A Date of Significance

14th of February 2007 – a date of significance.

Not because I had a hot date on Valentine’s Day sipping classic wine in a French restaurant in the highest floor of Hotel Maya overlooking the Petronas Twin Towers. Neither because I receive a love letter by Anonymous via a pudgy little white pigeon when I was contemplating and looking out of the window staring at blank white walls of my neighbour’s house.

It was actually the day where my very first real-life marketing campaign saw its effectiveness, at least in the eyes of Mr. Aaron Lo.

To enlighten those who flash the big question mark at the thinking bubble/cloud behind them, 14^th of February 2007 was actually a theme day at my college, or in other words, a day where people dress up in accordance with a designated theme.

It was Pink and Red day on Valentine’s Day (still wondering how and why love is associated with pink and red).

The idea is to have everyone to dress up in either a pink or a red shirt. As a member of the Student’s Council, I volunteered myself to do a poster marketing campaign for this event, since I felt utterly uncomfortable not being busy.

And viola! This is the advertisement that I created. (And was pasted around college; See the two pictures below)

In brief (I could explain this in a two pages Microsoft Word document bearing the font size of “6” couple with the mundane font of “Times New Roman”), the idea is to show that there are indeed many ways of showing love (as shown in the top of the ad with the words “ways of showing love # 465; “465” is just a arbitrarily generated number to depict the sheer amount of ways to show love), but some can be expensive (that is what the platinum diamond ring and its price tag are for).

Thereafter, I conveyed the intended message, telling my targeted audience that a less expensive way of showing love is to wear a pink and/or red shirt, which I presume many already had at least one and that there is absolutely no necessity for them to fork out that extra money to get one. Hence, the “inexpensive exhibition of love” concept aimed at appealing to and in line with the reasoning and emotional side of my targeted audience.

Apart from that, one thing that I created without any “hidden agenda” was a logo for CIMP Theme Days at the bottom right of the ad. I am contemplating using the same logo for any future theme day’s advertisement. Indirectly, I’ve created a logo or a sense of identity for the student’s council that is bound to be pass on from generations to generations, and I am the one receiving all the credits and a ticket to the Hall of Fame. Wahahahaha – Not!

Initially, the plan was to have other expensive ways of showing love appearing on another ad, to bring out a few different but still integrated advertisements. Example: Ways of showing love #263, with a bouquet of roses with the price tag of US$ 99; or Ways of showing love # 784, with a Malaysia Airlines ticket for two to Maldives costing US$ 699 each. You know what I mean?

Alas and alack, time is scarce (I have said this plenty of times).

Nevertheless, I was quite please about the favourable response received when I first unveil the advertisement (I try to be as oblivious to unfavourable response as possible, though I have yet to receive any). Miss Ford, the Student’s Council teacher advisor gave me a thumbs up with an utterance of two words, “Very nice!” while my close friend Jeremy Gan said it sucks when I send it to him via MSN Messenger. A while later I notice the violation of my intellectual property rights when I see my ad on his blog with all that florid words depicting a favourable response to my ad. (The word is hypocrisy.)

On Valentine’s Day, many dressed up in pink or red, and that alone brought me much satisfaction and eagerness to come up with greater and more effective marketing campaigns and advertisements.

Anyway, the A Level’s Committee (some organization bearing some functional resemblance to Student’s Council) came up with a similar “wear pink/red” message few days later. You have to guess who is the copycat. Take a look:

I think I prefer mine…

"S" for Science and Superiority complex?

A recent Star Education article revealed that Science subjects are by far the favourite of post-PMR students in Malaysian school. Subsequently, I wrote an article to the editor of The Star. Here is the article which appeared in Star Education on 28th of January 2007.

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I recently had a talk with a friend of mine who was undecided about which stream to enter, thus your article “Science wins hands down” (StarEducation, Jan 14) caught my eyes.

I am of the opinion that the Government’s target of a 60:40 (science:arts) ratio reflects a biased stand. The Government places too much emphasis on science and technology. The role of economists, artists and musicians has not been as well acknowledged as the role of scientists in nation building.

