STPM: The last choice for non-bumiputras, the middle class

STPM: The last choice for non-bumiputras, the middle class

STPM: The last choice for non-bumiputras, the middle-class & the poor, and the challenge seeker?

Written by Sofea Chok Suat Ling, the associate news editor of New Straits Times. The article was originally published at New Straits Times. And, it was also republished at the blog for Pusat Sumber Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan Negeri Sarawak on 12 July 2012.

It has been called “archaic”, “anachronistic” and “a remnant of the Stone Age”. It is also known as “the hardest exam in the world”. Given a choice between wading chest-deep through crocodile-infested waters and sitting the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia examination, most students say they would choose the former. Indeed, it has been pointed out that only the extremely masochistic or one whose life provides no other options will attempt STPM or journalism.

STPM is certainly not for the weak of heart and feeble of will. Many have sat it, with disastrous results. I was one of those who scraped through, despite being an (almost) straight-A scorer in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia. It took several years to overcome the humiliation and post-apocalyptic fallout that came with an almost failing grade in Physics.

As a result of this cataclysmic episode, I have, until today, nothing but the deepest respect and admiration for STPM top scorers, especially those who make it look so easy, scoring 5As even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. They manage it despite being blind, wheelchair-bound, afflicted with lungs infection, or in the case of Ayah Pin’s son, being the offspring of a cult leader.

It is mercilessly tough, and this is why it is unsurprising that many students usually give Form Six a wide berth after SPM, preferring instead, if they have the means, to enrol for matriculation programmes offered by private colleges, or to take the A Levels.

These programs are perceived to be superior and better able to prepare students for university education.

Form Six student numbers have, thus, dwindled through the years, so much so that there was a proposal that it be abolished. Some schools have noted that up to 90 per cent of their students enrol in private colleges after SPM. Schools offering Form Six struggle to fill up classrooms.

Students cannot be blamed for choosing what they perceive as being a less arduous route. The programmes in private colleges use the modular or semester system and students feel it is easier for them to score good grades or pass rather than attempt STPM, which is based on one examination. One wrong move, or a queasy stomach on exam day, is capable of derailing two years of hard work.

The programs offered in private colleges also do away with non-essential subjects and prepare students directly for their intended careers.

The perception, therefore, is that Sixth Formers are the system’s leftovers or those who cannot afford private education or gain entry into matriculation programs. That is as good for their self-esteem as being the target of a school bully’s cruel jibes.

It was against this scenario that an announcement was made last week to re-brand Form Six to make it more attractive for SPM-leavers. It is not exactly a new endeavour as at least one other move to revitalize Form Six has been made in the past.

Some educationists believe, however, that the most pertinent question about STPM is not so much about its diminishing popularity but whether it should be there at all. Should it be scrapped together with matriculation, and a common entrance examination into public universities be introduced in their stead?

That there are two systems for university entry — STPM and matriculation — has been a source of discontentment for many years, more so since intake into public universities became merit-based in 2002.

Compared to 83,000 Form Six students in 2012, and according to NST’s report, there are only 41,987 students sat for STPM in the year 2015. That’s a drastic 50.58% drop in the number f students sitting for STPM.

Matriculation programmes, some say, give students an unfair advantage as they are “easier”.

They have different evaluation procedures: STPM is affiliated with the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate; whereas matriculation is based on coursework, exams, and lecturer evaluation.

Some of the disgruntlement with matriculation, however, eased somewhat when entry requirements for matriculation colleges were relaxed to admit up to 10 per cent non-Bumiputera students. Just recently, too, Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) demanded additional seats for Indian students, and the numbers were increased to 1,500 from 500.

But it’s still there. Perhaps one way forward is for universities to work together to come up with a common entrance examination, like SAT (Standard Assessment Test) used in the United States.

Indeed, to put STPM and matriculation in one basket for comparison for places in public universities has long been described as iniquitous. We cannot compare them as they are essentially two different examinations.

Do you agree that STPM is Malaysian higher education system’s leftovers?

Or, do you think that it is a battleground for those who are not afraid of the extreme academic challenge?

What have you gained after you have read this?

Share your opinion now!

And, for all the former STPM students, what are your Sixth Form experiences? 

Whether you are a current Form 6 student, an alumnus, or someone who just studied Form 6 for a few months, all Malaysians would love to hear your own story!

