Schooling Days – Episode 3
Today we’re featuring the 3rd installment of UV’s Schooling Days.
Picture of the ACS Primary Building (from the 1800s), taken from the Kinta Valley book.
Episode 3
I didn’t do too well in my first year in ACS Ipoh. I was placed in the ‘B’ class the following year. It knocked the pride out of me and possibly the high expectations my parents had of me. It also set me off, young as I was then, to accept disappointments and being taken down a peg or two. I settled in easily in the new ‘B’ stream. Practically all schools stream their students according to their academic performance during that time. There would be class positions and ‘Standard’ positions based on the total marks of all the subjects. So if you are first in class in the ‘A’ stream you may be first in Standard but should there be someone from the other streams obtaining a higher total than you, you may end up being second in Standard. Nobody wants to be the last in class (even in the best class) or worse still, last in the Standard!
It was this system of evaluating a pupil that started this silly race to be academically ‘excellent’ in our Malaysian education system. Parents talked about their children having obtained this or that position in school. “O, my son was first in class”, a proud parent would proclaim proudly while another would sheepishly say, “My son only came out 10th.” So what if he is first or tenth or for that matter last? Is his future determined by the so-called ‘position in class and Standard?
Mixing with boys who ‘were not so clever’ so to speak widened my outlook in life more. It proves to me that I am also someone who is not at the top all the time. My desire to lead a life of a boy in the Fifties just started then. The pressure was off and I could do with the minimum of studies and get by. I started playing games amongst my neighbourhood friends; go on cycle rides every evening and practically the whole day on weekends. Life was great!
I had my first sex education in Standard 4B in ACS Ipoh. There were some ‘naughty’ boys who would tell you tales of ‘sexual exploits’ (more like peeping) that they had experienced and one even showed what masturbation was in class! (I hope I am not censored.). Yes, during the Fifties we were not so fortunate as to get all the pornography via the Internet. It was all related through word of mouth from ‘experiences’ someone had. All the innocent ones (me included) would listened attentively to ‘juicy’ tales from the more ‘experienced’ fellas.
I had a lady class teacher then, Mrs Lee Hoo Keat, the daughter of Mr Aw Boon Jin, our Junior Supervisor. ACS was divided into Primary, Junior and Secondary then. Mrs Lee was a tall lady and would often come to class dressed in ‘samfoo’ (a Chinese form of attire made up of a pair of pants [straight cut] and a short blouse of the same floral cotton material. While she teaches, she would be seated behind her teacher’s desk and she would cross her legs and swing the leg that was placed above the other. Eventually, her shoes, which she put on loosely, would fly off her foot and fly out of her desk region and someone has to send it back to her. The boy seated at the front of the row that was nearest to her desk has this task.
Our English teacher was Mr Aw Boon Jin and we would dread his periods. Every mistake we make would be ‘rewarded’ with a swipe of his thin cane that he carried around across our palm. I learned my English Grammar and spelling very well those days. Even worse would be detention after school for serious and repeated mistakes. I was detained once and my brothers left me behind and I had to walk home. It was a lesson well learned.
History was taught by Mr. Wong Chong Choon (we nicknamed him ‘Choon Toi’ because he was rather mean to us). He would from the first day of his History lesson about the Bronze Age asked us “What is bronze?!” For weeks that would go on and none of us ‘stupid’ fellas could answer him. This would go on for practically a whole term and he would never give us the answer. I think I did not find out exactly what bronze was until very much later. I remembered this teacher in particular also because he made a classmate of ours stand on a chair with his pants off as a punishment! I can’t imagine what would happen to a teacher who does this today!
In Standard 5, I once had a hockey stick landing on my head by a teacher for talking while he was teaching. I too will never forget him. He was Mr. Ng Pak Hing, a brother of the famous Dr. Ng Yoke Hing, Chairman of the Board of Governors of ACS Ipoh. I never told my parents about this incident until I left school. Luckily I must have had a thick skull then. Punishments were dished out in all sorts of forms those days and we do not go crying back to our parents for obvious reasons. Our parents will blame us for being naughty and that was why the teachers punished us. We also took our punishment like a man and would consider it sissy to tell our parents.
In Standard Five, I had a very interesting teacher. He was Mr. Robert Leong. He runs a small shop in Anderson road (half a shop) selling comics and other gadgets. Because of his outside trade, he would tell us fantastic tales from comic characters like Superman and Captain Marvel. These characters come to live the way he told the stories with gestures, facial expressions and ‘sound effects’ (made from his vocal organs only). This would then make us interested in the comics he sold. No, I am not saying he sold them in class too! We would then go out and hunt for them and long for each new one. He was very creative too as he would invent new stories and characters with superpower. Once he told us how his ‘hero’ could fly because he ate lots of onions and let off gas to propel him into the sky!
