A time for learning

From his experience in MMU, See finds that students who fail in his course don't have the fundamental grasp of the basic concepts in programming.

'I think usually the problem stems from secondary school. If the quality of students is low, we can't help it,' he opines.

The complaint of low standards in the schooling assessment to begin with is not an uncommon one.

'We know of students who got straight As for PMR coming into our centre and they literally can't string together sentences properly,' says Tan Poay Lim, principal of Creative Horizons Language Centre.

'Numbers of distinctions now are so high but the performance is still so low. Put the two and two together and you know that our standards have dropped.'

With 20 years of teaching experience behind him, Creative Education Consultancy managing director Alagesan Arumugam has seen certain trends in the public school examinations.

'I have assessed some of my students and find it hard to comprehend that they are distinction students,' he says. 'On my tests, they would get 55% but end up getting 1A in SPM. It does look like it's relatively easy to score an A these days.'

Alagesan points out that this could be due to a few factors - perhaps the students 'bucked up' before the exam, perhaps his own standard was too high or perhaps the marking scheme was lenient.

His suggestion for fairer awarding of grades would be to give A's to the top 10% of the nation's scorers according to subjects, to decrease the likelihood of many students getting a string of As.

'Because at the moment, a student may be in the top 1% in Physics but only the top 20% in Chemistry but he gets 1A for each subject.

'So you may get a situation where two students in a class - one who always scores 90% in school exams and another who scores 60% - both getting 1A in SPM. It's not fair to the first student, isn't it?'

For Shanta, the root of the problem lies in the low entry requirements for universities and colleges.

She thinks that the government should consider implementing minimum prerequisites to study at matriculation centres, colleges and universities.

'Let's say most of the class at university got an F in the SPM English paper, the possibility of two thirds failing is very high,' she explains. 'But if so many fail, the programme is questioned, the lecturer is questioned and the university has to blame somebody. At the end of the day, lecturers want to hold on to their jobs.'

See believes the general public's attitude is partly to blame for the occasional lapse of standards.

'I don't think the public values standards very much,' he says. 'When I talk to parents sometimes, they are always asking for the fastest way possible to finish a course.'

He feels there is a tension between maintaining standards and pleasing students as they are 'customers' and therefore the pressure is greater, with some students even forming petitions and setting up blogs to contest their results.

Some believe that it is really up to a student himself or herself to make the most of university education.

'The only difference between good students and under-achieving students is whether they put in the effort,' says Owen Yap, a subject matter expert for Basic Interpersonal Communications at Open University Malaysia (OUM).

'I've never been pressured by the university to pass students, but my students have begged me before! But I always tell them that they should have done their assignments in order to secure their marks,' he says.

It boils down to attitude, Prof Lim reckons. 'Sometimes, it's not really about knowledge or skills, a very important component is professionalism.

'But assessment of professionalism is difficult. You can't assess students in an exam, they are bound to give all the right answers!'

And because it's harder to detect or train attitude problems, Prof Lim claims 'we have crooks in our medical system' who would resort to unethical means for money.

It's not just attitudes of students, of course, it applies to anyone. But it might come at a price, as Nor found out.

'You know, I could have done what was wanted of me and I would still have my job today,' Nor admits ruefully, having resigned from her posts since last year.

'I've lost my pension, I've lost my chance to study abroad but a life with no conscience is not the way to live.'

*Names have been changed.