Form 6 has long started since April Fool.
From all accounts, studying Form 6 is a tough challenge. An ex-sixth former told us that he was virtually living in hell throughout the entire sixth form life. That was really discouraging. I believe that what he said would come to many of the lower-sixers as words of fright. But then, for me, I believe in myself. I have faith and confidence in myself. But I just lose my confidence in the Government. As compared to STPM, Matriculation is way much easier. But it is Matriculation students who can enroll into public universities more easily. What kind of injustice is this? Students devoting their attention, their time and effort in slogging with their homework and such wide syllabus in the end scored 4 flat, yet failed to get a place in public universities to study their desired course. It is in fact this problem that keeps bothering me. And I am not really confident that I could get a place in medicine in public university if I study Form 6. And probably that's why I appeal for reconsidering my application for admission into Matriculation. Hopefully, I can get a place in Matriculation and subsequently, a place to study medicine in public university.
I have been back to school for nearly a month. It's the all-too-familiar faces there. Mr Ketua Guru Disiplin never, and will never stop scolding the students for bad discipline. The teachers would never stop asking for better academic performance. This is especially true for our Mr Principal. It is admitted that our school is a magnet school. But, the question is, is it really so?
When we sack bad students out of the school for the sake of school reputation, we are just creating a potential criminal in the future society.
When we by all means force the students to comply with the rules and regulations on no condition, we are just creating more dissatisfied voices and reluctance to go by the rules.
When we insists on developing academically excellent students, we are just keeping the other talents of the students hidden and undiscovered. We are actually going against what is proposed in the "Falsafah Pendidikan".
True discipline has got to come from the students themselves. We educate students and solve the problems in the society at large, not add more problems to the society. We instill good discipline in students, not force discipline in them. We unearth talents, not hide them.
True discipline can stand the test of time and would not be gone once students are out into the society. What we need is not the rigid rules and regulations. What we need is the self-discipline and self-initiative that comes from the heart and soul of the students.
Thus, I seriously question this: is our school really good or is it merely perceived to be good?
I will leave that for you to think.
Back to topic, I found Form 6 syllabus really wide. And I really doubt the teachers could have ample time to cover all the topics and do revision with us before STPM, in spite of the fact that I am only taking four subjects in the exam. In fact, more precisely, I take five subjects, including MUET.
On the 16th until 18th April, we had our sixth form orientation. It was quite fun, I have to admit. Despite the games being not up to our level o maturity, I still have my say that I enjoyed the activities arranged to us. In fact, a person can't be serious all the time. In life, we do need the time and space to relax ourselves and break free from the strain and tension that accumulates as a result of our very serious treatment of our work. There is a saying that goes like this, "All work no play makes Jack a dull boy." Be childish sometimes. Try doing the little things to release the stress you face. Every little things may make our life more blissful.
Strike a balance between work and play. Allocate time for the two factors: work and play.
Friday 25 April 2008
Thursday 17 April 2008
Something keeps you going
43 words
I have my record broken again.
In fact, it's not very interesting and meaningful to break such kind of records. But then, there's something that keeps me going. And that's this perseverance. Without it, you might have a blazing inferno at the beginning stage, but then the flame would grow smaller, smaller and smaller. And eventually, it goes off.
Things would be different if you have perseverance. I would draw an analogy between perseverance and feeding your car with petrol. You can impossibly keep your electric car (solar cars are out of topic) going if you do not add petrol into your car's petrol bank from time to time and consistently.
In short, show perseverance in whatever we do.
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
I have my record broken again.
In fact, it's not very interesting and meaningful to break such kind of records. But then, there's something that keeps me going. And that's this perseverance. Without it, you might have a blazing inferno at the beginning stage, but then the flame would grow smaller, smaller and smaller. And eventually, it goes off.
Things would be different if you have perseverance. I would draw an analogy between perseverance and feeding your car with petrol. You can impossibly keep your electric car (solar cars are out of topic) going if you do not add petrol into your car's petrol bank from time to time and consistently.
In short, show perseverance in whatever we do.
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
Saturday 5 April 2008
Inspiration from Selayang Hospital.
