Capping Subjects

I think that it is dumb. According to TheStar, our government is considering to limit the number of subjects taken by SPM students to ensure fairer scholarship selection. Although I do not think that the current free-for-all was a good thing to have, I do not agree with this methodology to address the issue of PSD scholarships.

It also raises the issue of fairness. While our DPM said that it was unfair on those who are forced to take less subjects because of economic or administrative reasons. However, the suggested policy would take away the option of taking more subjects from those who may wish to do more. Personally, I like the idea of having the freedom to pick and choose subjects.

However, what the PSD should do is to only consider results from a set number of subjects. This is fair, transparent and simple to do. As a criteria, the PSD should just list down the subjects needed. Having A1s in other subjects can be ignored totally for the purpose of scholarship selection. There is no point adding in an A1 in Science I/II when you’ve already got an A1 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology separately.

If the student wishes to take more subjects in order to pad up their results, they are free to do so as long as they understand that only the results that are requirements will be considered. In fact, the students should only be evaluated based on the pre-requirement subjects. So, the student should not be penalised for getting a bunch of A2s in other non-requirement subjects.

However, it doesn’t surprise me that the government can come up with such dumb solutions to the simplest of problems.

PS: In other news, our PM has said that he intends to dismantle the decades old system of preferment for ethnic Malays. I wonder why it has not been picked up by the local press.