From hero to zero...people around me is still talking about how a math wiz kid Sufiah Yusof turned social escort (for lack of even nicer name) They keep asking how this and that happen to a 'smart' person. Well smart is a big word, ( I wrote on similar subject about a year a go..the difference between bijak and pandai)
One thing for sure life isn't about math. Yes! it is one of important subject in live but not most important. Growing up, having friends, family and value of fun is the most important of our live. And the biggest challenge is there are no subjects on these aspect of life that are tought in any university in the world because it just pure imposible to make a curiculum out of this.
Do we labeled Sufiah as smart now? I don't know..she sure look happy with her bank statement these days. (but look can be deceiving) Sufiah happens to be a little bit smarter for a person her age at that time and with the help of her parents if I must say, she took all the necessary evil tests and pass with flying colors to earn her place at the prestigous Oxford. We all are geniuses too only we develop a bit slower than her, given the right book to read, with good attention span, the right push to study, we all can pass with flying colors. So why aren't we following her footsteps to Oxford?
Well, we learn that playing pebbles with your friend is more fun than reading those dreading black and white textbook, you found out teachers are not cool people who are set to find your mistake instead of the right thing you do and you lost your attention span. You found out the only cool things about kindergardens is that by the end of the day you get a lolipop.(mine was).Day by day you find other things that interest you rather than boring math..so at the end we just drop math and opt for something more exiting to do. With math tugging along the way..not the focus.
What we gain ? our childhood, our friends, experience of growing up with your peers,making stupid child mistakes, get to be on the school play,chorus speaking, playing clarinet or what ever thing you good at in the school choir team, learnt the outrageous social network at school, becoming prankster during April the first or any other day you fancy, winning the sports competition, playing sports on sport day, having your friends cheer you up, boo-ing the other teams, sharing secret about you best friend's secret admirer,passing or failing exams and comparing it with your friend, become gossip girls in toilet during recess..etc. These are not the things you can cramp up in a 12 years old like some text book (who had been home school all her life) and then ship her out to Oxford in hope she socialize with peers so far in age gap and learnt to be independent...duh!
While her younger brother has a sister he can look out for help or family hug when he was at university, Sufiah was left alone. Far from home, no friends (teenagers are a nasty lot, thats why we have secondary school separating them with the little kids).With the hopes of a whole country riding on her back. (We Malaysian are responsible too for all the drama we put her through).For me she is like an experiment gone wrong...if you put a 13 years old without all the neccessary support in a big world, she will collapse eventually. Now, Sufiah is like a 23 going on 13..a child desperate for fun and the care free world. (The one we had when we were a child and teenagers that gradually dissipate so we grow-up as responsible adults after learning and experiencing a few things about life a little at a time)
The good part out of this wrong experiment..her youngest sister Zuliekha was given the freedom to grow-up as teenager before her university days begin. Where did her family learnt to give that kind of freedom...the experiment gone wrong..Sufiah. (I just can't help thinking..if Sufiah was given the same kind of freedom her kid sister is enjoying now..would she be twiddling what ever it is she's twiddling now?)
Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear - Henry Wadsworth
One thing for sure life isn't about math. Yes! it is one of important subject in live but not most important. Growing up, having friends, family and value of fun is the most important of our live. And the biggest challenge is there are no subjects on these aspect of life that are tought in any university in the world because it just pure imposible to make a curiculum out of this.
Do we labeled Sufiah as smart now? I don't know..she sure look happy with her bank statement these days. (but look can be deceiving) Sufiah happens to be a little bit smarter for a person her age at that time and with the help of her parents if I must say, she took all the necessary evil tests and pass with flying colors to earn her place at the prestigous Oxford. We all are geniuses too only we develop a bit slower than her, given the right book to read, with good attention span, the right push to study, we all can pass with flying colors. So why aren't we following her footsteps to Oxford?
Well, we learn that playing pebbles with your friend is more fun than reading those dreading black and white textbook, you found out teachers are not cool people who are set to find your mistake instead of the right thing you do and you lost your attention span. You found out the only cool things about kindergardens is that by the end of the day you get a lolipop.(mine was).Day by day you find other things that interest you rather than boring math..so at the end we just drop math and opt for something more exiting to do. With math tugging along the way..not the focus.
What we gain ? our childhood, our friends, experience of growing up with your peers,making stupid child mistakes, get to be on the school play,chorus speaking, playing clarinet or what ever thing you good at in the school choir team, learnt the outrageous social network at school, becoming prankster during April the first or any other day you fancy, winning the sports competition, playing sports on sport day, having your friends cheer you up, boo-ing the other teams, sharing secret about you best friend's secret admirer,passing or failing exams and comparing it with your friend, become gossip girls in toilet during recess..etc. These are not the things you can cramp up in a 12 years old like some text book (who had been home school all her life) and then ship her out to Oxford in hope she socialize with peers so far in age gap and learnt to be independent...duh!
While her younger brother has a sister he can look out for help or family hug when he was at university, Sufiah was left alone. Far from home, no friends (teenagers are a nasty lot, thats why we have secondary school separating them with the little kids).With the hopes of a whole country riding on her back. (We Malaysian are responsible too for all the drama we put her through).For me she is like an experiment gone wrong...if you put a 13 years old without all the neccessary support in a big world, she will collapse eventually. Now, Sufiah is like a 23 going on 13..a child desperate for fun and the care free world. (The one we had when we were a child and teenagers that gradually dissipate so we grow-up as responsible adults after learning and experiencing a few things about life a little at a time)
The good part out of this wrong experiment..her youngest sister Zuliekha was given the freedom to grow-up as teenager before her university days begin. Where did her family learnt to give that kind of freedom...the experiment gone wrong..Sufiah. (I just can't help thinking..if Sufiah was given the same kind of freedom her kid sister is enjoying now..would she be twiddling what ever it is she's twiddling now?)
Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear - Henry Wadsworth
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