According to the Gunn Report last year, Malaysia is the 16th most awarded advertising market in the world. Unfortunately, the Government shows little interest in further developing the advertising industry. Most people seem to be oblivious to the fact that advertising is the key to success in commercial activities because without advertising, products won’t sell.

Instead, the Government has embarked on several science-related projects, with the Multimedia Super Corridor taking centre stage. More recently, there’s Biotech Corp.

The Vision 2020 blueprint explicitly outlined the Government’s plan to establish a “scientific” and progressive society. The word “art” did not appear at all.

In the article “Science wins hands down”, school principal Hasnah Hamid was quoted as saying students need to possess at least 5As in the PMR to enter the science stream.

Another principal Mary Wong stated that students must score at least 2As to be in the science stream. Students who do not meet the entry requirements but insist on taking up science are given three months to try things out, after which they are assessed and asked to switch to the arts if they cannot cope.

The message is clear – only the brightest can enter the science stream. This form of academic discrimination has caused the emergence of an identity associated with streams. For instance, the science stream is associated with bright and hard-working students whilst the arts is considered inferior.

I scored eight As in my PMR three years ago, and was streamed into the science class. My interests were not taken into account. I was pretty sure of my inclinations at that time. I enjoy Physics but my love for Economics and Principles of Accounts prevail over that for Science-based subjects. I was about to approach the teacher-in-charge to switch streams when I changed my mind.

Here’s why: If I were to join the Arts stream, I might be deprived of opportunities to get involved in dramas, competitions, etc. In my school, only the top classes get to be involved in such activities and these top classes are always science classes.

This is even so for the Star-NiE Campaign for Rewards competition. If I had been in the Arts stream, I would not have been in the team which emerged champion in the Upper Secondary category. My friends in the arts stream did not even know about the competition. As for science subjects training you to be analytical and diligent, I have had a Physics teacher tell me, “Tak faham tak apa, hafal sahaja.” (It’s OK if you don’t understand, just memorise it.)

Those were the teacher’s exact words. If that is the way to learn science, how is the analytical mind cultivated? This leads me to doubt whether being in the science stream has anything to do with being analytical, diligent and conscientious at all.

My suggestion is, let interest be the only factor in determining the choice of subjects. For this to happen, there must be a broad-based system of education.

I share the same sentiment as Taylor University College’s Anucia Jeganathan who said that more subjects should be offered to allow students to pursue subjects they enjoy.

This would also help to abolish the identity associated with each stream and provide equal educational opportunities without academic segregation taking place.

AARON LO
Via e-mail

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Differences between Canadian teachers and Malaysian teachers (PART 2)

This is the second part series of 10 differences between Canadian teachers and Malaysian teachers.

Difference #6 Malaysian: Everything is about exam; Canadian: Everything is all about learning, learning to survive in this competitive world.

Malaysian education hardly goes by daily without teachers mentioning the word “exam”. Yes, everything is about exam. The purpose of coming to school is to face examination. Other topics that interest you, but are not part of the examination, will be unfairly consigned to the what-I-call the irrelevant-bin. In a classroom conducted by Canadian teachers, there is absolutely no obsession with exams, although the students are subjected to a test at the end of the semester. It is all about learning, learning to survive in this world, and they definitely understood that learning is not at all for examination, and that learning does not stop after major and important examinations.

Difference #7 Malaysian: There is no such thing as after-class-guidance; Canadian: See me in my office after class, if you have any problems.

Malaysian teachers have to go straight home after school to manage their tuition centers, for instance. In fact, my personal observations showed that Malaysian teachers are not keen on providing help and aid to students after class. It shrieked “burden” to them, so darn piercing that it makes student like me felt utterly frustrated. Conversely, Canadian teachers are more committed and more willing to help you after class. And the best part of it is, even if you feel really sorry for taking the teacher’s time by giving him or her extra obligations, the teacher will immediately assure you that you are not causing any trouble at all. I was asking my English teacher Miss Elizabeth Ford to assess my rewritten essay the other day, as I did not obtain a desirable mark. I apologized continually thereafter for the extra work, and she was quick enough to give me a pleasant assurance that she is more than willing to reassess my work. And this really made a student like me feel a lot better.

