Asli Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said the Government has to wait for more feedback in order to fine-tune the programme and improve it further. “It would be a pity if the 50 top SPM students are sent to top universities abroad,” said Ramon.
From a student's perspective, and also from the eyes of many citizens out there,
I believe that sending top 50 students to universities abroad would NOT be a pity. If you keep ALL your TOP students in your country, and never let them experience THINGS OUT THERE, they will never grow, and eventually they will just lose the motivation.
You need TOP people to learn TOP things. That may be a cruel statement. But it contains truth in it too. Okay, it may be a pity for local unis. But continue reading.
Yes, you need to develop, and I understand that people in our country, mainly leaders, are trying to keep good students here as well, so we can be better. But it isn't very wise if you think sending top students abroad would cause your university standards to drop. I mean, this whole concept is just like hoping your idol's opponent lose in a tennis match instead of making sure that your idol himself is doing really well.
You get it? Instead of trying to bring up your own university quality, you're hoping to retain the top of the top here, and try and make results out of it. It doesn't make sense. We do not doubt our local universities, but it would be a good opportunity to let your top students experience the foreign life, and bring back experiences to their home country, and plus getting into prestigious universities abroad is like A GOOD NEWS to the nation! This is our 2nd consecutive year with ZERO students who managed to get into Harvard. If we start this new tradition of refraining from sending top of the top abroad for their studies, we'll only go backwards in terms of quality.
It IS undoubtedly a big problem when students go overseas and do not come back, BUT something else has to be done to solve this. Selesaikanlah masalah ini dari akar umbi. FROM THE ROOTS. Analyse why they aren't coming back. There must be a common problem. You lose the experts, not because of the act of you sending them overseas. BUT BECAUSE they prefer the system implemented overseas.
If we can prove to these students that we have better facilities, better job prospects, why wouldn't they come home? It would be so lovely when you see them coming back from abroad, with their academic certs from top universities. And they apply their experiences in the field they are working in, back at home, OUR COUNTRY.
Some may even work in Research & Development industries, IF THEYRE WELL ESTABLISHED, and slowly local universities can also bring up their standards, and do better, improve from different aspects, and attract more foreigners, and introduce our high quality education to the world.
Smart people think out of the box. Smart people don't stand at one point of view and see everything. Smart people think ahead of everyone else.
If we want our students to improve, our universities to be better, there are certainly MANY, MANY, MANY ways. But leaders need to be wise. It's good to have some of top students studying locally, but are we just manipulating them to bring up the overall standard? Have more faith in the other students. They may not have done extremely well in the beginning, but with proper guidance, I believe they can be superb in terms of quality. Local universities are good, too. But, who wouldn't want to learn more?
Maybe, we should let the top of the top have a say too. Some may prefer local, and some may prefer international studies.
Indeed, one does not speak for all.
Be wise.
Next, I think the statement above is surely quite controversial. A LOT OF OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENTS? In SPM? How much is A LOT?
Ramon also commented that it may be unfair to select students primarily on the number of As they achieved as the tests are based on a lot of objective assessments and suggested students be tested through essay writing tests.
We truly understand that SPM is just a small exam if you compare it to the rest, like the final exams in your final year in uni. But do spare some thoughts for the little ones sitting for SPM too. This examination, taken at the age of 17/18, may not be a significant one in life, BUT IT IS a stepping stone for students to achieve their dreams.
Before stating to the media that we should be tested through essay writing tests, our leaders should fully understand how SPM is tested. We do not have a lot of objective assessments. For subjects like Moral Ed, there is NO objective assessments AT ALL. Even if there are objective assessments for other subjects, like Biology, Chemistry, Physics, bear in mind, THAT THERE ARE ALSO STRUCTURED QUESTIONS and ESSAY QUESTIONS (which require you to write, to apply your knowledge!) AS WELL AS PRACTICAL QUESTIONS for you to answer. If you think SPM is easy, why hadn't every single school achieve 100% passing rate?
Selecting students primarily on the number of A's isn't wise, Yes, it isn't. But it is a reward. A reward to those who had worked hard. And of course, for scholarships and stuffs, most require interview sessions, and from there, students would be filtered, and this ensures that the overall quality of students is maintained.
Of course, students who are disabled, who worked really hard deserve a big helping hand in their education too. But this shouldn't be mixed. The issue above, and the deserving-students issue. If one talks about everything at one go before analysing everything, it would only sound foolish, and not wise.
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