Does success in your SPM exams make you more employable?

 

“How did your son do in his SPM examinations?” – I think my father, the erstwhile professor of education, dreaded this question. So much that he must have praised the Lord that he was overseas for his own further studies, when the results were announced.

In 1988, there were no mobile phones, text messaging services, or email facilities. Our relatives, and his university colleagues couldn’t reach him that easily to ask him this question.

Okay here’s the thing. I had already secured a place at a sixth form college, and shipped off to England with my father. He went to university for his doctoral studies. Using my “trial” examination results, and with a healthy dose of confident fast-talking, I started sixth form without my official SPM results.

But I didn’t do as well as expected in the actual SPM examinations. I scraped through to just about keep my place at that government sixth form college in England. This was important. I qualified as a dependent by virtue of my father being a university student there. It meant I, or rather my folks, did not have to pay for my A-Levels.

The irony doesn’t escape me. I would not have qualified for any matriculation course in Malaysia based on my results, and especially on account of my race. But the British government thought I was good enough to receive free education for my A-Levels.

Currently, I have a part-timer in my restaurant in Penang. Post-SPM examinations, he applied to join my crew. I hired him for a few reasons. He spoke well, his intent was noble as he didn’t want to be a burden to his family, but equally important, I hired him because he came from my alma mater, Penang Free School.

So, like an expectant parent, on the day the SPM results were announced, I promptly wrote him a text message early in the morning to inquire about how he did. Can you imagine kids these days? They not only get pressured by their folks and relatives, but even by their “bosses.”

After a few hours, he wrote me a cheeky little message giving me his results. It was obvious that he expected more “As” and he sounded disappointed. But to me, his results were not bad at all. I think his results were even better than mine. But, only ever so slightly, though! I think he was a little taken aback by my response. I congratulated him and told him he did well. Of course, he did well by my standards.

A total of 395,870 candidates sat for the national examination this time round. When the results were announced, almost all the state directors of education waxed lyrically about the sterling performance of students in their respective localities.

The education director-general informed the public that a total of 11,713 or 3.1% of the candidates obtained straight “As” in all subjects. So overall, this seminal examination that is supposed to be the stepping stone for all future growth and development, seems to have produced a good outcome. There were many success stories that were shared.

But there are also some interesting sidebars that perhaps we need to be cognisant of. About 10,000 candidates just did not show up to take the examination. And, the failure rate for the English and Mathematics papers were very high. This doesn’t augur well for our long term national vision.

But the success or seeming failure in the SPM examinations is really “on paper” only, isn’t it?

It has been touted over decades that this examination is the indicator of future success. As an employer and as a consultant, I disagree. I see in real-time, and in real-life, the candidates at job interviews.

The best candidates are not necessarily the straight “A” students. In fact, often, it is the average academic performers who seem to possess better life skills and drive. They are the ones who are more employable. Academic and scholastic knowledge is needed for the high grades in examinations. But passionately learning a craft, brings sustainable success to an individual in the long run.

As unpopular as this sounds, perhaps for Malaysia to progress, we need to borrow from the Singapore model. They have successfully based their national trajectory on pragmatism, where expertise takes precedence over ideology. And, they have focused on meritocracy, which they deemed indispensable to the cohesion of a multicultural society.

In Malaysia, meritocracy has been in cold storage forever, and is an alien concept to the young.

In the coming weeks, there is no doubt that we will hear about deserving non-Bumiputera students struggling to secure places for their choice of further education. And, like clockwork, politicians from all sides of the divide will use this as another tool to stir up racial discontent.

Maybe when education is no longer political, and is only predicated on pragmatism and meritocracy, we will finally get more employable people in our country. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.