Annual scholarship rejection time. This is a drama that our country goes through every year and personally, I’m getting a little sick of it all. There is a problem and the problem needs fixing. Let’s put on my engineering hat and try to figure out what to do with it.
According to TheStar, the PSD DG said:
The most common misunderstanding is that academic excellence will guarantee them scholarship. However, the fact is that many excellent students have to compete for a limited number of scholarships and those awarded will be the ‘cream of the crop
Personally, I have a beef with a lot of people. So, I’m just going to lash out here. If anyone feels offended, please feel free to leave some comments.
- Cream of the Crop.
What a load of hogwash. With so many 1As being bandied about, it merely dilutes the value of the result. So, there is no possible way of actually telling who are the smart ones and who are the dumb ones. Just because someone gets 20+ 1As does not mean that he/she is actually smarter than someone who only got 8 1As. It just means that he/she had more 1As, that’s all. As a result, scholarships sometimes end up being given in an arbitrary manner, resulting in many unhappy and dissatisfied kids. - Sad Stories.
I’m really fed up with the kids who whine about not getting a scholarship to study their dream course overseas. For goodness sake, it’s time to grow up. The world does not revolve around you. Grow a back bone. Yes, it’s an extra hurdle that you’ll need to cross to achieve your dreams. But overcoming it will just make you stronger. The PSD scholarship is only one of the many ways to land your dream career. - Sad Parents.
I place quite a bit of blame with the parents. I know that every parent thinks that his/her kid is the sharpest tool in the box and he/she wants to give the kids the best. Since they’re almost 18 anyway, it’s a good time to stop shielding them from the harshness of the world. Let them know that there are lots of other options in life and sometimes, they just need to roll a hard six.
As a possible solution, I would like to propose something to the government. This is an idea that came to me at 2.30am. So, it may need to be fleshed out a little.
Scrap the whole post-SPM scholarship awards craze. There is little value in the diluted result anyway. Instead, force every kid to go onto Matriculation, STPM, A-Levels, IB or equivalent programme, on their own. Then, let them all apply to the universities and courses of their choice. Rich kids can go to private colleges and do their A-Levels while poor kids can go to public schools to do their STPM.
The PSD must release a list of approved universities and courses, based on the country’s needs. The approved universities can just be picked off the THES Top 100 universities or some other ranking. The approved courses will be based on the country’s needs.
Once the students have secured a place with a foreign university, they can then be awarded scholarships. Scholarships can then be allocated on a needs and reward basis. On a rewards basis, anyone who secures a place in the Top 50 university, is automatically given a scholarship. On a needs basis, anyone who secures a place in the Top 100, are given a scholarship, based purely on financial need. Anyone outside the Top 100, can kiss their scholarships goodbye.
You see, in this way, it will help the PSD save a lot of time and money.
- The responsibility of vetting the students will be outsourced to foreign universities. Let the educators decide who is good enough, and not a bunch of bureaucrats. Scholarship interviews can be done away with entirely.
- The students will no longer be subjected to arbitrary criteria. If the students get rejected by the universities, it is less likely that they will whine. This outsources the liability and saves the PSD from having to make “corrections”.
- If the foreign universities decide to offer the students a scholarship or aid, this saves the PSD more time and money again. They won’t need to consider these people anymore and can divert their limited funding elsewhere.
So, what do you think?
UPDATE: Another radical 2.0 idea. Why not let the kids decide among themselves, who deserves the scholarships? Set up a website where the kids can all make their scholarship applications. Then, list out some basic features, such as their results, activities and what nots. Nothing that can be made to identify an individual directly. Then, let the kids and other Malaysians vote on whom they think deserve a scholarship. The top 1000 or something, gets offered a scholarship.
Sybreon Ones Nought 
Hmmm, actually during my time there were only like 60+ 10A1s in the whole country, and erm, I was rejected by JPA too.
Lol.
Well, you turned out alright! These things are sometimes a blessing in disguise.
I think the entire idea is a pretty good one, Shawn. In fact, I thought of a similar idea too, but the only problem is, how many STPM students can afford to apply to foreign universities considering the cost involved (SAT I, SAT II, TOEFL, IELTS, application fees, etc) in the first place?
Therefore my new, revised idea is this: students who obtain great results in SPM should be given scholarships that cover their STPM (not A-levels, since STPM is already of a similar standard – why waste money on something similar and enrich private colleges at the taxpayer’s expense?) and application fees to foreign universities (lets say 8 universities). Think of it as a pre-U or Form 6 scholarship.
This scholarship should then be extended for those who succeed in obtaining great STPM results and entry into world class universities.
What do ya think?
anonymous:
Well, I think that the PSD had just announced a similar measure recently, for the top students this year, except for the bit about application fees. However, I highly suspect that any reimbursement process will ultimately be abused.
I don’t think that a few hundred ringgit is unaffordable to any of these poor students. As someone with an SPM already, the students should be able to earn that money. Instead of bumming around, the post SPM months can be spent working in a part-time job.
In the worst case, if the poor students really cannot afford the application fees, they can always take a gap year, work in a proper full-time job, which will earn them RM 1000/month or so. Then, they can always go to university the following year (with some ringgit savings in the bank).
So to me, that is an excuse, not a problem.
Hi there,
I wrote something of similar nature. I am quite doubtful of the A’s score by some students. I have dealt with preU students, yes those with tons of A’s and quite a few are not up to the mark as indicated by their results.
