Farewell, Form 6 and MHS

From 13th of May until 3rd of July (yesterday); more than one and a half months. Those were the days I was a student in Malacca High School (MHS). Finally, I had to leave MHS in search of greener pastures at the University of Nottingham, thus opening a new chapter in my life. Imagine the changing of lifestyle that I’ve grown so much accustomed for the past 11 years: Waking up early in the morning to go to school and coming back home later in the afternoon. No, this is definitely not the way of life in university. And I too am not quite sure what university life would be like.

Whatever the life in university, there are things in Form 6 that I think I would sorely miss there:

• School life
• School uniform (hey, they actually look smart)
• Mr. Wee, first class physics teacher
• PA and Chemistry lessons
• Many friends from SFI

Come to think of it again, it actually despised school life when I first entered MHS (see my Form 6: Malacca High School post). But given the uncertainties ahead, I would be inclined to stick to my old way of life. I’ve also read Jia Wei’s F6 (Wise Choice or Bad Choice) post, and of course I agree with him on some points about the advantages in studying Form 6. Speaking about friends, I would like to say more than 95% of students in the foundation course that I’ll be taking will be strangers. This is far different from Form 6 at MHS where you get a significant population of ex-SFI students.

Enough said about school life. I’m sure I would manage to get over it. Hey, some people even went to Russia and Australia after Form 5. For me, it’s just a 2-hour journey from there to home. What is more pressing would be the quality of teaching and the stuff that I would be learning there. Surely, I would not find lectures as experienced and dedicated as Form 6 teachers in MHS. How I wish the teachers in Form 6 (especially Mr. Wee) would continue teaching me there in a less exam-oriented fashion. And yes, there will be no PA lessons, so I would be losing out in knowledge about the workings of our country. As for Chemistry lessons, it will only be offered to students taking Chemical Engineering next year - other students are not given the chance to take it.

However, no matter what comes out to be in the future, I think I would still be a Form 6 student at heart, at least while I’m still in pre-u. To those in Form 6, I would like to say that since you’ve decided to stay, then by all means have no regrets. Form 6 life can actually be enjoyable if you have a positive attitude. Who knows, I may be regretting soon that I've not continued studying in Form 6. And yeah, to Loo Han, Jia Wei, Nicholas and other Form 6 bloggers, do continue to provide updates about life in Form 6… make me regret that I wasn’t there!

Once again, I bid farewell to Form 6 and MHS. To everybody there slogging towards STPM, I wish you good luck! And I'm sorry I cannot be with you fighting the STPM war...

Form 6: Malacca High School (Part II)

The following is a continuation from Part I.

This will most probably be the last post I'll be writing about Malacca High School (MHS) I think, because I've firmly decided to study Foundation in Engineering at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC). Since I promised a Part II for my article on MHS, then I shall finish what I've left off, though I must admit that most interesting stuff I know about and experienced in MHS had been told in Part I. Therefore, you can expect this post (Part II) a little shorter and perhaps less interesting compared to Part I.


Orientation Week

The orientation week starts on March 12. Basically orientation week was about getting to know this school and Form 6, sometimes beyond. We listened to talks by counselors, the library teacher, senior assistants, a few teachers and the principal... Most of them are rather boring. Apart from that, the school had invited some ex-Form 6 MHS students to brief us freshies about life during Form 6 and after - like how study, cope with examination pressure and finally entrance into public universities. And there was also a talk by a professor from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore about the university's science programmes. Nothing much too - his main aim was to promote his faculty and university.

Besides listening and listening to endless talks, there are also some activities in store for us. On the first day, the Form 6 Union and student association did organize some games and at the same time divided the freshies into groups, but that was what I heard, because I didn't go to school on that day. That was the only time the freshies got to play games. The next group activity was composing a sketch (Theme: Expected life in Form 6) to be presented on Thursday. The best 2 would get to perform on Teacher's Day (Friday). My group was the first to present, chosen by lot, so imagine how "lucky"! But it was over quite fast, and so I could relax and watch the other groups perform. A few bits that were hilarious were guys acting like pondans, girls fighting like there's no tomorrow and of course, Jude imitating the antics of our discipline master during orientation week. Quite a perfect imitation, so that's why I recommended whoever who wants to see how "pleasant" our discipline master is to find him. His group won by the way, and I would love to see the discipline master's face if the scene was not cut on Teacher's Day (I didn't attend school on that day too).


Class

By Thursday afternoon, we were already sorted into our respective classes. I was placed in Lower 6 Alpha, the first class in the Science (Physics) stream. Only a maximum of 15 students are in my class, so it can be rather quiet at times, at least initially. The students in my class (as of now) are:
(Hazel) Cheong Sze Kit (IJC) >> Monitor
Yee Zi Shan (STPM) >> Asst. Monitor
(Hannah) Low Tze Fui (IJC) >> Ex-monitor (she quitted)
Lew Shuk Ling (CCS)
Lee Yuin Kuan (IJC)
Suah Jin May (IJC)
Hiu Kee Weng (SFI)
Jude Ng (SFI)
Loo Han (SFI)
Kong Teck Lee (SFI)
Lee Ming Yuen (MHS)

and of course me.

Kin Wee and Wong from NS and Sunway respectively will probably be joining this class too.


Teachers

Most Form 6 teachers of my class are a hardworking lot. Mr. Wee, our Physics teacher gave us notes and exercises on his first lesson. My Chemistry teacher (forgot her name) drilled us on oxidation numbers also on her first lesson. And Mr. Khoo, our Maths T teacher, already gave 2 extra classes during the holidays, although I only attended one of them. The Maths G teacher took a different approach during her first lesson by showing us the courseware (using computer) provided by the Ministry of Education. It was the most "exciting" lesson ever, until Kee Weng described it in his MSN Messenger personal message as "the best maths lesson ever, until I can sleep"!

