General Knowledge: Should we only learn for interviews or is it a lifelong process?

[vseehua]

Surprising how little people know about their world today... until they have to 'study' last minute just to pass a puny interview...

Topic split from the original topic: Jpa 2008 (http://www.recom.org/forum/www.recom.org/forum/showthread.php?p=158169) due to digression. You may continue your discussions here.

[Miracle_seed]

United Kingdom consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, while Ireland is another country.

There're six states in Australia.

Surprising how little people know about their world today... until they have to 'study' last minute just to pass a puny interview...
I doubt how well they know about Malaysia too...

[LadyAmethyst]

Surprising how little people know about their world today... until they have to 'study' last minute just to pass a puny interview...


Not all ppl are that well off to be sooo enriched with the world's knowledge. To you, who might have surpassed this interview and got the scholarship, perhaps you might say it puny. But if it's puny, i don't see why everyone's making such a big fuss of doing so much effort as to come to this forum and keep asking questions regarding this. You need to know that not everyone has the "previlege" to know stuffs about the world, there are limitations to our knowledge too. The reason why being prepared for this "puny" interview is to ensure and to increase the possibility of getting this scholarship. Would you give a scholarship to a person who knows nothing or a person who at least knows something?

I hope you don't misunderstand me of wanting to make a huge scene here. I just wanna clarify the reasons why we wanna "study" for this "puny" interview.

My interview is in Putrajaya...3rd April 8 am...

I guess i'll meet you there. :)

[Vaan]

Not all ppl are that well off to be sooo enriched with the world's knowledge. To you, who might have surpassed this interview and got the scholarship, perhaps you might say it puny. But if it's puny, i don't see why everyone's making such a big fuss of doing so much effort as to come to this forum and keep asking questions regarding this. You need to know that not everyone has the "previlege" to know stuffs about the world, there are limitations to our knowledge too. The reason why being prepared for this "puny" interview is to ensure and to increase the possibility of getting this scholarship. Would you give a scholarship to a person who knows nothing or a person who at least knows something?

I hope you don't misunderstand me of wanting to make a huge scene here. I just wanna clarify the reasons why we wanna "study" for this "puny" interview.



I guess i'll meet you there. :)

Yes. What LadyAmethyst is totally true. I backing up LadyAmethyst for sure in this case.

[dilenkumar]

Not all ppl are that well off to be sooo enriched with the world's knowledge. To you, who might have surpassed this interview and got the scholarship, perhaps you might say it puny. But if it's puny, i don't see why everyone's making such a big fuss of doing so much effort as to come to this forum and keep asking questions regarding this. You need to know that not everyone has the "previlege" to know stuffs about the world, there are limitations to our knowledge too. The reason why being prepared for this "puny" interview is to ensure and to increase the possibility of getting this scholarship. Would you give a scholarship to a person who knows nothing or a person who at least knows something?

I hope you don't misunderstand me of wanting to make a huge scene here. I just wanna clarify the reasons why we wanna "study" for this "puny" interview.



I guess i'll meet you there. :)


I totally agree with you..We so hard trying to get this scholarship....So of course everyone will try to study on anything that can help them during the interview...See you tomoro LadyAmethyst

[vseehua]

Not all ppl are that well off to be sooo enriched with the world's knowledge. To you, who might have surpassed this interview and got the scholarship, perhaps you might say it puny. But if it's puny, i don't see why everyone's making such a big fuss of doing so much effort as to come to this forum and keep asking questions regarding this. You need to know that not everyone has the "previlege" to know stuffs about the world, there are limitations to our knowledge too. The reason why being prepared for this "puny" interview is to ensure and to increase the possibility of getting this scholarship. Would you give a scholarship to a person who knows nothing or a person who at least knows something?

I hope you don't misunderstand me of wanting to make a huge scene here. I just wanna clarify the reasons why we wanna "study" for this "puny" interview.
Knowing stuffs about the world isn't a privilege only to be enjoyed by all, it's a need. Should you had read up on the topics of the day, you shouldn't have had any problems with any question directed at you, general knowledge or not. The interview is not like our SPM or STPM, where we need prepare for it by studying to a formula for a almost guarantied success. It involved human elements, and a lifelong process can help you prepare for any kind of interview any time.

