Scholarship or Sponsorship...

[USJ27Resident]

from the Sun Newspaper

The race for public scholarships has begun as soon as the results of the public exams have been announced. There are already 11,000 high-flying students who have applied for public scholarships to pursue their tertiary education overseas. More applications are expected to come in before the March 22 deadline.

However, the Public Services Department (PSD) only has 1,300 such scholarships to give out. There is hope yet as the PSD will be offering another 5,000 scholarships for studies in local universities.

Is this the number of scholarships left after the "well connected" fellas have taken their allocation? And another question - are these scholarships going to be based on racial quotas first or just academic results...

[Teeque]

Haiii...it has alwiz been on quotas first ma...

[patwon]

Every year it is a routine those top scorers could not get the schlorships,newspapers make noises,rakyat make noises,some get some dont,then politicians will use the situation to champion for the students,sickinening,boring,and dammm stupid.no solution,no policies,next year repeat again and again believe me.

[VeeJay]

Some valid points raised here...


Set higher criteria for obtaining 1As

The number of straight 1As scholars is increasing year after year. Kudos to all who were successful!

Nevertheless, I cannot help but wonder whether the standard of marking or our examinations is declining?

Or is our younger generation getting smarter? I definitely would prefer the latter.

But, if more and more people are really getting smarter, shouldn’t our yardstick for education increase accordingly?

From my point of view and perhaps for the interest of the Public Service Department as well, I think that the number of straight 1As scholars is increasing too rapidly.

This phenomenon is getting a bit out of hand. Why award so many students straight 1As when there is no guarantee that they will have a chance of securing a scholarship or even a place to pursue their course of interest?

The value of the once so prestigious 1A is diminishing. Wouldn't it be better to set a higher grading standard to control the number of straight 1As students?

By doing so, the PSD and the Education Ministry will not have to handle so many complaint cases about so-and-so not being able to obtain a scholarship or place in university.

Spare the students from heartbreaks and disappointments.

However, I wish to point out that a reduced number of straight 1As students does not mean that the standard of education is deteriorating.

It simply boils down to stiffer competition and the final examination results are in comparison with how others are faring.

AH SIEN MEI,
Auckland,
New Zealand.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...0999&sec=focus

[starrnorth88]

setting higher marks for scoring is not the answer.

[yvonnefoong]

Hie Veejay,

I'm not sure if our standard of education is getting easier, but setting the standard of A1 higher means more pressure for the students. And when there is pressure, the students will fail in many other areas besides academic. I wouldn't want to see students studying their butts out just to obtain a scholarship, and then suck at living life at its very real.

By the way, is the quota still in place? I thought it's now merit-based? Well if there is still quota, then we all know where the problem lies. We have so many public universities, definitely enough to cater the rising amount of straight A scorers.

Okay, before you shoot me down and said, "duh", why don't we start camoaigning for equal rights. hehe... tackle the root of the matter mah.

[yvonnefoong]

Another suggestion, scholarships shouldn't be entirely merit based, in my opinion. I think qualifying applications should demonstrate competitiveness in life, like how Harvard University admit their students. To me, real high achievers don't score straight As. They are all-rounders who demonstrate talents and outstanding spirits. I feel that increase the standard of As is an unneccessary brain drain.

[USJ27Resident]

Another suggestion, scholarships shouldn't be entirely merit based, in my opinion. I think qualifying applications should demonstrate competitiveness in life, like how Harvard University admit their students. To me, real high achievers don't score straight As. They are all-rounders who demonstrate talents and outstanding spirits. I feel that increase the standard of As is an unneccessary brain drain.

Totally agree with you... but with the right connections - even the biggest dim wit would get the "full waiver" on entrance requirements and fees..

Sometimes this gomen scholarship thing seems more and more like a farce... mostly taken up by well connected people and (maybe) a few given to the really needy ones... to the rest... take a loan (or work...) if you really hard-up to further your education...

[sinleong]

in my own personal opinion, these could be the reasons why straight As students are increasing every year in Malaysia:

1. after each year, there are more past year exams for students to work on and hence they (or their tuition teachers) start to understand the pattern of questions and answers for the exams - so they learn how to spot questions

2. the government lowers the standards every year to show an improvement and hence the "quality" of their policies each year

i seriously doubt that the quality of students have increased. without stereo-typing malaysian students, i would like to point out that a great majority.. (i would like to stress that i am not saying all...but a very big majority..) of Malaysian students or graduates these days are too used to being spoon fed. they do not understand how to approach for a solution to a problem and rather wait for their bosses or teachers to give them the answer or tell them what to do.