Yes, we had some interesting teachers then. Soon it was the year for the Secondary School Entrance Examinations. If you fail this examination, you cannot get into Secondary School. You would become a Primary School dropout! The year was already 1957. It would be Merdeka soon. The Examination would be post Merdeka. By the time I was admitted to ACS Ipoh the Primary School Grading System had already been changed. It was from Standard 1 to Standard 6. (Primary 1 and 2 were dropped and the old system of Standard 1 to 9 abandoned. Secondary school started from Form 1 to 5 as it is today with Lower and Upper Six for those who wanted to go further to Universities.)
I took my studies more seriously by then. I spent more time reading and learning but still played a lot with my neighbourhood friends. I continued with my model making hobby and played with self-made toy soldiers and table-soccer. I too was very creative and imaginative in the way I created my own play things and battle scenarios. I use my bed, mattress, blanket and pillows to create battle terrains of various types for my mock battles that would last hours. I love to read war comics. Since my brother-in-law was an ardent fan of those war comics depicting battles of World War II, I had the opportunity to read lots of them. These gave me a very good background of military tactics and strategies and reading books about pilots (Biggles) and war heroes was my craze.
The end result of my taking my studies seriously was I passed very well and for a ‘B’ class boy to end up with the 12th position in Standard was a surprised to my teachers. I remembered Mr. Ng Ah Fook announcing the result to my class and when he called out my name and position and I was not really overjoyed, he showed a shocked face. I had never been excessively overjoyed by any major successes in the academic field no matter how good the results may be. To me, it was merely another hurdle to cross and the next one to face.
UV, when I was in Std. 5 and Mr. Robert Leong was teacher-in-charge of the class, he sold us comics. Because he was the seller he couldn’t confiscate when we brought the comics to class. Another teacher would. With his hands tied, he just told us to read the comics discreetly, like placing it on our laps.
Hi UV@Valiant Knight,
You certainly have an interesting and a lively school life compared with what kids are going through nowadays!
My daughter is going to sit for an important exam this year. Her no nonsence and very strict teachers are already training her class (the best in the standard) in a way comparable to a military and spartan drill. You could not believed the amount of homework, pressure and punishments the pupils have to endure to produce straight A’s. That is life in a Chinese vernacular school.Her day starts at 5 a.m. in the morning and ends at 12 a.m. at night, almost 19 hours per day with only 5 hours of sleep.
One small mistake in spelling or maths will required 50 times of correction and 10 strokes of cane on the palms. Each day, she will have between 10 to 12 books of homework to complete. Tuition at school is compulsory and daily attendance is strictly monitor. All corricular activities were put aside. Even her P.E. classes were used up for revision of important subjects.
Complains from parents falls on deaf ears because her school and class had an expectation to meet. All 40 pupils, the top in the school, have to produce 7A’s, no more and no less.
So, UV, you are indeed very lucky compared to my poor girl!
Yes, I understand what you are trying to convey. The schools are fighting hard to produce excellent results because the Ministry of Education reward school heads and teachers for ‘excellence’! This is the most stupid thing the MOE can think up these days! I just read somewhere that over 900 school heads will be paid RM7,500 each for achievements! I understand teahcers in these schools also get paid individually! How do you measure the performance of schools? With the number of 7As? What is education all about? Getting all As in examinations? I am ashamed to be associated with such a system of ‘Education’ that we have today!
How apt to be able to wish one and all, Happy Valentine’s Day … perhaps ipohWorld can open up an article for comments? It will be possibly one of the greatest compilation in one site, I can envision … LOL!
Thank you for the suggestion above Old Salts, but we think that it would be better to leave publishing all the comments and concerns abot Valentines Day to those who write for Malaysiakini or Free Malaysia etc.
We prefer to concentrate more on history or current local events which impinge on history and heritage.
couldn’t agree with you more, UV. all the hype about the number of ‘A’s…..but when these young people go out into the working world, they seem LOST! it’s sad.
Hi UV, it is only February and my little girl is already complaining of mental pressure and lack of sleep. Her glasses is getting thicker and her other activities getting lesser. I worried by the end of the year, she will be totally exhausted.
