Speech Day or Hari Anugerah Cemerlang..

Definition of cemerlang ... above par excellence. Hari Anugerah Cemerlang used to have a plain sounding name... Speech Day. It's a day where students who have excelled in different fields are given their due recognition. And if you are one of the award winners called up to the stage on that day, you'd be filled with pride... cos you know that you've done well for the year, be it academic or non-academic. Bottom line is the award puts you in a select group. Hence, if you are a multiple winner, you are truly a cemerlang fler.

But cemerlang today rings hollow. Some students get called up to receive prizes for good grades in monthly tests. Some get called up for good grades in the final-year exams while some get called up for good grades in public exams like PMR and SPM. All the tests and exams are regressing in quality.

Anyway, the quality keeps regressing cos we measure ourselves against ourselves; not by the global yardstick. We are only good enough to be the jaguh kampung because our yardstick is the kampung yardstick. And then we pull wool over our own eyes and mendabik dada at the same time, proclaiming to the world, our world class standard. What an eye wash!

Hari Anugerah Cemerlang has become a day to strut your decorations and trimmings. It's not really about the achievements of the students. Schools spend huge amounts for curtains which are used so rarely, decorations which sometimes are used only once, etc. There'd be a planting, painting and cleaning frenzy. Though sometimes, I think these can actually be good. We seem to need a reason to spruce things up cos we seem to lack that inertia to move without that outside stimulus. The ability to plod on in these areas seem a little lacking.

But often, lots of money and time are wasted on them to make a big impression on the people who come. The priorities seem senget. And because the audience is also made up of Heads or Reps from other schools, these administrators go back to their respective schools with goals to better what they've seen since the Big Boss is also there. It's also about making an impression. And this keeping up with the Jones' mentality bring rise a mentality of outward appearance superceding values and ethics. So, sometimes I think Hari Anugerah Cemerlang has lost its true essence of rewarding and giving recognition to the students so that others are encouraged to follow suit. It has become a venue to strut and show off what school heads are capable of showing off. This, I think is a malaise plaguing many schools today. Priorities in the wrong place....