Memories of RRF: Form6

Still writing about 1981. A good year. After spending a good 3 months with Mama, it was back to life and back to reality.
So there I was in Lower 6 at PFS, thinking I could conquer the world. Trying to act cool with the back-combed thick hair of the 80s. F6 was an eye opener. Over the Malaysian telly, 'Happy Days' was a hit among the teenagers. Every dude (yours truly included) was trying to 'act cool' and walk around with the hips and shoulders abducted slightly ala-Fonzarelli (The Fonz nee Henry Winkler) as if there boils were growing in the groins and armpit respectively!
Suddenly all the Malay friends whom I had known had mysteriously disappeared. The scholarships and matriculation offers came a-knocking on their doors and they reluctantly and half-heartedly accepted them. We heard that a guy who could hardly speak English for nuts got a scholarship to learn English language in US. He had to go for elementary phonetic lessons before he could qualify for classes proper. And F6 was left with predominantly non-Bumiputeras and some Bumiputeras who did not qualify for anything. Even then, some were on the appeal list and eventually disappeared like alien abduction. Some brainy chaps were quickly gobbled up by Singapore under the smokescreen of ASEAN scholarship, which I was shortlisted but miserably got rejected after the the interview.
I attended the ASEAN scholarship with my fellow student (AK, but mentor). We went down to Singapore on a shoe string budget by bus, stayed in Bencoolen Hotel, went for the interview and returned home that evening. We managed to do some sightseeing on foot, enroute to the bus station to take us to JB. I still have the poorly taken grained shots of the Merlion, Court House and Haw Par Villa. All hells broke loose when we reached JB. It was pouring cats and dogs and the rail track was flooded. As expected there was mayhem at the station. The trains were delayed and we were wet, tired and hungry (and angry). We grabbed a packet of noodles from one of the vendors. Only when we were chewing the mee, did we realise that the rather tough noodle was actually rubber band in our dinner! Or was it a special delicacy in JB? - To cook Mamak Mee with rubber band! Back to F6....
Some of the affluent non-Bumis had no time to have their children be guinea-pigs in the experimentation conducted by the Malaysian Government to teach A-levels and eventually tertiary education in the Malay Language. The kids quickly transported themselves to soils of other country gladly. That left the low-lives like us to fight it out in what was easily  agreed by all my teachers in unison that beyond all doubt was the most difficult examination in the world. For people like me, born with a plastic (not silver) spoon, F6 was it - no talk for Taylors' or overseas education. STPM or bust!
They were 4 Science classes and 3 Arts classes. Lower Science 1 was offering Science subjects minus Biology but plus Pure Mathematics. I was in Lower 6 Science 3 (LSc3). There initially 4 girls in our class of 20, but the boys managed to frighten the girls off to other classes that at the end of the day, we were left with only 16 boisterous boys who were the loudest and meanest students of the whole F6. Girls actually took a longer route to their destinations just to bypass our class so as not to heckled and commented at.
After 8 months of studies in L6Sc3, we all graduated to USc3 - the same students.
By and large, we had many dedicated teachers who would go the extra mile to prepare us for exams. The teacher who took the cake, in this sense, was our Chemistry teacher, Mr Loh Huah Sin. He actually had extra classes on almost every Saturday morning and during some holidays as the examination day was imminent. And his classes were open to all students.
There was a General Paper teacher who hardly taught us anything but left us to do our own work while he marked other classes' work sheet. Cikgu I, we used to call him Lobo (as he looked the splitting image of Claude Akins of The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo), was a Government scholar in Economics from the unknown University of Iowa. He tried to encourage discussion in the class regarding plethora of topics. Invariably, we, the students will bring in the inequality of treatment non-Bumiputeras in the NEP. And he would put end to it, every time. That was General Paper for us.
Mr KKT must be good in Physics. Unfortunately, he could not transfer his know howto any own of us and we were all in the dark about all subjects in Physics including light! He tickled our funny bone with his pronunciation of tennis - as "Tennish" during his school assembly announcement. I must also KKT for 'misguiding' me to fail (first and last time for any subject) my monthly Physics test in U6. I was so distraught by it that I studied and 'over-studied' the subject on my own that in the test (Midyear exams), I managed to secure the highest mark in the U6 and clinched the Physics prize for the form.

Chalk graffiti by FG on Teachers' Day 1982.

The irony of class (L6Sc3 & USc3) is that in spite of the noisiness and the apparent rowdiness shown by the students, they must have been burning the midnight oil and the candle at three ends for this calss squandered all prizes in the Science subjects (Biology, Chemistry and Physics)and produced 3 doctors, a dentist, a veterinarian surgeon, many teachers and many engineers.