A piece of paper

The UPSR results are just out. 9.51% of students got all As.

Now, As are a dime a dozen. Even the Ministry of Education has decided there has to be a new category, A+. This is to satisfy the unending lust of parents and administrators to see more As. What's the value of an A anyway?

What's the value of a piece of paper? In the past, a scroll guaranteed certain things in life. Better opportunities for further education, a better job, a better status and a better chance of getting better remuneration. But what can it do now?

The last I read, there are over 50,000 unemployed graduates. Now everyone can be a graduate. It satisfies the students who can be called graduates now, it satisfies parents who want their kids to be called graduates, it satisfies their school and universities (better statistics = promotion for administrators, more students enrolling = more income) , it satisfies the Ministry of Education ( better statistics = promotion = higher salary + chance to be PM?? ) and our country can then boast to have a very high literacy rate. How deluded can we be ???!!!

We dished out As and scrolls to satisfy our own delusion. But what's the value of the scroll now? Can the scroll put food on your table? Can the scroll clothe you? Can the scroll protect you from the elements? Can the scroll repair a leaking pipe? Can the scroll repair your broken down car? It is just a piece of paper, nothing more than a piece of paper. Maybe useful as toilet paper.

I mean parents and students are spending tons of money for that piece of paper. This must be the biggest scam of all times. But never mind, we can boast we have that piece of paper with As, others don't. Hahahaha...

The hardly literate farmer in the furthest corner of the country can laugh the loudest now, at least he can put rice on the table. And you have to buy rice from him. And doesn't need to sell it to you either. What can your magical piece of paper do?