I for one, won't want to give a scholarship to someone who knows nothing about this world, neither would i want to give this to someone who would just research on probably topics and gurgle out memorized facts based on the last few months of data, or topics from the past few days of discussion, and the differences will be obvious to any of the interviewers...

While i applaud the effort to go and look up on the topics that might be asked during the interview, I think it would be much easier if you've kept yourself in the know all this while. After all, spending half to one hour on reading the papers everyday isn't going to take your As away in your SPM...

[leinad]

Don't need to study if you already know about these issues in the 1st place. but nothing wrong with studying for it also, so study to improve chance to get it.

i think jpa ask these issues to filter out people who are only concentrated on academics without a care for the real world issues.

we all should be familiar with these issues as this shows you as a developed person in all aspects. plus it's good to have lots of general knowledge instead of eating the text book due to the education system

[LadyAmethyst]

Knowing stuffs about the world isn't a privilege only to be enjoyed by all, it's a need. Should you had read up on the topics of the day, you shouldn't have had any problems with any question directed at you, general knowledge or not. The interview is not like our SPM or STPM, where we need prepare for it by studying to a formula for a almost guarantied success. It involved human elements, and a lifelong process can help you prepare for any kind of interview any time.

I for one, won't want to give a scholarship to someone who knows nothing about this world, neither would i want to give this to someone who would just research on probably topics and gurgle out memorized facts based on the last few months of data, or topics from the past few days of discussion, and the differences will be obvious to any of the interviewers...

While i applaud the effort to go and look up on the topics that might be asked during the interview, I think it would be much easier if you've kept yourself in the know all this while. After all, spending half to one hour on reading the papers everyday isn't going to take your As away in your SPM...

Yeah, I agree with you that it's a necessity to read the paper.
And again, I agree with you that if i were to give someone a scholarship, I wouldn't want to give the ones who actually memorized or gurgled out something. I totally agree with you, that this interview is about human elements and a lifelong process of knowledge-hunger. But, sometimes.., not everyone's life could be so easy. There are certain limitations too. Newspapers aren't free. And don't think everyone's house is built near a shop where you can have time to walk out and buy papers. Btw, I've never said spending half to one hour would take my As away, in fact, back at my hometown, where I have more accessibilities, I bought the papers everyday for myself to read during the SPM.

PS - The papers doesn't mention how many islands we have nor what's the difference between UK and England.. And btw, you can't be so far off with the facts. That is why, the answers for those questions won't be too different. It's not like, "Hey, tell me about your favourite colour?".
In any ways, I don't mean to offend you. I don't think what you said were wrong or rather what I said was correct. And also, I would say, I am very happy that most of the people would actually take the effort of coming here instead of just sitting on the couch thinking that they know everything.

[vseehua]

Yeah, I agree with you that it's a necessity to read the paper.
And again, I agree with you that if i were to give someone a scholarship, I wouldn't want to give the ones who actually memorized or gurgled out something. I totally agree with you, that this interview is about human elements and a lifelong process of knowledge-hunger. But, sometimes.., not everyone's life could be so easy. There are certain limitations too. Newspapers aren't free. And don't think everyone's house is built near a shop where you can have time to walk out and buy papers. Btw, I've never said spending half to one hour would take my As away, in fact, back at my hometown, where I have more accessibilities, I bought the papers everyday for myself to read during the SPM.

PS - The papers doesn't mention how many islands we have nor what's the difference between UK and England.. And btw, you can't be so far off with the facts. That is why, the answers for those questions won't be too different. It's not like, "Hey, tell me about your favourite colour?".
In any ways, I don't mean to offend you. I don't think what you said were wrong or rather what I said was correct. And also, I would say, I am very happy that most of the people would actually take the effort of coming here instead of just sitting on the couch thinking that they know everything.
Well said... I always liked a nice round of debates, so nope, no hard feeling here...

True that the papers aren't going to be accessible to some. But if you can access the internet, i would tend to think that you have the means to reach the source of news as well.