Difference #8 Malaysian: Homework is a must; Canadian: Homework is sometimes optional, but if given, it will quality-focused than quantity-focused.

In Malaysian schools, hardly one day goes by without homework. In Canadian classroom, homework is substantially lesser, but it is always the quality of the work done that matters, never the quantity.

Difference #9 Malaysian: Speed is everything ; Canadian: Speed? Why the rush?

The mad rush to complete syllables in Malaysian schools is so pervasive, that nobody really cares if you understand a particular topic or you don’t. Speed is everything. The faster you learn, the better it is. On the contrary, the concept of learning by Canadian teachers is to learn at a slow pace, and the main aim is to make sure everybody is able to comprehend a particular topic.

Difference #10 Malaysian: They are only teachers; Canadian: They can be more than just a teacher to you.

When Canadian teachers are willing to talk about other academically-irrelevant stuffs with you, you can be sure that they are more than just teachers. Even an expository essay on persuading young people to vote, can be assessed and marked with personal comments and responses by the teacher (This teacher of mine has sheer interest in political science by the way). Personal problems can be a topic of discussion between teachers and students, too.

These differences can be extended to be the differences between Asian teachers and Western teachers. Want to further your education? I personally will go for western teachers. How about you?

Differences between Canadian teachers and Malaysian teachers (PART 1)

Facing Canadian teachers five days a week, I couldn’t resist comparing Malaysian teachers and Canadian teachers. This is the first of a two-part series, which contained 10 noteworthy differences between Malaysian teachers and Canadian teachers (More to come as time goes by). This comparison was made by someone who has endured the pain of being taught by Malaysian teachers for precisely eleven years and being a student of Canadian teachers for virtually 1 month.

Here is a little disclaimer before I get things started: All things written in this post will be solely opinion of my own, and it does not represent my collective perception of Malaysian and Canadian teachers. (Meaning, it is MOST Malaysian teachers and MOST Canadian teachers and not ALL of them)

Difference #1 Malaysian: Students can be compartmentalize into good student and bad student; Canadian: Every student is equal

Canadian teachers really view all students as equal. Every student deserves a chance to learn. Lecturers will also pay more attention on what he or she perceived as “academically weak” students from test results etc. They do not give up hope on them. On the contrary, Malaysian teachers favour good students, while they labeled and dismissed the inferior ones as “no hope”. There won’t be much effort to develop poor students. Ironically, the good students are the ones receiving academic injections all the time.

Difference #2 Malaysian: There is only one way to conduct lessons; Canadian: There are plenty of ways to conduct lessons

In the typical Malaysian classroom, the teacher will enter the classroom, and start teaching on the blackboard. Thereafter, homework is given. Loads of them. Canadian teachers conduct class discussions, trivia questions, group projects, building geometrical structure, debates, presentations, teaching assignments, etc. Malaysian-teachers-conducted-lessons are a far cry from what a Canadian teacher has to offer.

Difference #3 Malaysian: Reprimands will (more often than not) take place in front of all students; Canadian: Reprimands will only take place behind the scene/curtains

Of course, it is not like the Canadian teachers will tell you, “See me in my office!” What Canadian teachers will do is calling you to one corner of the class in a not-at-all conspicuous manner, and brief/ reprimand you. I guess they are more empathetic and always take into account how others feel.

Difference #4 Malaysian: No sense of commitment; Canadian: Very committed

Canadian teachers take teaching seriously. Of course, they never self-proclaim anything, telling the whole class “I love to be a teacher”, or “I am very committed to this job!” etc. But every action of theirs depict commitment. An anecdotal experience would be being in my Maths’ teacher’s class. Mr. Varga is my Math teacher. Almost every week, he will have us completing a journal. He will read every single journal. The journals will contain students’ feelings and thoughts. He mentioned that reading our journals took up much of his time, but he reaffirm that he loved doing that. He reckoned that by knowing how his students think and feel, he can be a better teacher. I am utterly impressed and blown away by such a professionalism and commitment.