Only last week, she told me she hated her teachers and school life. She had lost her carefree and innocent childhood to the mad race of getting straight A’s. This is how our education system is now. Pure madness of the highest degree. Everyone is going all out of her or his way to get A’s but in the end, I am sure many youths suffered physically or mentally along the way. Is this the price to pay for so called “success”? I think the only people who benefits from this are the teachers,tuition centres and vain parents. Suffer the children.
Yes, Ika, I agree with your focus. Perhaps Old Salts is not aware of the sites mentioned by you? One never stops learning if there are others to teach or lead/guide/direct along the way …
If I am not mistaken, the picture is the Horley Hall. Those who stayed in Horley Hall can verify this or even those teaching in ACS Primary can do so. The Primary Building constructed of wood was turned into the ACS Museum when we, the Alumni Association celebrated the 100th Anniversary of ACS Ipoh. The building wasn’t safe for use as a school building because of termites. However, later it was also declared unsafe for the Museum. S.Y. Lee could comment on this. What has happened to the Museium?
Thanks.
ipohgal:
I suggest you monitor your daughter carefully.
Putting such stress on her to get straight can be fatal. At the end of the day, what does it mean to your daughter for getting 7 As?
I am not going to say education should be taken lightly. Some kids need to be pushed but it is important to realise that education is not an end all. I have seen many kids who were very successful in school but a failure in terms of work and dealing with people because they totally lack the EQ part of life.
Yes we believe that is Horley Hall, but we have no information about the museum. We would be happy to know more.
Question:
I plan on a trip back to IPOH next year (my first trip in 35+ years next year). I would love to attend the ACS swimming gala.
1) Do anyone know the dates.
2) Can I go to the swimming gala if I do not have an invitation by
A) identifying myself (and probably no one will know or remember me). Or would I be just pushed aside and be told to go away!
The wooden building in ACS primary had been turned into a ‘Bilik Sumber’ (Resource Centre/Library) and prayer rooms for the Muslim pupils. I visited it last year.
I remembered spending 2 years in the wooden building.
I was in 1b in 67 and then 2a in 68.
For me Form 2A 1966 was a year of living dangerously. I was sent by Mrs. Chet Singh twice that year to Brian Foenander, the terrorizer who used to stalk the verandahs of ACS cane in hand. He taught us history that year and I was determined not to be an embarrassment to myself at the end-of-year exams. His practice then was to mark the exam scripts quickly and make known the top mark the same day. When he called out my name, I could see the unmistakeable disappointment on his fac that it was not one his favourites. “Oh, you!” and he walked off. A priceless moment indeed to me then, and even now, 45 years after the event.
Hi Ipohgal,l
As a parent, I empathize with your concern about your daughter’s well being. The fact that she is subjected to an unduly harsh and rigorous drilling regimen on a daily basis is tantamount to burning a candle at both ends. Hopefully, she is resilient enough to avoid total burnout in her quest for academic excellence. It cannot be denied that one of the primary goals of a good education system is to produce top-notch students who excel in examinations, but should we use good grades as an absolute yardstick to measure a student’s success? Regrettably, straight A’s are sometimes achieved at the expense of forsaking a well-rounded education for our kids. While nurturing a child’s intellectual development is important, other aspects of growth and development should not be ignored. The fallout from such a lopsided approach to education will manifest itself when the student steps out into the real world, beyond the confines of the classroom. Over time, the glaring inadequacies can have a profound impact on the student’s future, affecting his career and curtailing his ability to interact with his peers and contemporaries. I applaud your foresight in realizing that over emphasis on academic results is a fallacy, and your daughter is fortunate to have a mother who is not blindsided by straight A’s alone. Stand by her, and provide her with the buffering she needs to lead a normal life like any carefree teenage. We are young but once; infuse some spark and color into her young life. With the encouragement from supportive parents, she will overcome the odds and regain her spontaneity again. Good luck!
Hi Ipohgal,
I empathize with your worry in regards your daughter’s tough
schooling experience.
Tough teaching techinques similar to tough parenting techinques
with caning or other punishment can borderline towards physical
and emotional abuse.
I hope you got a chance to read some commentaries about
Amy Chua, a Chinese American law professor who wrote a book
titled “Tiger Mum”.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html
Amy is a Chinese woman originally from the Philipines.
Her parenting style is typical of many Asians.
I feel that whether it is teachers or parents, there has to be
a balance between the tough (corporal punishment in schools
and tiger mum techniques at home) versus
the lenient so called “spare the rod and spoil the kid” styles.
