Before I proceed with this entry, let me make clear one thing. It's not my intention to undervalue the top scorers' achievements or to raise the indignation of parents of such scorers. While what I'm going to write may (or may not) hurt feelings of certain quarters (depending on how rational or thick-skinned you can be), let it not dampen the celebrations that is currently going on and let it not rob the top scorers out of their special day.
But seriously, are our youngsters that smart?
I know (from experience and observation) that there are indeed mutants who have walked (or still currently walking) among us. Mutants who were born as mortals but come equipped with enormous capacity to devour knowledge like a sponge. Mutants who know what the examiners are looking for and yet, write more than expected and simultaneously transforming the answer sheet to that of a phD thesis.
However, mutants are only a few in between. For the rest of us, we have to make do with sheer hard work in trying to grasp concepts or calculate calculations that seemed to go nowhere or memorise facts to be regurgitated onto the answer sheet. And even with all those hard work, one may not get good results as hoped for simply because the brain either sizzled out of exhaustion or worse (and what is every parent's nightmare), that your precious child is just not that smart.
That is why I believe there is something seriously wrong with our education system when the number of students passing all subjects or obtaining straight As would increase exponentially (without fail!) with each passing year. Look at this year's SPM results. We have 7987 students who scored all As from 465,000 students who took the exams nationwide. You may argue that the number is comparatively small but ponder on this.
Our parents in their days may not have the string of As to their names but they were pretty thankful to even get an E for their HSC (the equivalent to today's STPM). Back then, students who fared poorly in their Form Three examinations had to drop out of school and pursue vocational courses as a path to earn their future. Those who managed to enter universities were really the top guns of their batch where lecturers can see the bright spark of intelligence coming out from the students' eyes and yes, deal with the eccentricities of geniuses in their midst.
And what is the current situation? Instead of being thankful for passing the examination, we have youngsters who can claim without humility that they expect straight As and nothing less. Instead of being elated that your result is a mixture of good grades, students obtaining a solitary B amidst the row of As cry as if their world has come to a premature end.
Further, if I could rightly assume that all 7987 students and the rest (save for those who failed their examinations badly) enter the universities, can we reasonably expect that all of them will become a somebody in their chosen fields? We should expect greatness from these top scorers but that greatness would often leave us waiting. Somehow, the 'genius' in them which we applaud today dies and they slip into oblivion. Sure, they get to go to renowned universities with government scholarships but then, what happens? Zilch. Na-da.
What we have achieved based on today's education system is promoting mediocrity in the name of excellence. We allow people with mediocre capability to go beyond what they are really up for and in the process, fail to distinguish between the really smart ones and those who think they're smart. The end result and what we've started to suffer from is the situation whereby thousands of graduates are unemployed. And that's not surprising because not only do we have brilliant graduates, we have average graduates and stupid graduates as well. When the job market is flooded with graduates of varying degrees, we have a supply-exceeds-demand scenario which in turn, leads to graduates being shortchanged. We forget that behind every disappointed graduate or disillusioned graduate, there is a set of parents who pine their hope on their child to make it big in the future. And with that set of parents comes the siblings and other members of the family who places the graduate as someone to look up to. So where does the family look to if their graduate merely works for a low-paying salary?
By now, you may very well be thinking "is the writer that smart an ass to be condemning others?'. The answer to that is a resounding no. I will not disclose what I got for my SPM and STPM results but let me put it this way. I've to admit that my results were not that good as compared to today's top scorers. And even assuming I got buckets of As, I was seriously happy to have simply proven that I'm an average student. You see, when everyone you know gets As, it doesn't necessarily mean they're geniuses. It only means that you're part of the norm. On the other side of the coin, if you can't get a commendable number of As in today's society which judges you based on how many As you string to your name , it literally translates to one thing - you're exceptionally intellectually challenged.
I wonder why our learned politicians have failed to see the irony of the situation. Could it be that they themselves are the very epitome of mediocrity whose seeming 'success' have clouded their judgment and conscience?
When quality is sacrificed for short term gain of quantity, it demeans the very value of education. When that happens, education is no longer a tool to improve your standard of living. Instead, education becomes the shackles that confine you to a life of debt as parents take out mortgages and pile on the loans to put their children through college/university with the false belief that their children are smart enough.
Our parents in their days may not have the string of As to their names but they were pretty thankful to even get an E for their HSC (the equivalent to today's STPM). Back then, students who fared poorly in their Form Three examinations had to drop out of school and pursue vocational courses as a path to earn their future. Those who managed to enter universities were really the top guns of their batch where lecturers can see the bright spark of intelligence coming out from the students' eyes and yes, deal with the eccentricities of geniuses in their midst.
And what is the current situation? Instead of being thankful for passing the examination, we have youngsters who can claim without humility that they expect straight As and nothing less. Instead of being elated that your result is a mixture of good grades, students obtaining a solitary B amidst the row of As cry as if their world has come to a premature end.
Further, if I could rightly assume that all 7987 students and the rest (save for those who failed their examinations badly) enter the universities, can we reasonably expect that all of them will become a somebody in their chosen fields? We should expect greatness from these top scorers but that greatness would often leave us waiting. Somehow, the 'genius' in them which we applaud today dies and they slip into oblivion. Sure, they get to go to renowned universities with government scholarships but then, what happens? Zilch. Na-da.
What we have achieved based on today's education system is promoting mediocrity in the name of excellence. We allow people with mediocre capability to go beyond what they are really up for and in the process, fail to distinguish between the really smart ones and those who think they're smart. The end result and what we've started to suffer from is the situation whereby thousands of graduates are unemployed. And that's not surprising because not only do we have brilliant graduates, we have average graduates and stupid graduates as well. When the job market is flooded with graduates of varying degrees, we have a supply-exceeds-demand scenario which in turn, leads to graduates being shortchanged. We forget that behind every disappointed graduate or disillusioned graduate, there is a set of parents who pine their hope on their child to make it big in the future. And with that set of parents comes the siblings and other members of the family who places the graduate as someone to look up to. So where does the family look to if their graduate merely works for a low-paying salary?
By now, you may very well be thinking "is the writer that smart an ass to be condemning others?'. The answer to that is a resounding no. I will not disclose what I got for my SPM and STPM results but let me put it this way. I've to admit that my results were not that good as compared to today's top scorers. And even assuming I got buckets of As, I was seriously happy to have simply proven that I'm an average student. You see, when everyone you know gets As, it doesn't necessarily mean they're geniuses. It only means that you're part of the norm. On the other side of the coin, if you can't get a commendable number of As in today's society which judges you based on how many As you string to your name , it literally translates to one thing - you're exceptionally intellectually challenged.
I wonder why our learned politicians have failed to see the irony of the situation. Could it be that they themselves are the very epitome of mediocrity whose seeming 'success' have clouded their judgment and conscience?
When quality is sacrificed for short term gain of quantity, it demeans the very value of education. When that happens, education is no longer a tool to improve your standard of living. Instead, education becomes the shackles that confine you to a life of debt as parents take out mortgages and pile on the loans to put their children through college/university with the false belief that their children are smart enough.
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