too many As

once again the result season is out. The nationwide hunt to find out who the top scorer is starting. The highest number of subjects taken is 19. out of the hundreds of thousands of canditates, only less than 200 take more than 12 subjects. shall i start my criticism?

What were those students thinking? That by taking more than 12 subjects and scoring as many As as possible, will give them an advantage over a candidate that takes only the necessary subjects? I asked my classmate this question, and she thought that maybe they are not sure about what they want to study next. True, its possible. i have no doubt that they are the brainiest students our country has, and that it was hard work alone, and a bit of genetics, that got them their wonderful results. But some students in the science stream are also taking general science, and other minor papers that got them the extra As. General science is basically for the arts stream, and a simplified version of the science subjects that they learned. I don't get it. Why torture yourself by taking so many subjects? of course its a challenge, academically, but what about other things in life? Again, ppl would say that these students also excel in their co-curricular studies, being president of this club, and that club....The point of all my criticism is that students should just take the subjects which they really need, and maybe are interested in. I think the rush to obtain scholarships to study overseas is the major factor in this rush for As.
I still feel lucky that my spm was in the 90's. During those times, the highest result achievable was 9 or 10A1s. and i had a lot of fun in my form 4 and form 5, no thanks to a zany bunch of friends.
I do hope the Education Ministry won't encourage this trend of taking too many As. There are a lot of other things we need to do to ensure our youngsters become good adults. For example, teaching them to be courteous,polite, and not to be so kiasu. Just look at the malaysian drivers and the number of accidents that are increasing. There is also a need to have our students to think broad mindedly, to look at the world affairs, and to develop their habit of speaking what is on their minds, to be creative, to be confident, and to increase the standard of english. So many things that we can improve on, and its not just the results on paper that will make everything work for us.I say all of the above, because that's where i feel that i lack, and even though i've improved a bit, i can't compare myself to those graduates from european or american unis. My problem, till today is the fear of making my opinions known, of keeping quiet during a discussion even though i have many things to say. And also, i know no one will teach us manners, no one will tell us when to be courteous. But we can learn from the people around us, can't we? The Education Ministry keeps saying that it wants to improve the education system in the country, but it keeps saying that yearly, and i think the ones that will suffer in the end will be the youngsters.
It will be the end of my orthopaedics posting, and i'm glad i'm gonna finish it. its fun, but i don't see myself realigning patient's bones. Can you imagine little ol'me realigning the bones of a patient with a build like the Rock? Last week, my aunts and cousins watched Akademi Fantasia. I didn't bother watching it because its so predictable. But i've watched Heroes, and i think its not bad at all. I HAVE to watch a movie this weekend. My brother's coming down, and i'm trying to encourage him to either watch Pan's labyrinth or Primeval. Me and crocs just get along well.
Primeval is based on a real life story. There's this croc that lives in Zambia and his name is Gustav. He's apparently eaten 300 people so far and is still at large. He developed a taste for humans as a result of the war in zambia, where bodies were just thrown into the river.
My next posting will be psychiatry, and i have to interview patients in the wards. Previously, i was just seeing patients at the psychiatric ward. Now, i'm supposed to ask them how it feels like to be in the hospital, and how was their reaction when they got the bad news. As long as i get to see some docs that i like in the psych ward, i'm a pretty happy girl!
Another one of my ex-uni mate has just gotten married. This time its Farnidah, congrats to her! Thank god my mum never asks me when i plan to get married/do i have a boyfriend. My aunts just can't wait for me to tie the knot. They want to have another baby in the family....I'm not ready yet. Marriage is a big thing for me. And i don't mind marrying in my 30's.