A small stop in the journey
Comment by SOO EWE JIN
The Star Online
Friday December 28, 2007
THE results for the PMR are out today. Sometimes we forget that the Form 3 students come from the length and breadth of the country.
Not every student will have the privilege of being ferried to the school in a nice car, accompanied by an equally anxious parent, to see how many As will show up on that slip of paper.Not every student will have the privilege of being featured in the newspapers or TV station jumping for joy. Or being interviewed about their study techniques or the rewards that await them.
The majority of the PMR students, if you put things in their proper perspective, will quietly collect their results and prepare for Form 4. Some may not even be able to collect their results because of the floods, but life still goes on.
The obsession with As is primarily an urban phenomenon. It used to be crucial only at the pre-university stage, but over the years has crept downwards so that even 12-year-old children sitting for the UPSR are subjected to unnecessary tension.
I am reminded today by what my Form 3 teacher advised all of us in her message in our class magazine.
She wrote:
“Put in total dedication in your studies,
Pursue learning with real interest
It is such spirit which will carry you
Far deep into fields of knowledge
Be humble in your achievements
The truly great man is never puffed up
Rather he stands in awe
In realisation that there's still so much
To know which is beyond him
Never be discouraged by failure
Not all are born great
But many achieve greatness
Through sheer industry, determination and perseverance
School time is also the time to build up
Precious, meaningful, lasting relationships
Be interested in the world around you
Be intelligently informed
Don't develop into scientific recluses
Remember sports, music, literature and the arts
Have much to offer to help build you up into well-balanced individuals
Able to understand, know, enjoy better
The world you are living in.”
This teacher has touched many lives. She has helped produce her fair share of multiple-A students but she also knew that the ordinary students without the As can go on to lead meaningful, rich lives, if they are well-rounded caring individuals who recognise that results are not the be-all and end-all of the school journey.
To all students taking the PMR results today, by all means rejoice in your distinctions, but do not despair over your credits and passes.
Life is a journey, and the PMR is just a little stop along the way for you to pause and reflect, and to move on.
Students 'should use Wikipedia'
By Alistair Coleman
BBC Monitoring
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said teachers who refuse younger students access to the site are "bad educators".Speaking at the Online Information conference at London's Olympia, he played down the long-running controversy over the site's authority.
He said young students should be able to reference the online encyclopaedia in their work.
Mr Wales said the site, which is edited by users, should be seen as a "stepping stone" to other sources.
As long as an article included accurate citations, he said he had "no problem" with it being used as a reference for younger students, although academics would "probably be better off doing their own research".
"You can ban kids from listening to rock 'n' roll music, but they're going to anyway," he added. "It's the same with information, and it's a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia."
In 2005, at the height of the controversy over the site's accuracy, Mr Wales told the BBC that students who copied information from Wikipedia "deserved to get an F grade".
Mr Wales said the website still lacked the authority to be used as a citeable source for college-aged and university students.
But he said new editing and checking procedures had made Wikipedia more trustworthy.
Changing proceduresSince the controversy, in which it emerged that the "free editing" policy had allowed articles containing inaccuracies and bias to appear, the site has introduced a system of real-time peer review, in which volunteers check new and updated articles for accuracy and impartiality.
Despite advances in technology, there are no plans to automate this process. "There is no substitute for peer critique," Mr Wales told delegates.
It is this perceived lack of authority that has drawn criticism from other information sources. Ian Allgar of Encyclopaedia Britannica maintains that, with 239 years of history and rigorous fact-checking procedures, Britannica should remain a leader in authoritative, politically-neutral information.
Mr Allgar pointed out the trustworthy nature of paid-for, thoroughly-reviewed content, and noted that Wikipedia is still prone to vandalism.
But Britannica and Wikipedia should not be seen as direct competitors. Wikipedia, he said, had made the use of encyclopaedias "trendy and popular" with young people, which could only benefit Britannica's subscription-led service.
Content licensingJimmy Wales also said that the Free Software Foundation would be rolling out a new version of its free documentation licence, which Wikipedia may adopt.
Although Wikipedia allows users to copy, modify and redistribute information, commercially or non-commercially, the new licensing regime, based on the existing Creative Commons scheme, would "bring Wikipedia into line with the rest of the free content culture", if adopted.
Mr Wales reiterated his commitment to keeping the Wikimedia Foundation free of corporate sponsorship, and of major donors who might want control of online information.
"We are the Red Cross for information. We won't sell out to Google," he said.
The foundation is, however, expanding into the search function, with July's announcement of the Wikia search facility which combines open-source searching and social networking.
"This is a political statement against proprietary-driven software tools," Mr Wales said. "Wiki wants to give people the maximum freedom to do good."
Also on Wikipedia:
Japanese workers in Wikipedia row
