Statement of Beliefs
There’s a saying that goes “being successful means something different to each
person, and we have to respect that.” I’ll hold this saying very dearly to myself because I
can really relate to it. Success is a subjective matter and I believe different people have
different opinions about being successful. Some are relationship-oriented, some are
professional and some are deeply personal. However what about when in terms of
education? How do I actually define success in my own education throughout living for 21
years? I believe that all parents want their children to succeed in life and we know success
is directly tied to education. When we talk about a good education, we talk about success.
Consequently, it seems impossible to accurately measure the level of success. As far as I
think, to me, success is when it gives myself happiness and satisfaction when I am learning
something.
One’s journey to reach what they’ve been wanting in life is not always a bed of roses,
so do my journey to reach success that I’ve achieved now, so far, a degree holder in
Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). Taking TESL is actually something that I
have been wanting since in I’m in secondary school. But of course, I’ve gone through
bumpy roads in order to pursue this. I really don’t know how did I reached here, to this
extent, because of my own struggle, or because the people around me that gives a full of
positive energy or probably because of the personal attributes? To answer the question I
need to actually gather all my wits and think back of how did I reached here.
Firstly, for me, since I started school, my mother always told me that a journey
towards reaching my goal is actually already a success and not the goal itself. So that
studies will never give me such negative pressure. I still remember the effort I put 9 years
ago for my first big examination, which is UPSR. Extra classes of every subjects – The
struggle was really something else especially for Mathematics, I really despise numbers and
definitely the hardest subject for me. Turns out the effort that I’ve put through for the
examination was not good enough as I did not managed to score straight A’s for UPSR. I
was really upset as I feel like I have done the best I could. Of course, I scored B for
Mathematics and from then, it really convinced myself that numbers are really not my thing –
that’s it.
Moving on, I’ve entered high school and will be sitting for another big examination
which is that time is, PMR and SPM. I have this feeling every time I’ll be sitting in
examination hall is just full of torture, great tension, mental agony and excitement. I hate the
fear of running short of time, and really speaking, the word examination is still now send
shivers to my spine. Probably because I never managed to score straight A’s for any of
those of big examinations frustrates me every time I think about it. Sometimes I think it’s not
fair, sometimes I feel like no matter how much I’ve tried, it just won’t reached my target or
goal. But as I remember back what my mum told me, the journey is already a success and
that puts me in the right state of mind. I am content with the success that I’ve achieved so
far.
But to say that in terms of my education, I can say that I am quite perseverance
because I was not born with a smart IQ or brain like anyone else. So you kind of have to
keep up with your friends and of course, extra effort most of the time. I think intelligence is
not something we can measure our success, but if one have the intelligence, then, that’s
definitely a bonus for them. As for me, I believe that the ability to be consistent in our studies
is what matters most. I set my mind to not think about being successful is not just about
grades but being perseverance and having good work ethics definitely counts too. As I’ve
reached my University life, the ability to cooperate with my groupmates and to get my
assignments done within the time frame is definitely a success and achievement for me.
Well, I think I can say my success definitely paid off when I worked hard. I worked for it, thus
I deserve to give myself a credit for that.
Other than that, having a certain personal attributes, I don’t think it gives much
impact throughout my journey of educational success. Some say I have the privileged to
pursue what I want easily right after high school, because Malays or Bumiputeras are very
synonym to UiTM. It means that our education is all covered as we have UiTM. However,
for me, it was not easy to actually get in UiTM as well, thus, I cannot really relate when they
say I have the “privileged.” I worked hard, I went for an interview and failed for foundation in
TESL. Went for Diploma in Business and again tried for an interview in TESL for degree
after 3 years in UiTM Melaka. Therefore, being a Bumiputera is definitely not a bonus point
for me to actually reach to this extent. I believe everyone has their own right and equality to
pursue what they really enjoy and ace it well with the right amount of hard work.
In this fast paced era, we have a society that is fighting for women’s right like Marina
Mahathir. I am actually proud that we have this women empowerment movement. They are
actually bringing some light to education especially to young girls that have faced injustice
and been silenced. And for me, that is definitely a good thing for me as a woman. I need to
compete more in order to get a place in a University. So from here we are actually building a
better and a healthy nation that is competing with one another. I have a strong belief that
when we are competing against one another – in a healthy way, it definitely make myself a
person I am today. I know that I need to constantly work hard because I know the
competition is real out there, especially in the working field soon.
Well in terms of luck or chance, I am eternally grateful for I have born and
surrounded with such wonderful family. My parents they are really something else when it
comes to education. They accentuate so much about their children’s education, and it
constantly remind myself how important knowledge is. Thus, I really think that my family
definitely gives a huge impact for me to struggle more and more in my studies. In a nutshell,
one may argue that success doesn’t mean reaching the pinnacle. In which case, as I
mentioned before, to me success is something that makes one happy and be satisfied about
it. There can be stages of success and we have to keep on improving throughout our life.
As for now, I am absolutely proud of my struggles and what I have achieved until today.
