Thinking Out of the Box

So today, I had my first lesson with my school principal, Mr. Maslan... He is a guy who seriously thinks out of the box. Well, it's quite true. We all need to do that. Get out of our comfort zone,
DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!

It isnt that difficult, but taking into account the fact that our students have been spoon-fed since Standard 1 till Form 5, does make it a little difficult to have a sudden change. While studying in school for eleven years, students are mould to be timid, scared of voicing out their opinions and not strive for their rights. They are only taught to absorb what they are taught, like a sponge. The practice of using the WH questions is only carried out in exams, that is during writing essays. Besides that, it's just pure absorption. What has hapenned to EQ and SQ?

We hear students scoring zillions of As in their SPM examinations, yet after that glorious victory many fail to realise that we never hear of them doing so well in univercities after that! Now, isn't that something to ponder upon? Where do these creams end up? I fully support our Deputy Prime Minister's move, to limit the number of subjects that can be taken for the SPM examinations. Kudos to you, Sir!

Why do we need to take so many subjects? I'm very sure you cant be studying all of that subjects when get into the University. Or is ti because our students are just confused on what course they should pursue later on in life? Maybe, we are only producing a generation of confused scholars who have a very good memory power but fail to perform as a first class citizen. And with these, born are the Cut-&-Paste students, born are the students who are not independant enough to find information, born are the students who epect oppurtunities to come knocking their doors.

My principal did say on how he had the oppurtunity to talk to a CEO of a company and had asked in the criterias looked for when hiring a staff. Vibrant, brave and vocal candidates were his choice. When asked on whether public local graduates are better or private graduates are better. And guess what? Many prefer graduate froms the local private universities than the public universities. What is this? Private grads are more vocal and brave to voice out their opinions unlike the latter.

It is time for a paradigm shift. Pak Lah has said that 'We have 1st class modenisation but with 3rd class mentality'. Now, as responsible citizens, we have to prove ourselves to the world. Adapt a change. If the West can be inventors, why cant we? If the East are so hard-working, why cant we? As Malaysians we have to be the best among the best.

Yes, we are a growing nation, both socially and economically, but we have great histories and legacies to be proud of, and having them as our guide, we should progress forward, both for the betterment of our future and our nation!!!