Scoring 10 A1s is now a norm and there you have students registering for all sorts of subjects unrelated to their field of study to outdo each other in their race to clinch the “must have” scholarship.
So there begins the whining and groaning to the press to get some attention. A lot many with scores of As have been rejected and they remained silent.
daffodils:
This is the result of the scholarships being handed out like sweets. I think that the public whining started in the 90s. During that time, the very few people who whined, were immediately offered scholarships. That was probably a mistake. It sent out the message that the loudest whiners will win. As a result, there are lots more whiners today.
sometimes i would say that the public is spoilt by the mass media around and the JPA. Have you ever seen a straight A1(or straight As) student in SPM complains to the newspaper that he/she should be awarded khazanah scholarship or not shortlisted for yayasan sime darby scholarship? No right? Then why it happens to JPA scholarship? It is because JPA allows them who failed this scholarship to appeal! It encourages people to complain to them! When someone is complaining about something or somebody, they dont have trust on that particular body or person. And what is funny here is that the JPA is like encouraging Malaysian not to believe in their professional ethics in the selection of this scholarship recipients! Be professional throughout the evaluation process of candidates and stop entertaining all these appeal. Keputusan adalah muktamad!
Another suggestion from me… to select those who really deserved to attend the interview and let their interview performance decides whether they are qualified to be the final recipients or not. In this, i must say that the JPA must act strict and cruel here. Only shortlist those who score A1 and A2 in their GCE O-Level exam (a scale to measure their english proficiency) and those who score straight As in all the subjects taken (no matter it is 8As or 21As). Forget about those Bs students (even there is only one B and the rest A1). With this we can actually kill two birds with one stone. First, those who have been shortlisted for interview are truly the top among the top in terms of academic pursuit. Second, this will actually help yo decrease the tendency of students taking more and more subjects in SPM. When the shortlisted interviewees come to interview, treat them equally and only evaluate them base on interview performance and co-curricular activities, no more discussion of the number of A1 you get compare to others. The interview performance and your co-curricular activities involvement have become the final determining factor on your final application status – FAIL OR GET!
cheechang:
Keputusan muktamad is exactly what JPA used to be, until people started to whine publicly and JPA had to give them the scholarship as result of public pressure.
However, I do not agree with your idea of only taking in people with straight “A”s. “A”s do not indicate how smart a person is. Once you reach a certain level of achievement, the differences between the people are probably less than the error of the marking. This means that luck becomes the determining factor. So, straight A students are just “luckier” than the rest.
The whole mistake was to allow the students to take as many subjects as they want. This makes it difficult to use the results as a yardstick. That’s why I suggesting scrapping the whole post-SPM scholarship craze. Set it to post-STPM and let the academics decide who is smart enough.
I have said in a post somewhere it does not indicate that a student with say 11 A1’s but a B3 in Chinese(very difficult to score) is any less than one with 15 A1s(inflated bcos take unnecessary Islamic and minor Science subjects).
They definitely have to raise the bar higher for certain subjects like Add Maths, Accountancy, and Maths. In fact for many subjects, the marks for an A is definitely scaled down and that is a big mistake. You have thousands now scoring A’s . But then again according to JPA, academic achievement only constitutes about 20% of the marks to assess the suitability of a candidate.
Anyway I half believed the fact that about 900 places out of 2000 goes to the nons which makes that about 45%. The truth is not told.
The PMR Maths paper last year was like a piece of cake that even a primary student with reasonable mental abilities can pass with ease.
Students get deceived thinking that they are competent. Quite a big number cant get by with Add Maths. Exams now are a farce that one has lost faith in its credibility. How can the system set certain papers so easy to allow a segment of the population to score A’s? Very sad when the resort to such action. That explains for the slide of ranking in our universities.
If those who scored more than 10As think that they deserve the scholarship more than others, then it shouldnt be a problem for them to take STPM.
As it is at the moment students fear taking STPM if there is a short cut easier way to university. I read of letters of students crying foul even when they cannot get places in Matriculation college. In fact for the past few weeks, there have been a lot of whining and grunting to the press. Shawn is right. The person who whine the loudest gets the attention.
Yes do way with awarding the scholarships to post SPM students. With the way A’s are dished out, it is not credible anymore. That way more students will take STPM and from there one will see who is more competent.
I have students who score 9A’s, 10 A’s finding it a problem to ace in Advanced Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. STPM would be a good acid test.
What do I think? Spend the money on improving our universities (to be world class like NUS) so we don’t need to send students overseas. Oh yea, of course, provide enough places in our universities too and fairer placements in critical courses based on just STPM…no matriculation or SPM entries 😉 so what do you think?
Spending more money on our universities is a good idea. However, the money should be mainly spent on hiring good people rather than on buildings and infrastructure.
I believe that universities should be open. So, I would think that standardising on the STPM only, is not a good idea. A university should openly accept all kinds of entry qualifications. This will give students more options to enter into university.
I agree that we should have different entry qualifications. The reason why I said it should be standardising the entry requirements (based on Malaysian pre-university exams) is because there has not been enough transparency this far that I have observed in admitting students into local universities. Thus, a one system entry for the first few years might just boost the confidence of the public on the fairness of the entry to these universities. Also, personally I do think local matriculations should be scrapped but students from other international pre-university qualifications should still be considered in relations to the level difficulties pf the respective exams to STPM. Like I said, I agree with your opinion on various entry examinations and I should have made it clear when I mentioned about the one Malaysian based system of entry into the university in that I do feel the entry via local matriculations may be a little bias and unfair to students who slogged so hard for their STPM.