Work and play

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.