In the good old days, our good students did well in the MCE/SPM and HSC/STPM without the 3M and PBS. Our As were really much treasured by the world then. In actual fact, the PBS is killing their intelligence. Please take a look at the new English literature syllabus and you will know what I mean. Many of our form one or even year 6 students are already reading the unabridged versions of Harry Potter and some other novels. Do you think their English will improve by studying the present literary text? The housewife next door who is in her fifties can speak fluent English even though she did not even pass form 5. What about this former colleague of mine (a young teacher) who did her TESL in the UK with a scholarship who cannot speak English? Each time someone speaks to her in English, she will respond in Bahasa. What was so effective in the old education system? In those days, there were no tuition claases at school, no 3M and of course no PBS.