Of exams and expectations

Sipping the freshly prepared soybean milk and sitting on the couch after a scrumptious dinner felt so good. And better still, the 8pm news has just begun...

I was, instead, served with a tragic event that made me lose interest in mum’s soybean. A UPSR candidate has committed suicide after failing one of her Bahasa papers. Only a day earlier, I stumbled upon a picture of a few girls so elated with their strings of alpha. Happy. Jubilant. Fists raised high. Countenance frozen in time, all screaming out: WE DID IT. So what?

It’s just another public exam where they test you on how good your memories are and how you’d be able to put those words in line correctly although they know exactly what you’re trying to convey. I got a C for writing and go on to (always, I may add) obtain above 75 during my secondary years.

The deceased’s parents looked like very nice folks; just like mine, where they tell you to study hard but hey, no problem if you didn’t do that well. After all, we’re not waiting for you to put food on the table.

During my days in the 90s, I begin to see most of my peers going for tuition classes and today, it’s an absolute necessity; or so it appears. Parents aside, students are putting tremendous amount of pressure on themselves to score high since failing isn’t an option. It’s scary to think that these fellows don’t understand their own ability and hence the impossible targets that they started to push themselves a tad too much over the edge.

It’s just Bahasa Malaysia. Never mind if you didn’t pass. All schools are regulated by the Education Ministry, boys and girls. Don’t be fooled into thinking that if you enter into a better school (so to speak) then you’ll be a great achiever in the near future. Put a lazy teacher into the best school and see what happens. Yes, students will then go to tuition centres. Bah!

Test scores (and results) are not the only yardstick to do determine such standards. A school, I believe, will be the best school if it: teach students how to value themselves, instill morality in them, is a safe place to learn and grow, and produces respectful students. Not the school with the most computers, biggest libraries, a legacy of record-breaking Alpha achievers.

I’m not a sour grape and though I’m not an Alpha Leaguer, I think I produce better quality works than my peers here in varsity. It doesn’t matter what you get. It doesn’t matter how bad you results are. It absolutely doesn’t matter what your peers think; as long as you’re able to understand that each person have his or her strength and limitations and strive to be a useful person.

Oh, it doesn’t matter if major exams are abolished or not since students now are trained to learn by rote and not trained to think. Whether there be exams or not, unless the education system changes, we’ll still get the same products. Follow this LINK if you have the time.

My heart goes out to the family of Subashini Sivakumar.