Straight As are not all that matter

WHEN the UPSR results were announced recently, there was an uproar from parents because the number of students who scored straight As had significantly dropped.

It is time that the mindset of Malaysian parents on As changed. As an educator for 23 years, I dare say that the As that these students obtained in UPSR did not translate into something that they were able to do in real life.

When these straight As students moved to secondary school, 99% of them did not have the capability and ability to transfer the “A” quality into their new environment.

When questioned, many of these students agree that they had been spoon-fed and gone through the drills so that they could answer the questions in UPSR.

They were not taught to think critically and creatively at all. Malaysian students tend to just want shortcuts to score an A for a subject.

I am happy that the Education Ministry is now trying to change this trend. I hope the ministry will not be pressured by parents to revert to the old system.

Teachers now have to teach students relevant skills so that they can cope with different types of questions in all major examinations (UPSR, SPM and STPM).

Our teaching and learning syllabus has emphasised Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) for many years. However, many teachers tend to think that HOTS focuses only on the type of questions asked.

Teachers must realise that HOTS can be used in any situations, i.e. exam format, the types of questions, the structure of the questions and more.

The trick is to train students to be able to handle any questions in any given situation. Students must learn to be calm and read the instructions and questions carefully. These are vital skills for life-long learning.

These skills are also important in their own lives and later, in their working life.

Hence the need to drill students with exam questions is no longer relevant.

Instead, it is time for teachers of all levels to teach students to think critically.

The trick is to train students to be able to handle any questions in any given situation.