Second place
Imah got second place in her final exam with overall 82.5%. She got 4 A’s in Malay, English, Maths and Al-Qur’an, 2 B’s in Pendidikan Sosial and Jawi and 1 C in Arabic. The day she brought back her question papers, I was so excited. As mother, I studied the examination papers, I was impressed with her performance. All the A subjects, she scored above 90%. Both the B subjects she scored 76% and 78%, just a few points to reach A. And for Arabic, I do not blame her for getting C, it was not her fault. She was absent from school for two months in May and June when I was in my semester break, I bawa semua anak-anak balik ke Kuantan, so Imah had missed her lessons a lot. Alhamdulillah, Imah managed to catch up everything, except for Arabic as it involves many new Arabic words that are strange to her. Yelah, kat rumah I cakap Bahasa Melayu and English, tak pernah apply Bahasa Arab lagi setakat ni walaupun both Abang and I have good foundation in Arabic. I got A1 tau for Bahasa Arab Tinggi masa SPM! Anyway, I learn that Imah is an excellent student. Looking at her Arabic question paper, she could answer the questions that fall under the syllabus when she was present, but not the ones when she was absent from school.
I took the responsibility for the C! Patutnya hari tu lepas memontengkan Imah dari sekolah for two months, I jumpa cikgu-cikgu dia dan tanya all the lessons yang Imah dah tertinggal and teach her at home. In fact Imah did not sit for her mid year exam. Her teacher did give me the mid year exam question papers, but I tak suruh pun Imah buat kat rumah. They ended up kat tangan Zara, Zara conteng-conteng dan koyak, and lastly masuk tong sampah. Alhamdulillah Imah dapat second place. This shows that Imah is a clever and intelligent child. Tetapi sebagai orang yang dah biasa dapat first place during exam, of course I rasa tak puas hati. Kalaulah I took initiative and pro active action, mungkin Imah dapat first place, who knows. As parent, I bersyukur Imah dilahirkan bijak. But I know, if I do not provide my children with the right stimulation, right surrounding and condition, right support, right aids and most importantly right doa, the end result might be different walaupun they inherit our brains. Heh… perasan pandai pulak I ni!
Masa kecil-kecil dulu, I tak pernah perasan yang I ni pandai. But since kindergarten, I always got great results. I really mean great results. Bukan top ten, bukan top three, but always first place! As a kid, I tak tahu pun yang I ni pandai, but I always found that the questions were easy and within my knowledge or ability. I don’t think I am a studious person. Masa kecil, I rarely opened books at home, adik-beradik ramai, member nak bermain sama sentiasa ada. Kalau I nak study pun, I was fully dependent on text books or main reference books. I seldom minta mak belikan additional books or buku-buku latihan, kalau mak beli pun, at the end of the year, buku tu ended up with most of the pages tak bersentuh. I never attended any tution class even when I was to sit for UPSR, PMR or SPM, seriously speaking, never! During primary school, I jarang ponteng sekolah, sebab masa tu tak pandai lagi banyak songeh bila mak ayah suruh pergi sekolah. But during secondary school, hmm… you tanyalah my classmates berapa kali nama I naik dalam meeting cikgu-cikgu. However I always found myself at first place in examinations that made me wonder, did I deserve the number one?
Begitu juga Abang. I tak pernah tahu yang Abang was always an excellent student, sampailah I dah kahwin dengan Abang baru my mother in law revealed. Masa kat SHAH Pekan, Abang selalu juga top ten, tapi tak pernah dapat first place like I did. So I anggap Abang ni ada cerah masa depan, but not as brilliant as me. Hahaha! Lepas dah kahwin, baru I tahu betapa hebatnya Abang ni. Abang dah pandai membaca at 4, according to my mother in law, he liked reading very much sampaikan Abang sanggup membaca malam-malam buta depan lampu pelita. No wonder la Abang started wearing spectacles when he was 7, and now cermin mata Abang tebal gila. Dan Abang memang conquered first place sepanjang-panjang he was in primary school. That made him so popular among girls, menjadi jejaka pujaan ramai la konon!
Being scorers, do we expect high achievement and excellence in our kids? Hmm… semua ibu bapa nak tengok anak-anaknya berjaya. I rasa I ni seorang Ibu yang tak push anak-anak sangat when it is about study, tak macam Abang, I rasa Abang lebih tegas. Abang boleh membaca at 4, so he was quite disappointed when Imah masih belum boleh membaca last year. This year Imah is 5, she is progressing, but steadily, not too slow, not too fast. Masa semester break hari tu, I ajar Imah membaca kat rumah, out of 9 books, she finished 6 books within a week. Lepas tu Imah lost her interest, dia nak baca bila ada mood, which is hardly to attain the correct mood. So now Imah baru sampai buku 8, I think Imah dah boleh membaca, cuma sebab I tak tegas, dia pun main-main aje belajar dengan I. Then I realize one thing, betul kata orang, even though the mother is an outstanding teacher sekali pun, when it comes to her own children, dia tak boleh ajar anak-anak dia effectively, tapi terpaksa bagi kat orang lain juga suruh ajar. I found that it applies to my kids. So I took the initiative. I ambil private tution class for Imah and Amjah, twice a week. Cikgu tu attend diorang berdua aje, ajar membaca dan menulis. Memang penat sikit kalau hari diorang ada tution, terkejar-kejar balik kelas uruskan anak-anak, at 8 pm hantar Imah and Amjah pergi tution. But I can see the progress, especially in Amjah. Amjah memang at first tak minat sangat dengan pensel dan buku, tak macam Imah. But after few weeks of tution class, Amjah mula nampak interested.
Last two days, Abang bawa anak-anak pergi shopping. Salute kat Abang, he managed to control three kids all by himself, I was not following as I have to study for my final exam. Balik-balik rumah, Imah was so excited sebab Abang belikan present kat dia sempena dapat nombor dua. It was a big doll with hair accessories, as requested by her. For days Imah asyik belek doll tu, tidur pun dengan doll. We told Imah that we are proud of her. I know she could already understand the happy feelings and proud we have on her. Dia dah pandai menilai value yang ada pada nombor peperiksaan, when I told her that I have to study for my exam, Imah cakap, “…sebab Ibu nak dapat nombor satu ke?” I hope the present gives her motivation to always do well and achieve the best. I dulu pun selalu dapat hadiah dari ayah sebab dapat nombor satu. The most memorable one was when I got first place in both exams masa darjah 1, ayah hadiahkan tiket kapal terbang from Kuala Lumpur to Kedah. I was treated special by ayah during the journey. Mungkin dalam tak sedar, itulah motivation yang mendorong I untuk sentiasa dapat nombor satu for many following years after that, even though lepas tu ayah dah tak larat nak bagi hadiah kat I. At one point, when I was in secondary school, ayah signed the report card sebelah mata aje, tak tengok pun the details of the result, I cakap nombor satu, ayah terus tanda tangan. I was not disappointed because I knew that ayah was proud deep down inside. That is the feeling yang I cuba nak bagi anak-anak I rasa, the feeling tentang betapa bangganya parents bila anak-anak do well in their studies.