Here in California where there are lots of studious Asian
Chinese kids in schools. They excel academically and are the envy of many white American kids. FYI, school teachers in America
are prohibited from touching and caning the kids. So I assume
they get most of their discipline and push to excel from their
parents as exemplified by Amy Chua’s “Tiger Mum”‘s book.
Since I too grew up in Malaysia and have been subject to all
of the abuses in school that you and everyone described, I have
been taking notes and observing the pros and cons of both the
strict and lenient ways.
My tennant is a school counselor and he tells me about students
getting away even when they directly call the principal “bitch”
or use foul language. He also tells me about students skipping
schools for undesirable activities like drugs or prematurely
impregnating a girl. That’s why in America, there are lots
of teenage pregnancies and teen mothers on welfare.
Well, that’s the extreme when students show disrespect or when
they do not know how to set their priorities right.
These kids could benefit from understanding that we need to
get a good education and career first before finding a mate.
I also recall a case in 2000 in Arizona whereby students even
bring guns to school to shoot others.
When I see such extremes, then “yes”, we need tough teachers
and parents otherwise we “spare the rod and spoil the kid”.
But for the majority of us nice kids, I think we should not
be subject to such tough caning in school or tiger mum techniques
at home.
There is no point in getting all A’s when we lack the social
and cognitive skills in other aspects of our lives.
Some of these kids grow up to be “book smart but street dumb”.
All of us humans are born to be different – some tall, some short,
some fat, some thin etc. Likewise, our learning and comprehension
differs too. Some learn faster, some slower.
Sometimes when we don’t understand something that is explained
to us the first time, we need it to be re-presented in a different
or be repeated before we grasp it.
And I have seen teachers who would call us “stupid ass” or
punish us when we asked the same questions again or make the
same mistakes unintentionally.
When a student fails, it also means that the teacher has failed
in his or her teaching skills.
It is normal for your daughter to dread school.
Maybe she needs to go to a different school or write to the
principal about her feeling uncomfortable with such teaching
techniques.
Somebody has to complain otherwise nothing will change.
I am sure enough people must have complained and that’s why
my Ipoh friends have said that teachers no longer caned their
students these days.
So I am surprised your daughter still got caned.
I remember one of the primary school teachers Mr. Au Chun Chong
who is extremely abusive slapping and punching kids.
I suspect many people have complained to the education department.
Two years later, he left the school and was told that he
took a different job.
I suspected that too many complaints have caused him to be fired.
Actually a lot of successful people in this world are dropouts
from school.
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and Steve Jobs, founder of Apple
are both college dropouts.
“Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream” are also founded by 2 high school
kids who are said to be good for nothing except for
eating ice cream.
I think in the overall, there should be a balance between
the tough and lenient ways to teaching/parenting.
Good luck.
Hi Lee, Ken and HomesickforIpoh,
Thank you very much for your kind concern for my poor daughter. I really enjoyed reading your comments.
I am not the typical ‘kiasu’ type of parent. Neither am I too lenient with my kids in their academic pursuits. I go for moderation and quality.
I just wanted my kids to learn and understand what they were taught, both at home by us parents and at school by teachers. I do not encourage them to memorise what they have learn. I do not want them to end up as rot learners.
While most parents laid down an expectations on their child to score as many A’s as possible, I just told my daughter to do her best. As long as she understood her lessons, pass her exams and can continue with her education, I am fully satisfied.
I am very blessed with a good daughter. She is well behaved, hardworking and obedient. She is liked by everyone. So, I do not want her health and mentality to be compromised by the pressure to produce straight A’s. Infact, she performed better without any pressure and she always comes out among the top in her school when left to study on her own. I hope with this, one day she can grow up to be a well balanced and useful individual.
Hi ipohgal
I know how you are feeling too ipohgal! My daughter was once in the best class with all the best students. The pressure to excel is so great not just on the child but on the parents too! Needless to say, a lot of time and money spend on extra tuitions.Those As were expansive!
I’m very sure your daughter will turn out fine and grow into a confident successful girl with your good guidance and love for her. All the best to your daughter for her coming exams.
Hi CLHipoh,
Thank you very much for your encouragements. I think as parents, we need to pause and consider our child’s emotional feelings and mental well-being. They are certainly worth more than the result slip.
I have a close friend whose son scored straight A’s in all his public exams and today, he was in medical college. But he could not communicate at all with anyone, not even with his own parents and peers. He was in a world of his own. When you talk to him, he just stared at you blankly but could not exchange any thoughts with those around him. You just could not understand how he think or feel. That was very sad and that is when I decided my daughter must not end up like him. Today, he is still seeing a psychiatrist. I really wonder how he will be doing as a dentist one day.