Difference #5 Malaysian: Favouritism and bias is in everyday life; Canadian: Favouritism and bias can never rear its ugly head, at least in the teaching profession.

Favouritism is everywhere in Malaysian teachers. Whenever there is subjective assessment (meaning non-examination-based assessment, like IT), the most popular guy in class will be entitled to marks which sometimes is not commensurate with his academic performance. I believe this is a deviation of guidelines, as I really think there are black and white guidelines available for them to adhere to. (Read: Misconduct). Canadian teachers conform strictly to rubrics and guidelines when assessing. No one is entitled to special benefits despite, say having outstanding relationship with the teachers.

to be continued…

Sunways vs Taylors

I have endured (and still enduring for precisely four weeks) doing the mundane job of typing the words “Sunway University College”, “Canadian International Matriculation Programme”, and “Ontario Secondary School Diploma”, whenever curious people out there nudged me and asked me where am I studying, what course / academic programme am I doing, and whether it is A level or not. (Probably because of my personal message at the not-so-accessible-lately MSN Messenger that went like “College is cool!”)

For the first question and answer:

The usual response in return was “Huh? So far…”

But mostly, people find themselves questioning my judgement and wisdom (if they are necessary in selecting college), uttering phrases like “Why don’t you choose xxx? Xxx is better”.

It seemed like SyUC’s fan base is not as large as that of other private learning institutions in Malaysia.

For the very few days before 4^th of January (the beginning of the college’s academic term in Malaysia), I’ve been totally indecisive, and was uncertain over which college to head to.

You see, I have Canadian Pre-U in mind, way before I took my SPM examination. And fortunately, only two private colleges in Malaysia are offering such programme. You have to guess which the two are.

The Sunway-Taylors battle slowly illustrated itself in my mind, and my conscience was literally fooling around.

Sometimes, I felt that Sunway is better, and other times, I tried to downplay what Sunway has to offer and tell myself that Taylors is way better; and vice versa.

But my aim remained the same. My educational goals remained vivid and firm. All I wanted are quality education, good facilities, and anything else that could ensure the US$ 70 application fee that I am bound to pay to an Ivy League university will not go straight down to the drain. J

Essentially, the indecisive and tentative thinking I had will never bring me anywhere.

And this is not good. The orientation day was approaching real soon. I began to embark on a series of Campus trips and open days, and began to interrogate my acquaintances to find out how and what they think, too.

Let me start off with the interrogation part.

Can you believe it, of all whom I interrogated, EVERYONE said, “Get your ______ (fill in whatever body parts) to Taylors!”

The only non-bias (read: neutral) view that I obtained is from Tan Shiow Chin, a reporter from The Star Education. She opined that Taylors is well known for Pre-U programme, while SyUC has excellent facilities. Her colleague advised to compare the price.

I must admit that I trusted the journalist from The Star Education, as she has been dealing with private colleges hand in hand for several years already. My interpretation of Shiow Chin’s opinion is that both colleges have their equal amount of pros and cons, and this adds up to a same level of playing field for both college. And so, the price became the solitary determinant.

Sunway won the first round hands down. Taylors’ fee is much more expensive. Plus, the quality of facilities is not commensurate with the hefty sum. (Reason #1). This is totally in contrast with the common oh-so-wrong fallacy that Sunway is only exclusive to elite group and rich kids, and that its tuition fee is extortionately priced.

Everyone seems to like Taylors. My cousin is there, and several other friends are there too. I would attribute this phenomenon to the differing branding capabilities of both colleges.

Taylors itself is a brand, a strong brand. It represented young teenagers who are rich enough to flaunt the latest sports car from Lexus and the latest jeans from Tough. And as [somebody whom I know] puts it, “if you can’t beat them, join them!”

