From: nor@hekla.pnge.psu.edu (Nor-Azlan Nordin)
Subject: Re: Best School in Malaysia
Organization: PSU Petroleum Engineering
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 18:39:25 GMT

In article <l6sj4lINN3kf@nyquist.usc.edu> goh@nyquist.usc.edu (K.C.Goh) writes:

>1)	Clifford College, KK
>		"Dr Mahatir's School 		- HP"

I don't think Clifford College, KK, is that good.  The fact that Dr.
Mahathir is from there doesn't prove that it is a good school.  It is
more than that (sports, academics, facilities etc.).  So, Clifford
College is no GO.  You can drop 'em.

>2)	Malay College, KK
>		"..more Ministers and Sultans than you'd care to imagine
>                                            --Syed Shibli"

Yes, MCKK is a good school.  Its rugby team, debating team (BM),
soccer (?) --- quite good.  During my time, when I was a senior, STAR
rugby team trashed MCKK and King Edward VII.  STAR's English debating team
trashed MCKK and many other boarding schools 2-3 years consecutive
years (i guess 1981, 1982 and 1983, if I am not mistaken, correct me
if I am wrong).  In SPM, admittedly, MCKK is slightly better than
STAR (for 1983 SPM, MCKK got about 78% Grade 1, STAR slightly above
75%).  The best in Perak was SM Sains, Taiping (new boarding school).
In Ipoh, academically, STAR is the best.  ACS (Ipoh), St. Michael,
Anderson School, Methodist Girls School etc. didn't even come close
to STAR academically.  But, Methodist Girls School (Ipoh) did trash
our English debating team.  I think, we underestimated them.


>3)	Raffles Institution and RJC
>		"If I apply your criterion, I would vote RI to be 
>		the most successful school in the region.....
>		....  RI continues to be great because it is able to 
>		attract the BEST and most able students..
>						Dennis Lee"

No idea.

>4)	Maktab Rendah Sains Maras and Other "Established governemnt 
>		affiliated boarding schools .. SMSAH,...TKC, STF, STAR"   
>		
>		"Now MRSMs seem to excel more than any other boarding 
>		schools in Malaysia. ... now there are on the top 
>		as compared to other boarding schools (based on SPM
>  		performance). ...Established governemnt 
>		affiliated boarding schools .. SMSAH,...TKC, STF, STAR"   
>		... have top qualities educators, such as at 
>		STAR, Goh Cheng Leong (retired) for Geography ...
>		(K.C. says: WOW !)
>						-nor-azlan nordin-"

YES, MRSM is going up now. At least 7 out of 10 governemnt sponsored
students are from MRSM (my best guess).  In Penn State alone, we have
5 of them (graduated already).  I have a hard time arguing with them that 
STAR is better than MRSM.  Of course I lost, cos' I only have history to 
support STAR.  

>5)	Hwa Chong Junior College
>	"Hwa Chong consistently produced the most number of 4 As 
>	students annually! I still remember vividly how Bernard 
>	Fong used to wave his hands and conduct the singing of the 
>	National Anthem during assemblies..............................
>						Victor Jiun-Wen Keong"
>	"In fact, Bernard Fong used to claim the HCJC produced
>	the best 'A' Level results in the Commonwealth. That was
>	around '82,'83.
>						K.C. Goh"
>	"But majority of the teachers cared about students, not restricted
>	to their students score alone.
>						Kelvin Cheu"

No idea.

>No other school has been mentioned in the net as being ...err..
>as great as the five above, so I suppose we all agree, taking into
>account the very volatile nature of the discussions on this newsgroup.
>I'm surprised though nobody nominated Victoria Institution of
>KL (the Sidek Brothers) or PFS (TAR, Datuk Elyas Omar).

You forgot STAR Lions in Ipoh.  Our rugby team can rip your head to
half in less than 0.5 second.  Academically, STAR is not bad (should
be better based on the quality of education offered) at least during
my time 8 years ago.  

>However, being a Malaysian, I remain very curious about MCKK
>and the other "government funded established boarding schools",
>not having met many students from there.
>
>1)	Is it very difficult to get a place in MCKK etc ?
>	Do all the best primary school students in Malaysia
>	go to these schools?
	
MCKK is all Malays school (all boys).  The best primary school students 
(Malay) were selected to go to MCKK (based on Standard Five Exam).  The 
rests were then screened to go to STAR, SMSAH, SAS and others. The remainings
were sent to Sekolah Menengah Sains (SMS). I don't know the system of
selection now.  When I got into STAR, I was selected based on the my
Standard V Examination.  You have to do very well in SRP to stay in that
school until SPM.  In STAR, we have non-malay students too. 

>	For example, in Penang, I'd thought that all the best
>	students went to Penang Free School, Chung Ling High
>	School or St George's Girls School.
>	How does one go about getting a place in MCKK, for
>	example ?  Perhaps students from rural areas are
>	given preference ?

That is the idea. To help the students from rural areas and give them
proper education they deserved if they are qualified.  Unfortunately,
it doesn`t work that way anymore.  Too much politics involved, a lot
of rich people get in there too through "pintu belakang" no matter
what their qualifications are.  It is a shame buddy.  This is one of
the problems that caused the decline of many of these great schools.


>2)	The newspapers never seem to mention MCKK, TKC or STAR
>	when they report on the best SPM/STPM results.

They did mention.  Maybe you missed them.   

>	Do students in these schools take different types of
>	exams like the SAT or AEB etc ?  If so, why ?

NO. Everything is similar to other schools.  

>3)	Is it actually an official policy of the Ministry of Education
>	to make these schools "elite" schools by sending them all 
>	the best students and teachers in Malaysia ?

I guess so.  But, something screwed up in between.  What a shame....


>Regards,
>
>K.C. Goh


-azlan nordin-
  Penn State
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean