Parents Order SPM Retakes Despite 4 As: Student's Engineering Dreams Hit Family Roadblock

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A student’s struggle with parental control over their academic future has sparked widespread online discussion, with the online community offering support and sharing personal experiences about the complex reality of academic choices.

The results:

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful… But I’m just so disappointed and sad,” the student shared.

The student later revealed: “They won’t respect my decision… Ya Allah, I don’t have the strength anymore. I actually want to study engineering at polytechnic.”

The alternatives – matriculation and foundation studies – were also rejected by parents.

One commenter, @azie_adzmi, questioned why parents couldn’t see that their child clearly struggled with science subjects, while suggesting a compromise: enrolling in university with current results while retaking SPM merely to appease parents.

A parent’s perspective came from @izmene6464, who shared her own experience with her child’s similar academic situation.

Despite the child receiving an F in Additional Mathematics and an E in Chemistry, along with three As and three Bs, she chose to support her child’s strengths rather than pushing for retakes.

Encouraging success stories emerged, including one from @nannannnnaa about her brother, who had similar results but now earns a monthly income of RM10,000 to RM15,000 after pursuing a path aligned with his capabilities.

Meanwhile, @elizabeth___elisa offered a sobering reality check about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers in Malaysia.

Having achieved 11As in SPM herself, she admitted regretting entering the STEM field, noting that other fields like accounting often offer better job prospects in the Malaysian market.

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