During the period between 24th to 28th March, I have paid my first visit to a hospital, Selayang Hospital.
Should you not know why I was there for five days, here's the reason.
I have applied JPA scholarship for studying medicine. All applicants who have applied for medicine course and meet the minimum requirements would have to attend an exposure program, that's this "Program Pendedahan Kerjaya Seorang Doktor".
Since I do fulfill their requirements, there I was!
There're about 60 students also attending this program in Selayang Hospital. And we were divided into group A, B, C and D. Different groups would be visiting different departments.
I went there with two friends. And it turned out that we were all in different groups. I was in group B, Soon Yee and Jian Yeow in group A and C respectively. I did not grumble or dislike that arrangement, since fate brought us apart (did I sound overly serious? haha). In fact, I do believe in destiny and fate. In some cases, the result is all up to our destiny. But in another, it's us who should work out for our desired result. And we are not supposed to put the blame on "luck", "destiny" or "fate" if things turn out not as desired. That's just a lame way of escaping the responsibilities to be shouldered. That's my principle and I really hope I would never have it compromised.
Back to topic. My first department to visit was Orthopedics. There are more than 20 beds in the department. And the male and female patients are separated. Is this a practice in every hospitals? This practice is good in a way...haha.....
The staff nurse (That's what we call a normal nurse, because there're many different rankings among nurses. There are head nurses, staff nurses and trainee nurses. "Nurse" is just a general name) explained to us about the department and some gadgets used on patients. After that, we were left to communicate with the patients and their families, if there were any. Besides medical knowledge and experience, communicating skills is also none the less important. Doctors are simply doctors. They can't really know what happens to their patients without talking to them and digging the history of the patients in the first place. They are not God. God knows all but doctors don't.
What's more, some patients can be really emotional. You have to talk to them nicely. I had this experience there. A female patient bit a nurse there when the nurse talked to her. I was not on the spot and thus did not know what the nurse said or did to the patient. But then, we went there and tried to talk to the patient. Due to the fact that she's a Chinese and there's no Chinese nurses there, my group members asked us (the Chinese) to talk to her and find out her problems. I admitted I was being a bit busybody. I thought Chinese would be good to Chinese(ga gi lang). We asked "How are you" in Chinese but she stared at us, with blood on her hand, if not mistaken. In the end, we were proven to be useless-we could help nothing.
During this five-day visit, I had officially paid my visit to Obstetrics & Gynecology, Accident & Emergency, Surgical Department, Forensics, Orthopedics and Specialists' Clinics including urology and dermatology. These are my official visits because I also went the paediatrics without official permission with the other three new-found friends.
From this visit, I have seen the sufferings and ordeal of the patients. Some fall down from motorcycles and broke their limbs, some have their leg amputated and some are terminally ill with late stage cancer, days numbered and virtually waiting for death. I could see that death is certainly not their wish.
Right there and then, I thought, the people out there, who have ever thought of suicide upon being blown by a failure or distressed by countless bad happenings on them, never realize that the patients here are moaning and groaning with physical pain, yet praying and hoping hard to survive the ordeal and get on with life.
How could someone choose to end his life when someone else there is struggling to continue with his life?
How could we not treasure life when a tremendous number of newborns in this world die and do not have the slightest chance to see the world.
How could we not drive cautiously when many other motorists involved in accidents broke their legs, become paralyzed and regret what they did?
How could we still smoke and lead unhealthy lifestyles when the people with lung cancer and heart diseases regretted their action and swore to change their lifestyles?
We do not usually learn our lessons from other people's happenings. We tend to learn them the hard way. Do things need to be so? Ponder on that. The decision lies in your hand. After all, you are the one who decides on your life.
For me, I have decided to treasure my life and never take my life for granted. I am more determined than ever to become a dedicated doctor that can reach out to the sick.
I know that being a doctor is not merely about diagnosing and treating the patients. It's about trying his/her best and going all out to save precious lives.
Scientifically speaking, the fusion of sperm and ovum gives us our lives. But it's God who enables the fertilization process to take place. Supposedly, it's God who creates us. We are all very prized gift from Him to this world.