A human’s brain is just like a sponge. It can only hold that much water. Any excess will flow away. Humans, when driven to the brink, will be suicidal. You can read in the papers how some students committed suicide because they could not obtained the A’s their parents expected of them and thus, they ended their life in shame. A young life was lost so needlessly.
Ipohgal’s “poor” daughter is indeed richly blessed with a mother who not only writes well but has drawn, in ipohWorld, a caring community of bloggers. I can feel the heart of concern, shown with suggestions and encouragement and leave with knowing that one is never alone in ipohWorld!
Hi ex-Ipohan,
Yes, you are right. In ipohWorld, you can find some friendly people who still loves to care and share with total strangers in this cold and sometimes ugly world. And thanks too!
Ipohgal:
Just remember these
1) someone who did not do well in school can still succeed in life
2) Someone who did not do well in the Malaysian system can still do very well in the overseas educational system (I am an example)
As long as you have a very motivated kid, all things are possible. In life it is all about ATTITUDE.
Hi Lee,
Spot on! Yes, as parents, we must cultivate the right attitude in our children so that they can still succeed in life despite growing up in a lousy education system. We cannot rely entirely on the educators. The roles of parents are more important.
One of my reasons for writing this series of articles about schooling is to highlight the changes our education system has gone through since independence. I hope more will join in the discussion and come to realize that more should be done for our present education system. Thanks.
Robert Leong was my class teacher. Is he still alive? Do you guys remember the punishment he used to dished out for mis- behaving?
Goh Kooi,
Robert Leong passed away long time ago.
His signature punishment: a hard smack on the back.
Thanks PT. I got got on well with his eldest son. The punishment for us was that we had to hit the edge of his desk with our knuckles 3 times.
Dear Lee, I did not hear of any swimming gala in the ACS (and I was at the Board meeting last night). However, you can write to the Principal and I am sure he will welcome you. He has told us that he welcomes all the old boys and show them around the school.
Hi S.Y.Lee,
ACS Ipoh used to hold an annual swimming gala which is a testimony that the pool is well used. Has this event be allowed to fall away? Why?
I think they still hold the swimming gala. The last I checked online, IPOH ECHO had an article of the event sometime in October a few years back.
Robert Leong was my father, and yes, I grew up under a most interesting man I’m proud to call my dad. While the description of him mostly matched, it is not correct to say that he was in the comic book business because he did not own the half shop mentioned by UV; it was his brother’s. The comics he obtained were also not from that shop but were from a nearby shop in Anderson Road. The reason he sold the comic books to his students was because of his belief that comics are the best literature to learn English from… quite contrary to those teachers who thought otherwise and who would confiscate them when found on students. My father made no money from the comic books sales.
Being a fond comics fan himself, we his children were blessed with many comics to enjoy reading from… from the British Beano and Dandy, to nearly all the DC and Marvel comics then available. On top of that we had many magazines too ranging from my favourite MAD to various news journals.
Thanks to my father’s encouragement, I am today the proud owner of a huge library of my own… no, not only comic books, but also books of all kinds… from religion to poetry, music, science, history, etc.
My father passed away in 1997 and is buried at the Connolly Road cemetery. My mother, who was also a teacher at the ACS (primary) passed away in 2004 and is buried next to him.
Weng Yew
Dear Weng Yew,
So sorry to hear about the demise of your parents. Sorry for hte error about the comic shop and thanks for correcting. This is why blogging here is so great, we get to have our mistakes corrected. No offence meant when mistakes are made in our writing. I hope readers will understand.
Yes, comics really help students learn English (English comics that it and good ones only)! Teachers should be using them today! I am sure some of those confiscated comics entertained the teachers who confiscated them and their children, too, Hahaha!
Dear Merrill,
Your father and I crossed paths again after he retired. I was a working person by then. We ran together during our days in the Hash House Harriers and also at the Polo Ground. I told him that I was his former student and we left it at that. He was always in his khaki shorts and with his ubiquitous water canteen. He was driving his Ford Anglia at that time. We didn’t meet again after his short spell with the Hash House Harriers. But, most of all, I found him exceptionally frank and friendly even though I was his primary school student.
Dear UV and PT,
Thanks for the kind comments on my father. My father was a very talented man and could build all kinds of things. Once he single handedly built a kayak based on the PB20 designed by Mick Jagger’s dad… yup, the same Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.
