Kecemerlangan

Cemerlang... surely a word that carries with it such high expectations. especially if we jazz it up with a couple of glam words or turn it into the national catch phrase like 'cemerlang, gemilang & terbilang'.

A heavy responsibility to carry.

Especially if you're a kid.

AH's school had a majlis anugerah kecemerlangan pelajar2 PMR & SPM this morning along with the annual PIBG meeting. 68 students went on stage to be personally presented with a pen and certificate by the shah alam mayor himself... which means AH & gang have been lucky enough to meet up with the previous MB and also the mayor over their pmr achievement. the spm recepients were also there looking pretty jubilant over their awards, and at spm level, they truly deserve it. for us malaysians whether we like it or not, spm is one of life's major crossroads.

The thing is what's our perception of the word 'cemerlang'? yes, we all want our kids to be cemerlang but sometimes i think we've all developed a sort of tunnel vision where the word is concerned. perform, perform, perform.... its all about the A's. now who's not proud of having a kid who comes up with straight A's, but at what cost? its ok if they are allowed to play as hard as we want them to work but sometimes, sometimes, we get so carried away that we heartlessly take away all the joy from their lives.

Case in point is AH's new pengetua. she's sooooo into discipline (during her speech she admitted to having majored in psychology but also admits to being a disciplinarian... a word that she actually had trouble pronouncing) she forgets that she's dealing with kids. kids are born full of hope & optimism.... until we heartlessly squash it dead that is. high school is not just a place where they gather knowledge about the world and their surrroundings, its also a place where they discover themselves. they need to interact and come to terms with their limits & boundaries.... and for that we need to accord them with a certain amount of freedom.

Discipline is necessary to maintain a certain level of order and self displine is needed if we want to keep improving ourselves. but like everything else, we should avoid extremes... even when it comes to something as necessary as discipline. teachers can insist on discipline all they want during the course of a school day but it surely doesnt bode well for the students if they're not allowed to let their hair down on certain special occasions like school matches & sportsday?!

Instruction was given that excessive cheering, face markings, related accessories like head gears or arm bands will not be tolerated.... the pengetua had determined that it's all related to 'rowdy behaviour'. ooh come on.... how can one generate motivation and inspiration in the fields through docility & meekness??? how can we produce champions when we put their spirits on a tight leash? and how can we keep the sporting spirit alive with the children when we ourselves are not sporting?

And with so much emphasis placed on academic achievement, surely it also doesnt bode well for the students if their annual ceria-ton (or concert day), an event which is very much looked forward to, might be scraped from the school calendar all in the name of keeping discipline?! sportsday and concertday are 2 events that's a must for any school, be it in shah alam or yokohama.... because thats when the kids get the opportunity to showcase their other talents.

We need to remember its not just about IQ, its also about emotional intelligence & social intelligence.... and a whole lot of other things that completes us as a person.

If we want kecemerlangan from the kids, we really do need to get things into its proper perspective.