Probably due to the teachers' obsessiveness with preparing us for scoring good grades in STPM, their lessons can hardly be considered interesting. Chemistry especially. All the lessons so far were about drilling, drilling (during her second lesson, we tried balancing equations). No doubt that she was getting us ready for STPM, but her teaching method made me rather dread her lessons, because my brain just couldn't stand this intense drilling due to months of lack of use. I wish the teachers had come up with something lighter to get our brains oiled before getting into this STPM business.


Conclusion

Studying Form 6 at MHS is actually not bad, considering that it is one of the top schools in the country in terms of STPM results. I feel a little sad having to leave this school, but then again I have stronger reasons to justify my choice, which may be the topic of my next post. In the meantime, I won't be leaving MHS too soon, because the next intake for foundation at UNMC is in July.

Form 6: Malacca High School (Part I)

Two weeks into Form 6 at Malacca High School (MHS). Not full attendance though, because I ponteng (skipped) school on Monday and Friday last week to take the JPJ test for car and motorcycle respectively. In a moment I'll be telling all that I've learned about this school within this time frame.


School Background

MHS was founded in 1826, said to be the oldest government English school in Malaysia. The school motto is Meliora hic sequamur, which is Latin for "Malacca High School"... or so I thought. I didn't even realise it was the school motto when I first saw this phrase on the school crest (left). Only later I found out the meaning of these three foreign words: "Here we strive for better things". It is amazing that these three Latin words when translated into English become a sentence which is 6 words long, double the amount of words. But this is not my first encounter with a Latin school motto. In my previous school, the motto is Age Quod Agis, which when translated into English becomes "Whatever you do, do it well", also double the original amount of words. So my conclusion from above is that Latin is a rather compact language...

Much more information about MHS can be found in the Wikipedia article about this school here, so I will not go beyond providing a few important background information about MHS, or I may as well copy and paste the whole Wikipedia article here. Another thing worth mentioning about MHS is its school song. From the Wikipedia article and some research, I realised that the melody for the school song is called "Materna" composed by Samuel A. Ward in 1882. What makes it more intriguing is that the melody for MHS' school song is also the same as an American patriotic song called "America the Beautiful" written in 1904. So during the school assembly, imagine somebody singing "America the Beautiful" instead of the school song, which are both of the same tune. In place of "Sekolah Tinggi, Sekolah Tinggi" it would be "America, America"! The following is the lyrics for the MHS school song and "America the Beautiful", side by side for comparison. Below the lyrics is a small player that will play "Materna".

MHS School Song

America the Beautiful

Sekolah Tinggi Melaka keseluruh negara Beramai-ramai kita dukung rukun negara Satu padu bertenaga majukan negara Prinsip hidup progresif amalan sekolah kita Sejak lapan belas dua puluh enam namamu terbina Sepanjang masa kemuka mulia dan bahagia Sekolah Tinggi, Sekolah Tinggi, tempatmu berbakti Perpaduan, bercahaya, kekalan abadi.

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain; For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea. O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine. O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self control, Thy liberty in law.

First Impressions

I've never imagined when I first arrived that studying Form 6 in MHS would be a world of difference compared to my counterparts in college. One thing for sure is that we have to don the school uniform (like ever before) although this year's uniform for Lower Sixes at MHS is different compared to other students, that is a combination of black and white (excluding purple and green necktie we have to wear full-time).

My first day there was last Tuesday and it was orientation week held in the school hall. We had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mustafa, the discipline master, for a briefing (on discipline of course!). He can be described as anything but nice, but this is still based on my first impression of him, as always. Although it was the second day of school for us, he made a fuss out of those not sporting a complete school uniform. He proceeded to call those without a school badge OR tie to stand at the side of the hall and those without school badge AND tie to stand on the stage [Sweat]. Of course I (and among many others) have none of those, so I went up the stage, only to be called down a minute later because it was my first day in school [Sweat again]. After a lecture on school attire was everybody allowed to sit down again. What a pure waste of time. He went on to say that handphones are not allowed in school, and asked those who brought handphones to stand up. I was one of the few who admitted bringing along a handphone, though I'm sure there should be more. But he took no further action. Later, he demonstrated that he is someone not to be messed easily by throwing a chair ('jika tidak, kerusi ini akan layang'). Those who have trouble imagining it can find Jude for a rendition of this scene (Why Jude? More about that later). These happenings really brought me back to reality that as Form 6 students, we are still ordinary schoolchildren just like those in Form 1 to Form 5. What is special about us is only our uniform, which didn't translate into any "special" privilages...

Other first impressions of this school were gained before school starts and during recess. Every morning, we have to assemble at the Form 6 Quad to sing the school song and hear somebody recite the doa. Both are new to me, so I guess that this only happens in schools controlled by the Malays (all MHS principals since 1985 are Malays). And then there are the toilets. The toilets are definitely a far cry compared to my former school's toilets. In short, they stink. For girls, toilet woes abound! MHS, being a predominantly boy's school, has only a toilet (if I'm not mistaken) for around 250 girls to share. So expect a long queue during "peak" hours at the girl's toilet. The situation is so bad that a female teacher actually advised girls during the orientation to drink less water, in contradiction to the usual doctor's advice...

The above gives another impression that funds channelled to this school is not well managed. As a fully government-aided school, one can expect good facilities for the students, but contrary to my belief, this is not so. Not only the regarding the toilets actually, but also the library. Amazingly, the library has less books compared to, again, my former school, a mission school. Oh, did I forgot to mention that the principal drives a Mercedes and sits on a brand new plush sofa during assembly?

To be continued...
Next in Part II: Not everything is bleak - more on orientation week, my class and teachers.