who were protected by Allah SWT (Maksum). We all have the potential to be led astray and we all have the potential to do great things for the Deen. Allah SWT gave us beautiful examples from the companions of the Prophet SAW from Umar Al Khattab who was fearless and strong and harsh to Abu Bakar as Siddiq who was gentle and kind...no matter what type of person we are, we have the potential to be a beacon of light or a bearer of darkness. It is up to us to make that choice and to decide what we truly want in life. What is our purpose? What is our goal?

Sometimes people lose their way but Allah SWT gives us many chances, to repent, to find the right path again and again. We should never give up hope in Allah SWT because Allah SWT does not give up hope on us. He tests us for our own good and sometimes He gives us what we want and sometimes He doesn't. He is not obliged to give us anything and yet, he is Al Wahhab (the Bestower) He gives and gives and gives...

We do not know the ending of our life but what we know for sure is we will all end up on the day of judgment, facing Allah SWT - our true goal and our true destiny. Why can't I have what I want? Well, I know the answer for sure, it is because Allah SWT loves me and if I ask Allah SWT for something and I do not get it, it is because He knows what is good for me and inshaAllah He will give me something better either in this life or the akhirah...

Hadith on the mercy of Allah and forgiveness

Allah, you are enough for me.

Stripping the Malaysian education system: good or bad and how can we make it better?

I want to talk about the education system in Malaysia. Nowadays, the buzz word seems to be critical thinking and when I attended a recent medical education summit, everyone was talking about it. They say things like "our students lack critical thinking" or "we need to develop critical thinking in our students'' but what do we actually mean?

It is possible to just one day wake up and start to think....critically? I don't think so. Critical thinking is a process of thought that starts with actually thinking about things, having the necessary information and understanding the information, making sense of it all and then, start questioning whether that information is right or wrong, good or bad, agree or disagree; and if one agrees why do you agree and if one disagrees, why do you disagree?

Like when we read a piece of news or article, do we just read and then absorb the facts or do we read then start to question, why did the writer say that? is that really what happened? why was it reported in that way? Actually most of the time it is more like a person read something and then goes..."Do you know that so and so did this and that?" and when you ask "Really? how did you know?" the answer will be "Well, I read it in the newspaper" as if the newspaper is like an encyclopedia of facts. If you read something it must be true. Well, truth is the only thing that we read and is 100% true is Al Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet (SAW) that has been reported as sahih.

We need to accept that the problem in lack of critical thinking starts from childhood and the education system. In school, children are expected to memorize facts rather than to actually discuss and question the things that they learn. The objective is simply to pass exams rather than to develop a thinking process. The teacher gives the class information, the class copies it down and then regurgitated whatever information was given onto a test paper. Then, how do we expect these same students that have grown within such system to suddenly speak out their mind in class, question the lecturer and come up with out of this world ideas?

I often get frustrated when I try to teach my son his school subjects because I felt restricted by the rigid syllabus and text books. I think the Malaysian education system is very systematic and to a certain extend it is good. It does help students to focus, to develop discipline and to be organized. I don't think we should completely change the whole system to one of British style where there is no clear syllabus and too much freedom on the part of the children to express their opinions without real knowledge or guidance. We need to keep the good aspect but to enhance on the other aspects that are lacking. Syllabus is good but there is no need to make it too rigid. I don't agree with text books as they restrict knowledge. Text books are different from reference books. Text books give you information on what you have to know. Reference books give you information on what you want to know.

I was trying to teach Malik science last weekend and I got pretty bored and confused myself. It was about plants and grouping of plants according to external features. It talks about plants having leaves that are oval, long or irregular shaped but sometimes these things sort of overlap. Anyway, I decided to take the children out for a walk around our beautiful condominium compound where there are lots of trees and plants. I started pointing to all the different trees and getting Malik to describe their external features, even the babies started to join in. That was definitely more fun... and we visited the fish at the fish pond and even went to the corner shop to get some ice-creams.

I think keeping the syllabus and a systematic approach to education is good but there has to be some flexibility rather than rigidity. Get rid of textbooks and allow the teachers to engage with the students. The ministry of education can provide guide books for teachers and all the topics the teachers need to cover for that year. However, get the students to collect information and to think about things. You can use workbooks, activity books, audio visual and the internet to stimulate the mind. For example, the plant thing you can get the students to do a weekend activity of just looking at plants and see how they can describe the plants such as the colour, leaf shapes, soft or hard stem, flower or non-flowering etc...they can jot these things down in a one-page activity book. The exercise only took me and the children half an hour and we had a treat after wards! Then, back in class get the students to discuss what they have discovered and the teacher can then give the students the correct information. Just imagine if we do that in our 9 years old! You can envisage how their thinking will develop once they become 19 years old and ready to enter university. I can't wait to get those kinds of students.

Teachers also need to be aware that some students who are labeled as 'disruptive' behaves in that way because they are bored. These are usually very bright and intelligent young boys who have so much energy and they can't handle the slow and boring pace of the classroom. I mean I'm not saying all disruptive children are geniuses. Some truly just have behavior problems. However, it is important to change the classroom environment to make it more engaging for the benefit of all students. To get students to be critical, first you have to allow them to think and explore rather than to simply be passive absorbers.