These Student Life Examples From 1970s M’sia Will Surely Make You Feel Grateful You’re a Millennial!

Can you imagine being a student without Google giving you answers to your assignments? Or Wikipedia with that quick info about that chemical reaction you never heard about?

Well, that’s exactly what our older generations went through and frankly, we have no idea how they survived! If you think your life as a student now is hard, just take a look at these excerpts from the 1970s showcasing Malaysia’s student life from those who lived through it all :O

1. All assignments had to be handwritten!

Source: Universiti Malaya

“In the 1970s, we didn’t have all these fancy gadgets you young kids use today! All assignments had to be written by hand and presentations were done by drawing on the blackboard using chalks. We only used the typewriter to write our theses and even then we had to pinjam from the university. A typewriter was something of a commodity and not easily accessible except if you came from a wealthy family!”

– Halim, class of 1974

2. Registering your courses for each semester was a pain!

Source: Universiti Malaya

“Back in the day, everything had to be done manually from entrance applications to registering your courses! I remember we used to have ridiculously long queues at the faculty at the start of every semester because all of us wanted to grab that spot in a rather limited course. Worse if it’s a course that’s only offered once a year. I’ve got a couple of old friends who extended a year of their studies just because they queued up late!”

– Rajendran, class of 1977

3. Need more info? To the library, you go!

Source: Universiti Malaya

“University libraries during my time were the place every student wanted to be. Not because we like it there, but because you have to! Let me tell you, getting references for your assignments were super leceh! I remember one time I spent up to 10 hours going through various journals just to get that reference for one sentence of my essay! Nowadays, I see my children just googling their sources and it takes them less than 10 minutes. You youngsters are so lucky!”

– Zuraidah, class of 1971

4. Chances of furthering your studies were low

Source: SBS-USM

“1970s Malaysia was a far cry from what it is today. Back then, there were only a couple of recognised public universities in the whole of Malaysia. Most have to go overseas to get a quality high level of education and for us who are not from rich families, we had to fight for scholarship spots. A close friend of mine was lucky enough to receive a scholarship to study in London but he had to give up his dreams of being a lawyer because the scholarship was for accounting! As for myself, I went to a polytechnic even though I excelled in school, simply because there were limited options back then.”

– Vasudevan, class of 1976

5. Your results were put on display for everyone to see

Source: Al-levandari

“I think there’s this daunting feeling everyone gets when it comes to results day, no matter the generation. Even my son was extra stressed out when his final semester results were coming out. Back then, however, I remember I would feel more nervous than usual when results were coming out because the university would just put all our results at the faculty’s notice board for us to check! Of course, they only put the student number lah, but everyone practically remembered all their friends’ student number anyway.”

– Abdul, class of 1973

6. Miscommunication was a common occurrence

Source: Reddit

“Nowadays even old people like me know how to use WhatsApp. Very convenient you know! Anything can just text people. When I was still a young girl studying, you have to be very vigilant to be on top of things. Have to visit all the notice boards just to get info you know! I remember back in my freshmen years, they announced a new subject that my major had to take but I didn’t notice it. So I ended up having to extend 2 semesters just because of that stupid thing!”

– Florence, class of 1979

Woah, and we thought our student life was hard!

Reading all these stories really put some perspective into how privileged we are to be living in an age where information is literally just a click away.

However, that’s not saying that we Millennials have it easy! Every generation faces different challenges and it is up to us individually to rise up and overcome them. What never changes between generations is that hard work and dedication will pull you through to success.

 

Well, another thing that hasn’t changed throughout the generations is the great cola taste of Pepsi!

 

The world-renowned cola-flavoured beverage is paying tribute to four iconic eras – ranging from the 1940s to the 1980s – with the release of these awesome limited-edition classic Pepsi can designs below:

Each of these designs is limited to different retailers. Petronas Kedai Mesra carries the 1940s can design, Shell Select stocks the 1950s design, 7-Eleven has the 1960s design, and a special four-can pack can be found at Tesco hypermarkets.

That’s not all folks! You can also walk away with exclusive merchandise from Pepsi x Pestle & Mortar Clothing such as T-shirts, hoodies, and so much more!

To win these exclusive prizes, just follow these simple steps:

1. Purchase any Pepsi product in a single receipt at the participating outlets within the contest period.
2. Answer a simple question.
3. Send the answer via WhatsApp to 012-6718310, together with your details and a clear photo of the whole original receipt as proof of purchase.

The participant who submits the highest number of entries daily wins! So, what are you waiting for? Grab yourself a Pepsi today! You can find them all across major retailers, hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores and provision shops nationwide.

Find out more about these limited-edition Pepsi Cans and Pepsi Generations contest here!