Should we not treasure our lives?
Should you not know why I was there for five days, here's the reason.
I have applied JPA scholarship for studying medicine. All applicants who have applied for medicine course and meet the minimum requirements would have to attend an exposure program, that's this "Program Pendedahan Kerjaya Seorang Doktor".
Since I do fulfill their requirements, there I was!
There're about 60 students also attending this program in Selayang Hospital. And we were divided into group A, B, C and D. Different groups would be visiting different departments.
I went there with two friends. And it turned out that we were all in different groups. I was in group B, Soon Yee and Jian Yeow in group A and C respectively. I did not grumble or dislike that arrangement, since fate brought us apart (did I sound overly serious? haha). In fact, I do believe in destiny and fate. In some cases, the result is all up to our destiny. But in another, it's us who should work out for our desired result. And we are not supposed to put the blame on "luck", "destiny" or "fate" if things turn out not as desired. That's just a lame way of escaping the responsibilities to be shouldered. That's my principle and I really hope I would never have it compromised.
Back to topic. My first department to visit was Orthopedics. There are more than 20 beds in the department. And the male and female patients are separated. Is this a practice in every hospitals? This practice is good in a way...haha.....
The staff nurse (That's what we call a normal nurse, because there're many different rankings among nurses. There are head nurses, staff nurses and trainee nurses. "Nurse" is just a general name) explained to us about the department and some gadgets used on patients. After that, we were left to communicate with the patients and their families, if there were any. Besides medical knowledge and experience, communicating skills is also none the less important. Doctors are simply doctors. They can't really know what happens to their patients without talking to them and digging the history of the patients in the first place. They are not God. God knows all but doctors don't.
What's more, some patients can be really emotional. You have to talk to them nicely. I had this experience there. A female patient bit a nurse there when the nurse talked to her. I was not on the spot and thus did not know what the nurse said or did to the patient. But then, we went there and tried to talk to the patient. Due to the fact that she's a Chinese and there's no Chinese nurses there, my group members asked us (the Chinese) to talk to her and find out her problems. I admitted I was being a bit busybody. I thought Chinese would be good to Chinese(ga gi lang). We asked "How are you" in Chinese but she stared at us, with blood on her hand, if not mistaken. In the end, we were proven to be useless-we could help nothing.
During this five-day visit, I had officially paid my visit to Obstetrics & Gynecology, Accident & Emergency, Surgical Department, Forensics, Orthopedics and Specialists' Clinics including urology and dermatology. These are my official visits because I also went the paediatrics without official permission with the other three new-found friends.
From this visit, I have seen the sufferings and ordeal of the patients. Some fall down from motorcycles and broke their limbs, some have their leg amputated and some are terminally ill with late stage cancer, days numbered and virtually waiting for death. I could see that death is certainly not their wish.
Right there and then, I thought, the people out there, who have ever thought of suicide upon being blown by a failure or distressed by countless bad happenings on them, never realize that the patients here are moaning and groaning with physical pain, yet praying and hoping hard to survive the ordeal and get on with life.
How could someone choose to end his life when someone else there is struggling to continue with his life?
How could we not treasure life when a tremendous number of newborns in this world die and do not have the slightest chance to see the world.
How could we not drive cautiously when many other motorists involved in accidents broke their legs, become paralyzed and regret what they did?
How could we still smoke and lead unhealthy lifestyles when the people with lung cancer and heart diseases regretted their action and swore to change their lifestyles?
We do not usually learn our lessons from other people's happenings. We tend to learn them the hard way. Do things need to be so? Ponder on that. The decision lies in your hand. After all, you are the one who decides on your life.
For me, I have decided to treasure my life and never take my life for granted. I am more determined than ever to become a dedicated doctor that can reach out to the sick.
I know that being a doctor is not merely about diagnosing and treating the patients. It's about trying his/her best and going all out to save precious lives.
Scientifically speaking, the fusion of sperm and ovum gives us our lives. But it's God who enables the fertilization process to take place. Supposedly, it's God who creates us. We are all very prized gift from Him to this world.
Should we not treasure our lives?
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