Babbling for today

A school boy came home with his exam result held at the back. Mom and dad is sitting on the couch, reading. The boy walked slowly towards his parents. Dad put down his newspaper. Boy handed over his result. Dad looked at it. It was a C. On screen, it was displayed "From E to.."

Roughly, that was what I remembered from last night advert by Pizza Hut. It motioned that there is always a reason to celebrate. With their pizza, of course.

Anyway, what intrigued me is the idea to celebrate a C. Which is quite an improvement from an E. But how many of us actually do this? As far I could remember, the only one "E" that I received made me feel so stupid and I cried myself silly because never in my life have I had a red mark in my report cards through out school. And to actually receive one during uni was a devastating blow. In fact I paid the fee for the paper to be re-evaluated. But the result remained the same. I resit the paper, and hey! what an improvement, a B+. U can't get an A u see, if you resit a paper. That was my target initially, an A, that's why the E made me crazy for a while.

Throughout my school years, excellent results were expected. I was one of the students that always went up the stage at the end of the year for prize giving ceremony. (Bragginggggg!!) The point I'm trying to make is that, A or B was expected, always. E is unthinkable. And you can't possibly improve an A, can you?

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that the advert gave out an important message (besides go and eat their pizza). Excellent results are well deserved celebration, but improvement also is. In fact, an improvement is something should be rejoiced more, because it take a lot of effort to improve. A lot of determination. A good way to boost a kid's confidence.

When the kid comes back with a little of improvement, celebrate it. Put aside the advice for subsequent targets. Let it be for a day and night. Rejoice on the current result. Some people that I know, when the kid comes back, shows the result, a string of new challenges and 'advices' are given. Cut the kid some slack, will ya?

Well... you get what I mean. Today in the news, the Higher Education Minister said that our students in the UK are shy and not involved. Let me tell you Mr. Minister, maybe your evaluation to send students overseas should not only rely on the result on paper. It should also include their persona and attitude. Maybe that will make a difference.