He also made moccassins for me and hand built framed back packs for the entire family. He also built beautiful model planes that we flew in Coronation Park, a hobby which inspired me to enter into the aviation industry. His greatest achievement was to design, and with the help of contractors, build the house we stayed in in Canning Garden.
PT, that wasn’t a Ford Anglia my father drove; it was a Ford Classic 315. It too had a Z shaped rear windshield like the Ford Anglia, but was much bigger.
Yes, my father did run with the HHH often… an exercise he enjoyed because of the many friends he had there… and no, not because of the beer wagon, because he could not tolerate alcohol.
wy
Hi Weng Yew, I remember your dad as one of my teachers when I was in Standard One in those days (if I am not mistaken.) One morning when we were having the period under him, the weather outside was very ominous looking. He started to tell us that the world was going to come to an end. All of us in the room went absolutely quiet. A little bit later he busted out laughing and told us he was just playing with us. He was a delightful person. I also remember the time when I went to your house with the MYFers for Christmas caroling, when he told us to not be shy about getting the food or else we will be hungry.
is this the cruel Mr Au Chun Chong mentioned here?
http://ipohecho.com.my/v2/2011/03/02/in-appreciation-of-women/
Hi Eddie,
The Au Chun Chong mentioned in the Straits Echo is NOT the
same person who was the teacher at NTPS Cator Avenue in the
1960′s. He was in his 40′s at the time and if still alive
would be in his 80′s now.
Sometimes people have the same name. Thank you.
Robert Leong was a humorous, likable teacher who sold not only comics, but also instructional booklets on martial arts which I assumed were written by his brother Leong Fu (who reputedly defeated the famous wrestler “King Kong”). Robert Leong liked to show off his gun, yes, but I guess part of this habit was due to a desire to treat his students as friends. As a former school teacher, I too had used corporal punishment before, but never came away without some regret.
Pardon the intrusion for this belated entry into the debate.
The sentiments expressed by UV and other bloggers strike a resonance with my experience in ACS Ipoh. Getting A’s by rote learning do not contribute to understanding of the first principles involved. The A’s in school do not translate to Distinctions in tertiary education or a guarantee of getting a higher degree, the Master or the Doctorate. When all the time is spent on getting the A’s then there is little time for interpersonal skills development or obtaining a broader outlook in life. A well rounded education is far more useful in life then just academic performance. A good example of modern thinking is making Medicine a post-graduate course in Australia (the US is already a post-grad course. Candidates are interviewed for their attitude and committeemen to Medicine rather than a near perfect score of 100% in a pre-University exam. Most PhD students don’t have perfect scores in their High School exams.
My only outstanding performance in school was a double promotion from Std 1 to Std 3 and ever since, I never made it to an A class nor did I managed to get into Form VI. This was mainly an attitude problem and in hind sight, I could have done much better. I am an example of a wild student who was coasting with the system of automatic promotion. Without that, I would have left school. I was the other extreme but canning and threats would not have improved my performance one iota but better supervision could have. Eventually I got my higher degree.
I did not push my kids too hard at school and as average kids they managed to get a university degree and they performed better at university than at school. After working for some years, they have decided to return to university to study law.
Being consistent in academic achievements without extreme stress level is the best solution for a healthy mind.
An interest article about teachers is found in this url:
http://acsipohalumni.com/our-school-ties/sharing-experiences/students-of-1960s/pun-swee-leong-dr-anthony-chapter-2/
Just happened to return to ipohworld and noticed your post, Ipohbornkid. I agree with all you say about academic scores. Further, to be frank, in every organization – and that includes school organizations such as ACS – the mediocre often outnumbered the talented and dedicated teachers. Maybe I was overly impressed with my Form Two class teacher (Wong Suet Lan) and thus could not tolerate anyone less creative and meticulous than she, but I was most disappointed during the very first weeks of my 3B class and from then on my nascent tendency to “twang” class developed into a full-scale activity. Anyway, I dropped out of school but, due to fear of unemployment or lowly paid employment, decided to sit for the Cambridge high school certificate as a private candidate. Following that I did attend the FEC Form 6 class at Anderson but soon gave that up and applied for teacher training instead. Though I enjoyed my teaching experience, I finally left it after a decade or so and went overseas for my basic and advanced degrees. It was during that period – my years in the US – that revealed how much could be achieved when teachers start seeing the potential in kids, and not treat them like mere sponges ready to absorb knowledge without questioning.