Every day I would read letters to the editors that would tell all and sundry how one had gotten 13 A1 and the likes and yet didn't get a scholarship to study medicine abroad, or get to go overseas.
As if that it is their divine right to get scholarship and go for studies in Moscow.
On the same breath, I am also tired of hearing undeserving students who due to their parents' connection are able to get scholarship, even if their children only got 3A1. I am also tired of hearing stories about the rich people who would still hoping to get scholarship.
I had a chat with a CEO of a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 companies, who paid her son's way to Ireland to pursue an accountancy course. I was puzzled, as I thought she would be able to use her connection to get sponsor for her son. Definitely she would get it.
She told me that she is not going to embarrassed herself in asking. She would prefer her son to get a FAMA scholarship instead. It is not fair either and she can afford it.
Sometimes it feels sad to note that we Malays are always too reliant on hand-outs for educating our children. I knew a couple of our Chinese counterpart whose parents had practically mortgaged their lives for him to be in Australia and of course I do know then of a few Ministers' sons who were given scholarship for their education.
And I am sure that's the case even today.
Then again, honestly nowadays our Ministers can even afford to send their children overseas for their secondary education.
Sometimes it feels sad to note that we Malays are always too reliant on hand-outs for educating our children. I knew a couple of our Chinese counterpart whose parents had practically mortgaged their lives for him to be in Australia and of course I do know then of a few Ministers' sons who were given scholarship for their education.
And I am sure that's the case even today.
Then again, honestly nowadays our Ministers can even afford to send their children overseas for their secondary education.
I certainly agree on the Ministry putting to halt students taking more than 10 subjects for SPM. It is meaningless and does not differentiate the good students with the rests. During my time, only one students got perfect score - that is with an aggregate of 6 (i.e he got at least 6 A1s). The rest of us got aggregate of 9 or above.
Yours truly? Nevermind lah!
They should relook at the grading of SPM. I once asked during a chat over lunch whether our childrens are indeed much smarter than their parents, and though in many reasons I have no doubt that they are (with the advent of internet and facilities that we now have). I was told by one university lecturer - she is a Math lecturer i.e. not one of those social scientist that we are great at churning out at our universities! - that the grading of SPM was downgraded during the tenure of one particular Education Minister. He wanted to show how good he was as an Education Minister.
Now he is the... never mind lah again. You can call me if you want to know which one!
Yours truly? Nevermind lah!
They should relook at the grading of SPM. I once asked during a chat over lunch whether our childrens are indeed much smarter than their parents, and though in many reasons I have no doubt that they are (with the advent of internet and facilities that we now have). I was told by one university lecturer - she is a Math lecturer i.e. not one of those social scientist that we are great at churning out at our universities! - that the grading of SPM was downgraded during the tenure of one particular Education Minister. He wanted to show how good he was as an Education Minister.
Now he is the... never mind lah again. You can call me if you want to know which one!
Need to compare....quote MB Selangor 'I am sending my kids using my own savings as I can afford to, let scholarships for less unfortunate but qualified person' in an interview way before he became MB and an ex-education minister sending his children to Australia with govt scholarships while he holding the post.
ReplyDeleteI guess its not for many A's (know how) but know who criteria being use to get the scholarships nowadays
Yes, agree.
ReplyDeleteActually too many government officials using their post and connections to get scholarship, while the people had to use the after friday prayer to ask and seek donation to send their children to uni. This story was told to me by an ex Ketua Pemuda at one district in Terengganu in the early 90s.
AbangMan....
ReplyDeleteTentang scholarship tu Fadhil setuju sangatlah dengan pandangan AbangMan
Tetapi berkenaan menghadkan subjek dalam SPM tu
Kena tengok dalam gambar yang lebih besar lah....
Sebenarnya yang genius ambik berbelas subjek nih majoriti budak2 sekolah Agama.
Depa ada pelbagai subjek, malahan masa Amalina(17A) dinobat sebagai pelajar terbaik negara sebenarnya ada seorang student lagi yang lebih bagus resultnya......tetapi kerajaan tidak mengiktirafnya kerana beliau adalah pelajar Sekolah Agama...
Kebanyakan ahli politik kita busuk hati dari mengambil hati....
Sekian Terima Kasih
Well, if you have taken say Mod Math, and Add Math, and got A1 for them, if you had also taken say General Math, you should also be getting A1.
ReplyDeleteBut A1 in General Math is meaningless since it has no value for someone with A1 in Add Math.
Same thing with Physics, Chemistry. If you can get A1 in these subjects, you can also get A1 in General Sciences, and this would also have no meaning.
What is more important is to grade these good students carefully like the old days. Say, to get A1 one need to score 95% or more, and not 80 like nowadays. In this case, only the really good students would score A1 and the not so-good students would not. This would differentiate the really genius and the good students.
Taking tons of subjects has no implication of one smartness.
Now with the current system, we are lumping the good students and the genius in the same category and hence we consider having many subjects would then differentiate the genius and mere good students which is not right.
How many subjects that one can score should not be a consideration on the student's capability as in life one would only need to master a couple of subjects to eke a living (typically).
This is the very reason boarding schools like MRSM do not allow their students to take more than 10 subjects.
We have to create students to later become an expert or specialist in their own skill, rather than a jack of all trade (and master of none).
Otherwise I would have to take multiple degrees (say in engineering, in accountancy, in medicine, in computer science, in....in...you know what I mean.
Mind you nowhere else in the world there had been so much obsession in the number of A's one could get except in Malaysia (or some Asian countries perhaps)
I dont think it is about sekolah Ugama, or politician wanting to stop students from Sekolah Ugama from scoring too many A's. There are other methods to evaluate and differentiate the good, and the genius.
On the other hands, I have seen best students failing at university and best and bad students doing extremely well at university too. It is not a great indication how well one would do in life.