Of Humility.

“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
― Albert Einstein


***

When my younger sister was in Form 4, I told her not to fool around. She needed to focus in Form 4 so that in Form 5, her studies will be easier. She said it was difficult. I told her, 'If you get good results for SPM, many doors in your life will open for you. You will have the choice of scholarships, of universities, of colleges, of courses that you like. You will have choices. If you don't do well, only a few doors will open. And you might be forced to pick a door you don't like." 

Do you want your life's path to look like this?

Or this?

She took my advice. If you have listened to my stories in class, she is now studying in Japan. She can speak Japanese perfectly. And next year, we are going to her graduation ceremony. We are extremely proud of her. 

***

Over the past few weeks, I've been wondering what the Form 5 students are doing to themselves. Since I don't teach their class, I don't really know what is happening with them. But from my observations and conversations with teachers who still enter that class, no one is happy with them. If I was one of them, it would scare me. With SPM just around the corner, and their English still being very poor compared to even some of my Form 1 students, I wonder why they are not making an effort to be more humble and hardworking. Don't they know that 'berkat ilmu' is important? It is part of tawakkal.

Our school does not have many students. In Form 4, there are two classes, Form 5 just one class. Consequently, the weak students are grouped with the better students. There are two negative results I can see from this:

1. The weak students think they are just as good as the better students. So they become weaker.

2. The good students think they are the smartest students in the world. So they don't improve.

What SHOULD happen is this:

1. The weak students know they are weak and ask for help from the good students.

2. The good students use the opportunity of less number of students to improve themselves, because they can get personal and focused help from the teacher.

But what SHOULD happen, isn't happening. Or if it is, it's not happening as well as it should.

 

They (not all, most) don't take advantage of the fact that their number is small. There are only 19 of them, and so they don't have to fight for the teacher's attention. The teacher is always there to help them, one by one. It is just their choice to be humble and ask, or to be arrogant and stay ignorant. 

I wish they would wake up and smell the coffee. I went to a regular, daily secondary school. Not an SBP or a Convent. But if I were to take them all to my school, they would all be in the lower classes. All of them would be separated, to lower classes. They would be no match for the students there.

The world is still so big and so far ahead of you, children. Learn all you can when in school, and you will be prepared to face it.