malaysian students mentality

we've been growing up with this mentality since as long as i can remember. it's not like the government didn't try to incorporate co-curricular activities into the education system, just that it wasn't really successful. you know how we were 'forced' to join like at least three clubs or something during high school, we would try to choose clubs that are not so active so that we don't have to get too involved or some would choose clubs that no one joins so that they can hold a position in the club and gain more credits. one club which was totally manipulated by those 'genius' is the bomba club! i remembered that so many of my classmates and friends joined that club and basically 'sapu' all the positions available. not only did they not have meetings but they earn all those additional points. unlike me, i was so-called editor for the interact club and i enjoyed fulfilling my responsibilities but because there's no such position in the outline, i only gained the same amount of points as any other ordinary member. besides that, in form 3, a number of us joined the chess club just to gain attendance mark. we would go there and instead of playing chess, played dam for less than half an hour and tell the teacher in charge that we had to open the 'koperasi' and she would sign our cards to show that we were present even for a while. in the matter of academic, the teachers always tell us that we would not be successful, get the job we want if we don't do well in high school. if you don't do well in high school then you won't be able to get into tertiary institutions. we've been drilled to score well since we were young, so if they suddenly tell us that we need to be active in other activities and good results just isn't enough, what they expect us to do? rewind time and go back to school and try to be more active in sports? actually, being active in co-curricular activities in school is just the beginning. even in uni, there's still a lot of chance to improve upon your leadership, communication skills etc. unfortunately, many people join clubs in uni because of the discounts they offer by just becoming a member. sometimes they even have to drag strangers to go to their meeting because it is the requirement to have at least 50 people in a club meeting. even now, i still think that it is important to get good results, you don't see someone who doesn't have excellent scores but active getting into the deans list, do you? also, when you go for a job interview, you would first be considered for the job based on your academic performance. then the added advantage that put you above other applicants would be that you have exceptionally impressive people and communication skills. however, as for me, no matter what i do, i'll still be working for JPA with the same pathetic low pay no matter i have good results or good social skills. that is unless they ran out of job and i have to look for my own job then i'm dead! there's not much potential for biotechnology in Malaysia, well at least that's how it looks like for now. it's not like the biotechnology sector will boom overnight right? study hard or play hard? ~ponderz