For general knowledge, I would recommend wikipedia surfing once in a while by clicking on the random page link at the side. You will never know what will pique your interest ;)

[youngyew]

For wikipedia, beware of the [citation needed] parts. :D Even for the sourced information, always keep your skepticism spirit and don't be convinced by anything you read at the first instance.

[capablanca]

Now that it split into a new topic, I can say general knowledge is a lifelong process. I can proudly say that my general knowledge is one of the most diverse among my friends. Years of reading various genres of books and surfing the webs does pay out in the end.

[youngyew]

Not all ppl are that well off to be sooo enriched with the world's knowledge. To you, who might have surpassed this interview and got the scholarship, perhaps you might say it puny. But if it's puny, i don't see why everyone's making such a big fuss of doing so much effort as to come to this forum and keep asking questions regarding this. You need to know that not everyone has the "previlege" to know stuffs about the world, there are limitations to our knowledge too. The reason why being prepared for this "puny" interview is to ensure and to increase the possibility of getting this scholarship. Would you give a scholarship to a person who knows nothing or a person who at least knows something?

I hope you don't misunderstand me of wanting to make a huge scene here. I just wanna clarify the reasons why we wanna "study" for this "puny" interview.
I guess what See Hua expected from people are things like "who is Barack Obama", "why is there a riot in Tibet now", "what is the recent news involving Tengku Razaleigh" and something like that; instead of obscure facts like "what was the first combat that occured in World War II", "how many children does Kevin Rudd has" or "how budget is allocated for education in Malaysian Budget 2008".

With the former things, you don't really need that much privilege to learn them; all it takes is some attention to the world and local affairs through a quick read of newspaper everyday.

[vseehua]

I find it interesting to be able to discuss with my secondary school friends' about the current issues in the world, and sometimes about general knowledge tidbits as well. Like the events that happened during the course of World War 1 and 2, the various technological advancements that are made over the various periods in our lives and such things.

Know more, and you will find that you will be able to strike interesting conversations with lots of people...

[leinad]

definitely lifelong journey.

Knowing lots of general knowledge is good. very helpful when having conversation with new people, impropmto public speaking,quizes, and etc.

Plus it's nice to know stuff,

watching tv is a great way to gain general knowledge, and it's fun too.
and yeah, when im really really bored i randomly surf wikipedia or similar sites

[AnnDeBlurry]

I agree that it's a lifelong journey . Not neccessarily from newspaper or internet , we can actually gain our general knowledge from school as well . Try to think out of box and ask questions which are related to what you learn from lessons . For example , when we learn about general election from history , we can discuss about the issue of general election 2008 . Listen from the others is quite a good way to get to know more , as when you listen , you tend to participate in the conversation , thus you can actually remember it better . Research also show that we forget most of the things that we had read up .

[starlemon]

Reading is quite a nice and enjoyable activity for me..
Everyone should learn. no matter how old r u..learning is always an infinity to me.
A chinese proverb do say'活到老,学到老.
So let us read,read ,read and put good use(apply) the knowledge into our daily life..
Reading a newspaper, encyclopedia do increase our general knowledge.
I believe there is always a way in which we can acheive a greater understanding and knowledge ,the ways are through READING AND EXPERIENCING!

[Jieweitan]

The answer is obvious: it is a lifelong process.

First of all, newspapers are easily available everywhere, so there is no excuse not to know about the current affairs happening around us. I doubt there are people who are "too poor" to afford newspapers. Even so, you can borrow the newspaper or just read the "expired" newspapers to gain knowledge.

There is no excuse for having a poor general knowledge. Many students claim that they have no time, but is taking out 1 hour out of 24 hours a lot? Then wouldn't 2 hours of tuition a day be too much to bear? Or surfing the internet or "lepaking" in the neighbourhood cybercafe for hours be uncountable? Other students claim that they would rather channel all their energies towards their exams. The only reason why all these excuses are cooked up are due to their lack of interest towards knowledge.

I realised that whenever the people in my class obtain a newspaper, the first part they will look at would be the back page (aka sports page) followed by the entertainment news. After that, they just chuck the newspaper aside as though as it is trash...

