What it mend to be clever.

I sms my dear niece EJ and asked how is she and she text me back that she has got the SPM result. On further enquiry, she was so happy that she gets 8As. Ow, what a marvellous achievement. So, I told  my friend about her achievement but to my surprise, she told me that it is a norm now to get a complete of As. She told me that if I throw a stone among the students, I can easily hit a complete A student. Why is it so simple ?  If a perfect set of As is the norm, then what about those without As ? Have the standard of our education drop so much ? Yes, I have heard about our Universities not making it to the top 100 places in the world. Previously, we have one or two. This is really scary.

How can we judge whether our children is average or intelligent if all of them have As ? Yes, if they choose to pursue their higher education overseas or in private colleges affiliated to overseas institutions,then we can see the difference. Why are these bright students with so many As struggling in good oversea Universities or in professional exams ie in Accountancy or Law. This is  a dilemma that we will need to face.

It is indeed painful to see how our education standard have drop so much. Just pay attention to the standard of the languages of this generation of students. Some of the graduates cannot even speak or write in English.
Nowadays, it is very common to sent our children to overseas to have a  better education. But, why can't we have a good education in Malaysia ? What is wrong with our education system ? Going down the ranks ?

It is a chicken and egg story. If we set our standard too high, we have a high failure rate and the students will be discourage and many will drop out. However, we will instill the challenges and make our graduates strong and good.  If we set our education standard too low, we have half past six graduates which is not proficient to handle their jobs. Challenges and meritocracy will build a strong pool of intelligent youth and weakness breed weakness.

At the end of the day, the world is flat and the people are mobile. The good graduates demand high income but they are treated as among the mediocre, they will find the place which will recognize their talent. That is the main reason for the brain drain in Malaysia and now, the Establishment is realizing that this weakness  but it will take time to revise the trend.   

Sorry, all the A-grade students. Where are you among the masses? Raise your hands if you are one. If you are good wherever you are or whatever you are doing, you should shine and raise above the others.

Namaste.