Selamat Pagi Cikgu (Part 1)

I read this from The Star dated 25th Nov, 2007, found the thought was indeed true and through.

Senseless Lost over the Overrated A
The first public examination for our children is the UPSR, which is meant to help our education planners assess the efficacy of their teaching methods based on the analysis of the results.

For the students, it is also a way for them to work on their weak subjects as they enter secondary school.

There was a time when this examination came and went, and there was hardly any fanfare over who scored a string of A's.

But not anymore.

Last week, S. Subashini, 12, committed suicide, apparently because she did not get the desired A's. What a tragedy for a life to be cut short, not for any meaningful cause, but for want of A's.

The many letters to the press expressing shock are predictable. So are the argument not to subject our children to so much stress at this tender age.

But what is the point if the cycle repeats itself?

We are all to be blamed.

When the results come out each year, be it for the UPSR, PMR, SPM or STPM, the high achiever get all the applause.

Even for the disabled who are highlighted, it is still based on the A's, the added line being their triumph despite the disability.

So the message we are sending to students is that those who don't get their A's simply don't measure up.

We honour results but we forget effort.

Consider this: The A student could well be the one with all the extra benefits- tuition, endless supplies of workbooks, and a comfortable home environment- whose parents would not tolerate school marks dipping below 95.

Meanwhile, another student, without these extras, worked diligently to move from E to C.

So who should we applaud? Think about that.

What an irony that the vain pursuit of A's is done in the name of education, when it is the very obsession that is denying our children the real meaning and love for education.

And in the case of S. Subashini, at such a senseless and tragic lost.

Hope anyone who have read this will drop in some comments for our edification.
Malaysia Boleh!