I guess this is it: everyone wants to be part of the perceived “coolness”. I must admit that I, too, had once dream of being part of the Taylors family.

But things changed. For the past few years, I have embarked on several “distinctive branding exercises”. From then on, I do stuffs that people don’t usually do; I’ve learnt not to follow the crowd. I want to take on “the road not taken”! (Literature education in Malaysian schools not wasted)

Everyone seems to be going to Taylors. And yes, another reason to choose SyUC (Reason #2).

Also, since everyone is there, I’ll most likely hang out with somebody I already knew if I were to enrol there. The urge to make new friends and build up my network will never be as great as being in a whole new environment, where I know virtually no one. If I were to enrol in Taylors, I will be talking about music with Elizabeth Chua (who is currently doing Australian Pre-U over there) all the time, and by the end of my academic semester, I will hardly get more than a handful of new friends. (Reason #3)

SyUC is different. Nobody from SMKTBM went there… (…as far as I know at that time, until I bumped into seniors Gurrubren and Ong Sheau Theng on two separate fateful days after I enrolled)

And now, I believe I have more new friends than what I might get if I were to be called a Taylorian (as Eli puts it).

And the icing of the cake is, of course, getting to know people from not just Malaysia, but from all over the world.

My close friend Jeremy Gan has been home-schooling since he was young (I didn’t know home-schooling existed in Malaysia!)

There are also several “connections”.

For instance, there is a guy named Ng Hao Wei, who in turn knows Joanne Tan from SMKTBM, and it turns out that they were studying in the same school at the primary level.

Then, there is this girl. Simone Phong is her name, and I certainly felt that the world is so darn tiny when I was enlightened that she is actually an acquaintance of the “fabulous four” (ex-) Convent Bukit Nanas girls : (Ahem) Li Nar a.k.a Danielle a.k.a. Danny, Nuraini a.k.a Demon Llama, Sasha a.k.a. Bubu (?? wonder what that means…), and of course Nisha.

As for international students, I have a guy from Yemen sitting behind me in Maths class. I have several Indonesian friends from the same maths class. Nearby, there is a girl from Bangladesh. And there are several familiar faces that I don’t know their name and nationality, but a simple salutation has always surfaced whenever we meet each other.

In physics class, there is this outspoken guy from Sudan. And believe it or not, his name is Aladdin! There are also several Indonesians whom I grew quite close with. There is this guy with the name Erwin whose name sounded darn similar to that of mine. He was often mistaken for being Aaron whenever the hilarious Mr Gillich (Physics teacher) marks the attendance.

In English class, there is a Negro whom Ashvin (the girl who parties till 5am) called Akon. There are two guys from Iran across the table, and there is even a girl from Canada.

Outside the classroom, a Mongolian girl is always seen walking around. And some guys think she is terrifically hot. And Chan Vee Nee has been accusing me of trying to pick her up, and this is arguably the most baseless notion in the entire freaking world.

Speaking about my social relationship with her, I was reminded about the incident at the CIMP office during the Orientation Day. I was lining up amid the long queue as everybody wanted to get their timetable for the preceding semester. She suddenly walked in and queue in front of me. I was utterly shocked, but I think she already booked her spot in front of me because she was sitting on the bench way before I arrived.

And then, she spoke to me. And was speaking, speaking, and speaking. At the end of her, err, sentence(s), I said, “Huh?”

I don’t mean to be rude, but I can’t comprehend a single word at all. I said, I am sorry, and she repeated herself. Again, I don’t get it!

And I guess she is fed up with the duck-talking-with-chicken situation. And I was really feeling sorry for her. Anyway, I managed to ask if she was from Japan, because she looked and spoke like one. She said, “Mongolia”

That, I understand.

And since then, our relationship has been limited to the universal “hi” and “bye”, and I think I will never be seen talking to her about other stuffs other than hi and bye, as I don’t want to repeat the embarrassing moment.

That’s all about selecting college. Regrets? None.