JPA scholarship

Nowadays the system JPA giving out the oversea scholarships has been criticised either in positive or negative responses. People accuse JPA for its lack of transparency, unfair treatment towards the candidates who did extremely well in the 2008 SPM, the uneven distribution which doesn't follow the quota at all etc. When I flipped the newspapers to get myself into the news of this issue, there are only unsolved endless cases of students claiming that they have more A's for their previous SPM results therefore they should have awarded the coveted JPA scholarship. Yes, this problem had been existing since a few years ago when it was believed that the SPM level started deteriorating in term of syllabus. Check this out, there were only 60 candidates who managed to achieve straight A1s in the SPM more than 10 years ago but there were nearly 2000 candidates who did the same thing in the last year! Here raises some new thoughts - are these new generations getting wiser? Or the level for the candidates to score A1 in each subject is decreased? I would absolutely agree with the declining level and for the former one, I guess not at all as I am the one who has come through such a "easy-to-score-A1-era". Okay,if it doesn't sound convincing, I'm just showing some examples here, for the less shocking example I would like to mention my friend A who had abandoned the whole form 4 syllabus of history subject in SPM 2008 without fear but yet he managed to score an A2 for it. OK FOR THE SHOCKING EXAMPLE ( actually I'm not very sure if it is true but it will sound ridiculous if it is true ), my friend B who did only a question in his additional math ( index number, section C, which was taught by his friend one week before the SPM ) could unbelievable pass that subject! I would call that miracle. So please judge the whole case with another perspective and stop being very proud of our "more-and-more-brilliant-students". No offense. I know some are great indeed.

However, there is also a welcome sight for us (2008 SPM candidates). The hard-to-score-A1-subject which is generally believed among the Chinese that it is just a type of conspiracy played by the politicians to reduce the number of Chinese candidates with straight A1s IS NOW slightly ( or greatly for some people ) "improved" by setting the threshold to obtain A1 lower than the previous year,that is from 1~2% to 5~6%. Will the percentage keep rising or drop back in the next year? Who knows?

Okay here comes the well-known trend among the young candidates. Sadly most of them have a misconception that "the more the merrier" in term of A1s under the effect of A1 glorification after the most A1 record had been broken,again and again. Can u determine a person with 16A1s is definitely smarter than another with only 10A1s? Yup I agree with the statement that the former has a great ability to cope with more subjects, but do consider there are boarding schools which just allow the students to take not more than the compulsory subjects. Perhaps the students will be the innocent victims in this scenario by being rejected in applying JPA scholarship. Does the SPM result slip ( tuition-boosted ) with more than 15 or even 20 As smell better? Is it a necessity for a student to take more subjects which he doesn't like at all rather than to concentrate on the subjects he chosen for his interests just to prove that "ohya I can do what u did, I am more deserved to pursue my tertiary studies under JPA scholarship"? It is unhealthy. Some people might say that if we can exploit and benefit ourselves from the flawed system ( scholarship awarding system ), so why don't? Yes the system is flawed, therefore we should improve it but not exploiting it. To address this problem, we should not blindly follow the unhealthy trend by choosing 20 subjects in SPM. The quality should be emphasized but not the quantity. ( Perhaps, in the future, there are 1000 branched subjects, each subject consists of a couple of questions and a student must end up with 300A1s to secure the JPA scholarship )

I think it is a must to discuss and improve the procedure of choosing JPA scholars. There was an example that a candidate who had taken 10 subjects but ended up with 9A1s and an unlucky A2 in moral education. He was excellence in co-curricular activities, yet he was rejected by the JPA scholarship givers with the reason : not having A1 in moral. Oh my goodness, doesn't it sound illogical for him to get rejected just because he cant follow the dead format ( nilai + elaboration1 + elaboration2 + blah blah ) of that useless subject? ( to prove that it is useless, get knowing with one of my friends who did score A1 but lack of virtue and be proud of using rude words in his communication way ) I will be the first one to agree if this subject is been asked to be abolished :p

Today there is a saying that the government will limit the total number of subject to be taken in SPM for each candidate to 10 by the coming 2011. It is believed that in the coming years there will be no students appealing for the same case. But, seriously, is that the best solution? I would like to know if JPA will have a lot more of fun in choosing JPA scholars among the straight 10A1s candidates if they really enforce this. For me and perhaps everyone that has a better perception in this issue, increasing the difficulty of the syllabus and setting the new threshold in getting A1 to a higher level is indeed the most rational solution. Don't forget the JPA scholarship derives from all the money of tax payers. Do appreciate it if you get it ^^