Kuala Lampur, Dec. 2 -- I recall giving a talk at a secondary school in Subang Jaya years ago.

It was on stress management. Before the person in charge introduced me, she did something breath-takingly counterproductive: She told the students their entire future would be in dire straits if they didn't do well in their SPM.

I mean, seriously? You want to say that kind of thing right before a talk on reducing and managing stress?

Isn't that like feeding me a ton of doughnuts just before I attend a seminar on healthy eating?

However, the bigger tragedy is that such discourses and mindsets happen millions of times in Malaysian schools every day.

Coupled with the fact that approximately one million individuals aged 15 years old and above w...