Just my 2 cents.

News

The government has decided to limit the subjects for SPM to 10 subjects only.
Funny,
They took years discussing about the language used to teach Maths and Science,
Yet this decision was made in what?
Less than a week?

... this would put an end to the controversy surrounding Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships and the number of As that students obtained in the SPM examination.

How, exactly?
Instead of finding the cause of the so called 'controversial' scholarship thing,
They decide to alter the whole SPM so that problems will not arise?

Wait,
How is that logical anyway.

So instead of giving students more room to improve,
To express themselves,
To show their potential,
We limit them so they wouldn't be of a threat to other weaker students?

Since the problem now is,
Scholarships are given to students who score lesser As,
And top scorers are being ignored,
So ... how does this help again?

He said the decision was not drastic as the percentage of those affected was relatively small.

This is wrong in ... so many levels.
So one thing is considered 'not drastic' when the affected people are only of a small percentage.
So if a small amount of people are illiterate,
We could just implement something that makes their lives worse since those affected are only of a small percentage.
And with races that have less population ...

Since it's not drastic,
Why bother making such decisions anyway.
It's not drastic when we look at the overall picture of SPM takers,
But it does affects a lot of scholarship appliers.
Why didn't they think of that?

We feel that this move will also help teachers focus better and specialise in core subjects.

Right,
They feel,
That's why it's not true.
Makes no sense anyway, no offense.
Since it's not drastic,
Affecting only a small portion of SPM takers,
How would that make teachers focus better in core subjects?

Teachers who teach Malay Language, will teach Malay Language;
Teachers who teach English, will teach English;
Teachers who teach Science, will teach Science;
Teachers who teach Maths, will teach Maths;
Teachers who teach History, will teach History;
Teachers who teach Moral/Islam, will teach Moral/Islam.

So ... how does it help teachers to focus?

Apart from that, it will also be less burdensome to parents who will not have to fork out large sums in tuition fees.

Parents fork out large sums of tuition fees doesn't necessarily mean they pay for extra subjects,
The main part of the tuition fees are for those subjects already taught in school,
And paying for that 1 or 2 extra subject wouldn't be THAT big of a burden anyway.

Exactly how many students pay for 3-4 extra classes?
An even smaller percentage of the small percentage that is already disregarded.
So why acknowledge this tiny group then?

Instead,
They should ask why students prefer tuition teachers over school teachers,
Why they need tuition even though they spend half their time in school.

Once determined, this new grading system will help us clearly determine and define those eligible for PSD scholarships.

How hard is it to determine students that are eligible for PSD scholarships?
It's just grades,
A+, A- and As wouldn't be any different to A1s and A2s,
Weird.

I'm probably too shallow to comprehend what they are trying to do.

___________________________________________________________

Since they now announce that we could drop 2 core subjects,
Let's see how.

Malay
Definitely impossible.
It's our country's official language.

English
Right,
Make students drop that and see how wise that decision could be.
Immediately those intellectual and highly educated would stand out and protest.
C'mon,
It's our international language.

Science
Not too sure about this,
Since Science stream students already have 3 separate Science subjects,
And we do not take up the core Science subject ...
I have no comment about this.

Mathematics
Hmm,
I could foresee MANY people dropping maths if it was allowed to.

History
Since teachers and politicians always say that the reason for studying history,
Is to let us know more about Malaysia,
Being more patriotic and stuff like that,
I don't see how does that apply for my current History syllabus.
Learning about civilisation and religion ...
Not to say I dislike learning about that particular religion,
But since when religion is a part of factual history?
History just ... isn't history ...
I'd say make it optional!

Moral/Islam
Moral ... I don't mind studying that,
But it still seems useless to me.
How can memorising definitions for moral values be of any use in our future?
It's so ... impractical and redundant,
I wonder who came up with such a subject.
Islam ... it's the religion of ALL Malay students,
I guess it's important to be compulsory.

Did they forgot Civic?
They teach it in school yet not available in SPM,
That's even more ... impractical.
A waste of time.




Oh well,
I hope politicians make wiser decisions,
For the sake of our country's future,
Please D:

-Kritz