Blasphemy

Just this morning when I was keeping myself updated on Malaysian news, I came across an article that made me go " WTF " the moment I saw it. It read " Meet Azali - the 21A student ".

The first thing that came to my mind was how in God's name did he get 21As. That's like 3 times the number of As that I got. What does it actually mean to him to take 10 more subjects than the average student that takes SPM? Does it actually imply that he is 2 times smarter than the average student just because he took 21 subjects? Have Malaysian students got so 'kiasu' that they're sacrificing a great and enjoyable high school experience just to obtain those few extra As? I mean, I can understand if you take 2 or 3 extra subjects, but 10? That's just absurd.

I guess some people have just forgotten what the purpose of these exams are. What they should do is to have a limit on the number of subjects that a student can take. Isn't it just plain stupid to take the subjects for the sake of taking it even if it means that you can have bragging rights and be labelled as the 'top scorer of Malaysia'. Don't they notice that some subjects they take have no relevance to the degree that they are planning to pursue in the near future? And why would you wanna take Biology, Chemistry and Physics AND General Science? Isn't General Science a simplified version of the 3 subjects? I say it's kiasuness at it's best.

The other thing that I noticed was that he mentioned in the interview was that he fasted during the examination period. Is that like his " secret to success "? And trust me, I've got nothing against religious practices, but is he saying that him fasting contributed to the number of As he got? If then, I wouldn't be surprised if some 2008 SPM students would take his 'advice' and starve themselves before the exams. No?

I personally have nothing against students challenging themselves but don't you think that the memories that you get in high school are definitely much much more valuable than if you got those extra As. Well what I'll say is " Congrats, what would have been 5 years of wonderful experiences just flew by and all you get is a certificate ". What do you think?

P.S : Kiasu = fear of losing.
WTF = self explanatory