Makes you want to smile

This is such a touching story. Two girls, obviously close friends and classmates, both did very well for their STPM. The only difference being that one girl owes a debt of gratitude to her other friend. Very touching.

The girl with 5A's, Christine, has problems with her eyesight. So, she had to rely on her good friend, Jeanette, for many things. She couldn't see the blackboard and couldn't read small print. Her friend would sit by her and read out what was written on the board and help her understand what was in the textbook.

In a touch of irony, Christine got 5A's while her good friend only got 4A's. Thus, she became one of the 11 top students in the country while her friend did not. But she is obviously nice enough to share the limelight with her good friend and to attribute her success to her friend as well. These two must share a special and wonderful friendship.

They both intend to pursue Law together. I'm certain that Christine is going to need her friend to help her read all the 'fine print' in the law! Haha! [Ok, that might've been a bit lame... - Ed]. I really wish them the best and hope that their friendship survives the inevitable problems it'll run into.

On another note, the education ministry seems to have adopted the policy of naming top students again. Not only are they actually naming them, they are even giving them a special plaque each. I guess it's easier to name 11 than 100+ top scorers. That must be the reason why they're naming the STPM top scorers and not the SPM ones.

For my batch of students, my school had 10 students with 5A's itself. I wonder why there are only 34 students with 5A's for STPM nationwide this year. Has the number of students taking the exams dropped, or are the students dumber, or has the standards been raised. Wonder wonder.