Personally, I think it might be a waste of time to discuss this, since I don't think it will materialize anyway. As far as I know, this have been "in the plan" for very long. It is interesting to note though, to take this with the recent upgrade of form 6 teachers (guru akademik tingkatan 6 - though as of today I have yet to receive it). And what really caught my eye was
“The teaching of STPM will also be based on a modular system, whereby students will be evaluated every semester, rather than at the end of the two years,” he added."
I have a mixed feeling about all this. And a bad feeling that what happens at the end will be implementation of the semester system without the actual college. And the very real feeling that whatever I say here doesn't really matter. Even if I somehow can wave a magic wand and get every form 6 teacher in the country to put their opinion here, and we unanimously agree/not agree to it, it wouldn't matter. But let's put that aside, and let's also put aside the "matrix factor" ( No, I am not talking about Keanu Reeves).
Am I for/against it?
The building of college
Let's get this out of the way : I loved my form 6 years because that was when I started socializing and I got to know many younger friends (which led me to this career). But those are sentiments, and after all, it was only because I was a late bloomer who wasted my earlier secondary years.
A centralized form 6 center is a sound idea. Yes, form 6 students will lose the opportunity to lead the school, be good examples to the younger ones, etc. But at the end of the day, if the purpose of a pre-U program is to prepare students for uni life, a centralized center will be the only logical choice. The seemingly high cost of building is nothing compared to the benefit we will reap in producing better quality graduates.
It is a great idea. If it wasn't, "the other pre-U-program" wouldn't be run in a centralized centers. Enough said.
Form 6 only Teachers
Let's get this out of the way : If they build it, I want to teach in one. If they leave me out.......
I am not entirely sure how the teachers are going to react when they pull out the form 6 teachers to the college. I mean, there was already so much noise regarding the guru akademik tingkatan 6. I mean, of course, for the sake of argument, I am assuming that they will actually pull out the form 6 teachers and not appoint inexperienced lecturers, and appoint real principals as opposed to bureaucratic ones.
But you know, I don't care about the higher grade/pay. Why not just let us be at the same grade, just teaching at different place. Teaching form 6 isn't harder/easier than teaching form 1. Both are impossible jobs to begin with.
But letting us concentrate at form 6 only will, theoretically at least, increase productivity.
Semester/Modular System
This, however, is something I draw the line. If we make STPM modular, we might as well we abolish it. It's actually hard for me to say it, because I have personally seen the pain students go through STPM because they can't cope with the format. But again, those are sentiments. And sentiments sometimes don't allow us to see the big picture.
If the students can't cope, then we have to look at what went wrong, and not simply adjust the system.
Consider what happened to Spm/Add Maths
Students can't cope from PMR objective maths to all subjective modern maths, so they simplify modern maths.
Students can't cope with full essay Add Maths, so they make one paper to be structural.
We are dumbing down the system, dumbing down our students. We are making things easier simply for the sake of increasing the results.
But I am not saying STPM should stay the same just for the sake of staying the same. There are real reasons it should stay the way it is. We are preparing future university graduates. We are preparing future engineers, doctors, our future leaders.
The ability to integrate the vast amount of knowledge and skills learnt in one a half year and apply it in less than 3 weeks of STPM, is the exact thing that differentiate between the good students and the so-so students, and thus, is exactly what we need to choose our future doctors, engineers, leaders, etc from.
Our students aren't able to do that (integrate knowledge)? Then it means the pre-form 6 education has failed. Changing form 6 to modular isn't going to make the problem go away, it is only hiding the problem.