[pinkpau]

2. the government lowers the standards every year to show an improvement and hence the "quality" of their policies each year.

is there concrete proof of this inference?

[yvonnefoong]

Ditto, Pinkpau. LOL! Well, come to think about it, then the whole education system is flawed la, since the schools encourage the memorization of facts and results-driven. If past year exam papers are to be blamed, then the memorization of facts could be blamed as well, because that's how these people pass their exams. Those who fail to memorize are doomed.

By the way, my results were very poor in school, while my academic achievement in college is much better. I am able to absorb knowledge very quickly and I can think creatively. I graduated school in 2003 and spent the last 2 years floating from one endeavour to another.

I'm NOT praising myself though because I doubt that I got any smarter. lol! Just that I feel the kids in school are VERY cooked up and pressured for results, that they become blinded to the learning process.

So in a way, securing scholarships is quite simple here. Train yourself to memorize as much as possible since young and you'll do fine in Malaysia.

[xaviers]

From NST today....

Experts: Go back to drawing board


KUALA LUMPUR: They are undergraduates but cannot write letters, debate or understand footnoting.

Prof Datuk Khoo Kay Kim of Universiti Malaya is appalled by their low literacy level, saying, "I don’t know how to talk to university students any more".

"They don’t understand what I am saying, it is that bad. I cannot communicate with them," he said.

The Education Ministry understands that things have to change, so students coming from secondary schools are not just note-memorising, straight-A students with little creativity or people skills.

That is why it is going back to the drawing board.

Educationists hope that the ministry will forward a well-thought out game plan to arrest this problem.

Former Education director-general Tan Sri Murad Mohd Noor said the emphasis now should be changing the system so that students were not pressured so much, so early in life.

"The rat race now begins at Standard 6 with the UPSR, with the competition resulting in parents forcing their children to attend private tuition," he said.

Schools should be empowered with their own assessments, he said, instead of a centralised national examination system.

"Fewer exams mean more activities for the children. One or two exams in the present form may be unnecessary. Maths and Science, for example, can be tested the way they are now, but things like Art or Moral, could be school-based," he said.

He said he was dismayed that parents were now gung-ho about their children taking 15 or 16 subjects for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia.

"I think it’s unnecessary. When they go to STPM, they only need four subjects.

"When they go to university, they need less than that, and if you are going to be a professional, you only need one," he said.

This was echoed by Khoo, who said the ministry and media’s focus on the number of As was perpetuating the problem.

"The ministry should look at the results of the last 10 years, pick out those who scored 10As and above and find out what happened to them. The leaders in our societies today are not people with all those As.

"Before 1957, school heroes were not those with 8As or 9As, they were the great debaters, those good in drama, in sport, and those leading the Scouts and Girl Guides," he said.

Education officials say that the ministry was looking into the way exam results were announced or highlighted, but more importantly, focusing on changes in content and the way they should be assessed.

But educationist and consultant Ranjit Singh Malhi said the first thing the ministry should do should be to list down the attributes they wanted in their end-product — the students after Form Five — and create the necessary exams or assessments to achieve that.

"Some weightage should be given to projects. Take history, for example. Instead of just basing it completely on the finals, group projects and class discussions should count for 30 per cent of the score.

"The teachers now are preparing students for examinations but they must also help the child develop other skills," he said.

This is the outcome la..... IT WILL TAKE YEARS TO SEE ANY RESULTS.... if we ever go back to the drawing board...if we EVER...

[Rocky19]

Lets see, first the students attend this National service training. they are told to undergo all kinds of traning etc. they are told they are all Malaysian bla bla. But then when this same students try obtaining a scholarship, oops, yes you are all Msian but sorry you can't get scholarship even if you are results/performance is better than some well connected students or it is a quota issue. This connection is not only applicable for one race.So what is the point of the National service? The lesson learned is lost as the govt themselves screw it up by showing that they don't practise meritocracy and there is no such things as being equal.

[SunwayKid]

I believe quoting George Orwell words would appropriate here -

All bolehlanders are equal, but when it comes to scholarship, some are more equal than others. period.

[balitan]

here we are talking of who gets what ..................................

just told by someone that a certain person's kid , after the recent spm

is ready packing off to aussie land ... under ??? scholarship to do

matriculation ........ (not the jpa scholarship that you guys are fighting
over ................................................

mind you, there ARE MANY, MANY scholarshipsssss that we don't know of
and these people are leaving our soils to study on our money .........


do keep your EARS open...................................