For the past week, 4A students have taken hold of our nation's conciousness.With all their rage, they grasp and grab in full fury without mercy. It was such a suffocating affair that even the PM was forced to acknowledged their demands! How preposterous! The strongest, the most organised of our opposition parties can't shake our current government in equal strides! I feel more pity for Hadi Awang and his gang of sanctimonious supporters. Why promise a ticket to paradise when all you have to do to get a response is to take the STPM? Is STPM harder than politics? Or is it just Hadi Awang's IQ? Okay, enough about state affairs. P.A's over. We can now all just blend in back into our ignorant, apathetic silent majority.(being a hypocrite here, I readily admit) These 4A students should start allying themselves with the Beruks(read the last post) and launch a coup de tat in Malaysia. After that, every form 6 student should be obliged to take medicine as his major course. And Wira of Kuala Lumpur'98 fame should be prime minister. Rather than go further on an issue that has been the specktacle of the media for the past few days, I would like to rant about those who receive less-than-brilliant results. It is undeniable that these few 128 have worked their guts out for their remarkable results. (An exception is to be made for those born with Viknesk-like brains. One of them is a particular Free School student who, in her own words describe F6 life as "sleep and play everyday". For their efforts, it has been a goal for me to present these select few with gurgles of constipated, rabid Tibetan Yak's vomit) It is also irrefutable that there have been countless numbers of other average scoring students with a passion of medicine, and would probably make fine doctors one day. Are exams exquisite? Are they really RM500 ringgit lobsters in Chef Wan's terminology? Are they everything? Trust me, I've tasted lobster before (for free!), and they aren't that good as the popular conception it holds. Without a talented, enthutiastic chef and his arsenal of spices, sauces and kitchenware, it would be nothing more than a big chunk of meat of a creature with attributes similiar to the hedious insectoids(Kevin included) of Aliens. What we need more is compassionate, responsible, loving and of course interested apprentices of healthcare. I know. Pragmatism comes into frame. The only way we could determine whether a person is qualified at least technically in a certain field is through the Paper. There is nothing for me do disagree with this. However, wouldn't it be nice that prerequisites for such courses should take into account more of 'field work' and also (yes, even) the applicants sincerity? Why don't we place a more appropriate merit for activities done like volunteering at the local orphans welfare centre or retiree's home? Or at the children's care unit in their local hospitals and at NGOs like the Malaysian Aids Council? Why must it be disapportionately be grades, grades and grades? Remember Path Adams? (it is adamant that he too, despite his good heart, will bear the brunt of my Yak vomit for his superior intellect) Even our academic syllabus could be less exam oriented and more assignment driven. Afraid that objectivity might be compromised? Or do we just fear creativity? Interview sessions can also be held to give lecturers a more rounded introduction to the people they might be teaching. This way, an individual's knowledge of a subject beyond text books can also be comprehended. Think all of this is just a bit too combersome? Not practical? Take a look at a few countries. Singapore. The UK. Cuba (proving that a developing country can't just excuse itself with the 'resourses are stretched' argument) All of these have implemented all or some of the policies that I had just written about. After all is vented into words, I believe I've conveyed some of my perspective in full public view (silent majority, I still am?) After all these are on the rakyat's eyes, I too believe that none of these will ever be considered. For democracy is healthy in this country. P.S: Democracy, in Aristotle's Politics, is 'the rule of the mass mob' Oh, before ending, please, please do visit this bloke's site. (highly recomended for those in fly infested, dung beetle encoated rotting shit.)