Ridiculous Subjects and The Key To Success??

Well, here I am to take a break from the most tiresome part of student's life, STUDYING. I know I shouldn't have the right to complain about my workload when my friends back home in Malaysia have mountainous amounts of school work as well. However, being a Year 11 high school student in Australia is no easy job. My friends back home and I face different challenges in our school life but we have our fair share of challenges no doubt.

In Malaysia, students have exams as they do here in Australia and they have assignments as well. What they don't have is regular tests- in Year 11, it's not surprising to have one to three tests or assignments due every week- but what they don't have in frequents tests they make up for in the number of exam subjects. In Australia, you sit for 2 major exams in Year 11 and 3-4 exams in Year 12 with 5-6 subjects to study for. Malaysian students have to sit for 4-5 exams each year in high school with 10-11 subjects to study for.

There's one thing we've got to remember about knowledge; quality over quantity. Malaysians would have the bragging rights for having a wide range of subjects in their education, but will they have use for any of the subjects in the future? One subject that I find completely and utterly ridiculous is Moral. Yes, moral. We had to memorise the definitions of 36 different values raging from Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan ( Belief in God) to Kasih Sayang ( Love). In the exam, we would be given a situation where we had to associate with a value that should be put into use to overcome it, together with its definition. If you get the value wrong, everything is wrong. I mean, the interpretation of wat value we would use is completely subjective. No two minds would think alike. Imagine this: a student who has spent so much time learning those definitions but failing the paper just because of his individual interpretation.

Another subject which I find quiet amusing is History. Why, you ask? I wouldn't complain if it were not only based on Malaysian history. And people ask why we have such limited general knowledge. Yes, it's good to learn about how our country came to be, but we need to learn more about the past outside the confines of our nation. The Civil Rights Movement in America, The Arab-Isreali Conflict,The Holocaust, something that is not stated in any History textbook in Malaysia.

Also, the key to pass with flying colours in Malaysia- memorising, word for word from the textbook. What happened to creative thinking and expressing your own opinion? I guess that doesn't mean much in Malaysia, unless you can list the names of all the Sultans. The youths in Malaysia have so much potential, really, and they shouldn't be restricted to being able to recite the textbook.

Wow, long post, and probably quite boring, but oh well, I am kinda boring. Actually NO, i have the brightest most colourful personality-jokes. My brain juices have run dry so till next time ;)