In my opinion, general knowledge should be one of the criterias in the selection of students for the JPA scholarship. There is seriously no point in scoring 20+ 1As if we don't know what is happening around us. If you merely "learn" it just for a half an hour interview and then wipe it out of your memory after the interview, I don't see why you should deserve to go overseas. It sounds harsh, but if people like that are sent overseas, it would reflect bad on us Malaysians. Then again, I heard that most students overseas there are not any better than students here... Even those in advanced countries like the USA and UK.

Schools should encourage people to read encyclopedias as well. It is disheartening for me to see people who usually score very high in science subjects not bothered in knowing some extra facts as "it is not in the syllabus". Yet it is always them who get picked for quiz which tend to ask questions not from our textbooks. Irony isn't it?

Oh, and I don't really agree 100% that having a wide general knowledge opens up many conversation or makes it interesting. I find it almost impossible to talk to people in my class about the latest issues. Most of them just couldn't be bothered dismissing it as "boring"! Otherwise, they just give me a nod and start agreeing with a blur and uninterested look. I guess I am in a wavelength of my own.

[youngyew]

It sounds harsh, but if people like that are sent overseas, it would reflect bad on us Malaysians. Then again, I heard that most students overseas there are not any better than students here... Even those in advanced countries like the USA and UK.
I don't know about other places, but my friends here are quite aware of the world and Malaysian news. Australian news too, of course.

[vseehua]

I don't know about other places, but my friends here are quite aware of the world and Malaysian news. Australian news too, of course.
same here... rather than talking crap about entertainment and things like that, they are talking about their national issues...

[hfz]

I think that general knowledge should be a lifelong process. But you don't really have to take it way seriously like remembering all the Presidents of the US. There is no harm in doing so if you are able, but at least make sure you know the GK of our country first.

Honestly, we should be more aware of current issues. There are much more important, especially regarding interviews. I have seen people struggling to tackle simple issues like drug addiction in the country. I can't think what would happen if a politically inclined question is thrown at them.

[kintaro_kun]

an excerpt of the comment left by lee jia hui(only msian harvard freshman for the year 2008 ) in the educationmalaysia blog:

Harvard's interview was 45 minutes, and we talked about Malaysian politics, education, race relations; they asked where I stand on some issues, what I'm interested in, and where I see myself heading. JPA's interview was about "Tabiat Membaca di Kalangan Remaja" for 20 minutes. 7 people had to talk about the topic after a 2 minute self-introduction. There was no opportunity to talk beyond those limits.

hence you see why msians are not required to know much beyond their textbooks?

how many recommers actually know what MCA, MIC and UMNO are? i've met several chinese straight A scorers who dun even know what MCA is, what more of MIC and UMNO, and foreign affairs. sad case.

[youngyew]

i've met several chinese straight A scorers who dun even know what MCA is, what more of MIC and UMNO, and foreign affairs. sad case.
Really?! That's so impossible! It's in SPM Sejarah syllabus!!

[hfz]

Really?! That's so impossible! It's in SPM Sejarah syllabus!!

You wouldn't want to know!
This shows that they only memorize the fact than understanding it.

[vseehua]

Really?! That's so impossible! It's in SPM Sejarah syllabus!!Sejarah is for people to memorize, not learn

[youngyew]

I actually meant it sarcastically. :)

Anyway is that true that people don't even know about UMNO, MCA, MIC etc? That's a bit beyond me. I thought that's like almost the most basic knowledge as a Malaysian.

[vseehua]

I actually meant it sarcastically. :)

Anyway is that true that people don't even know about UMNO, MCA, MIC etc? That's a bit beyond me. I thought that's like almost the most basic knowledge as a Malaysian.
They are more interested to know who gets kicked out at the next episode of Malaysian Idiots anyway...

[chenjun1128]

What?? a malaysian who doesn't know MCA, MIC and UMNO is like a fat kid who doesn't know KFC, McD and A&W! we should learn when we feel like it..besides, interviewers will know if u've purposely study just to impress them at the interview