To be or not to be

I was talking to an auntie this afternoon. She told me her husband and her are not going to let their son do Form 6 after his SPM. She said her husband think that it is a waste of time to do Form6(f6), and there is no use wasting the 2 years doing F6. They are going to let him take up other pre-u course.

Actually a lot of juniors asking us seniors should they take form 6. Kikshou got this answer I think is fairly acceptable:” If you are the study-material, then it’s ok to take F6, if you are not, then it is not very advisable.” This is what he told his junior.

A lot of people never consider form 6 as their pathway after form 5, a lot means a lot more than the people doing form 5, at least that I can see. Lesser and lesser people doing form 6, lesser and lesser classes are open for form 6 years after years.

As I observed from my batch, people who don’t do F6 have their reasons. Some of them get JPA and go overseas. Not many went for matriculation. Some are very sure what they want: many of them went Aussie or NZ, some went private college for different pre-U courses.

I heard a lot of people telling me that F6 is a waste of time and it does not worth anything. And they also comment that F6 is very tough and it’s not worth studying too. Outside people have much negative comments about F6, letting F6 become a poison in your education road.

I must clarify those myths that people have about F6. Form 6 is not that bad as people think.

#1 STPM is very tough!!! I know people say that STPM is one of the toughest exams in the world. But did u know who start that?? How did he know?? Is the statement still true for STPM now?? It’s true that STPM is on a higher level than some pre-U course, but I don’t think it is fair for people to be scared about STPM because of the myth. If STPM is very tough, us Malaysian will be at the very top of the class no matter where we go, but why some of us are now below par in uni?? I remember my teacher told us that a 4As in STPM doesn’t mean anything in Singapore(quite a number of my batch mates are over the causeway) and they can’t help agree with him when they came back.

#2 STPM does not have well recognization over the world. Come on, you are the one who say STPM is the toughest, why are the universities not recognize the toughest test??? You tell me. Some say that STPM are for those who want to be doctors and pharmacies and those who want to study in local universities. If I want to study overseas, I have to get my ass as far as possible from the evil exam. Who told you so?? Quite a number of my friends are studying overseas, even myself. Me and my roommate are from STPM. I have friends studying in the US and UK after STPM(they have to take SATS and TOEFL, of course, but this means that what STPM students are competent in other exams too) I have friends studying in Japan and even Taiwan. The largest gang of Form Sixers outside Malaysia will be over the causeway, in Singapore. Most of the universities we go are in top 100(I didn’t check out one by one), who says STPM is not well recognize???

#3 Studying Form 6 is not worth it. I remember Mun told me that she was regret because she was doing form 6 in the beginning of Lower 6. But she never stop to find her way out of this. Then she heard about the scholarship thingy and went for the interview, and tada, she got it!!! After that she say she don’t regret liao, because she won’t meet the person who told her about the scholarship if she wasn’t in F6 and she won’t be doing as good as she did now. It was the same as me. If I wasn’t doing F6 after my F5,if I insist to go to private college, I will not be the person I am now. I may become someone better, I may become someone even worse, I may end up somewhere else. But something I am very sure, I won’t meet the friends that I met in F6, the friends that brought me a lot of laughers. I may not be a very friendly person, but I am glad to get to know you guys. You get different life experience with different path you take.

Form 6 or not. It is just a choice in life. You have to figure out what you want in life. What are the pathways to the goal? What are the obstacles you face? What are the ways to solve them? What are the alternatives? A lot of thinking, planning, researching and asking around will help.

Form 6 or not form 6, it is not a big problem.