Firstly, I remember the reasons they changed it to English in the first place 6 years ago was because of the lack of proficiency in the English language among students, globalization, & many graduates were unemployed due to reasons among which graduates were poor in English.
So has the proficiency of English among students improved ? Have we become more competitive ? Are our graduates now more employable ? The scrapping of the policy doesn’t mean that these questions result in a no. To me all these questions are unanswered & no way can you get these answers in 6 years. It takes a full education cycle (kindergarten > primary & secondary school > graduate) to know these facts. That takes about 20 years to get the answers.
How has this policy failed exactly ? Since 2003, every single year it is announced that the number of straight A’s students have increased drastically. Every year the government brags about how students have improved in this & that. So how has the policy failed ? What statistics have the government shown to prove that the policy is a failure ? Show me please. Basically our education system is in a mess. I’ll talk about this in another post.
Then they talk of increasing English lesson hours in schools, bringing back retired teachers, hiring some foreign teachers & so on. Haven’t they announced all this before ? Haven’t they already spent tons of money on training teachers ? While I was in school, half the time some of my teachers were away on training. Yet, they came back the same!
Then they talk of upholding the Malay language. Malay is our national language. Case closed. You want to uphold it, do so during Malay classes or other ways. Don’t jeopardize the education & future of our nation when you know the importance of English. In tertiary levels of education, most things if not everything, is taught in English. Even the reference books are mostly in English.
Besides, almost all scientific & technological terms in Malay, are derived from English! Oksigen, kalsium, karbon dioksida, ekonomi, krisis..etc. Need more examples ? Face the facts that scientific & mathematical knowledge are better conveyed in English than BM. It’s the language of science & technology worldwide.
Plus, it’s clear that the majority prefers the policy of maths & science being taught in English. So why can’t we be democratic about it ? At the same time, the government must be smart on how to implement the policy as effectively as possible.
I feel that this matter is more complex than it seems. Many people have different views & perspectives on going about this issue. Even if the majority (including me) supports the teachings of these subjects in English, there are many things for the government to look into & work out. With our messy education system & politics, solving this to effectively implement the policy is easier said than done.
Honestly, I won’t be surprised if they change their decision again. BN is a flip-flop government & I have proof. Moreover, desperate BN + active Tun Mahathir + pissed majority of people + Opposition = troubled BN. The full reversion would also only take place in 2012. In that time, many things can happen & change…& I’ll just see how things go for now.
In conclusion, if you have a problem, fix it until it’s fixed. Don’t kick the problem out & go back to square one. Don’t quit half way & ignore the problem. All the statements mentioned above are simply my rough opinion.
2 comments:
Tun Dr Mahthir's poll in his blog shows that Najib's administration not listening to the people's voice. It's important to continue the policy on using English to teach Mathematics and Science (PPSMI). Emphasis must be given on English, it does not mean that I’m not respecting Bahasa Melayu and mother tongue as English is really assisting a lot in the future of Malaysians.
Therefore, I call upon all parents who love their children to all rises up and oppose the move to revert to teaching mathematics and science in Bahasa Melayu/mother tongue. If you don't fight for this now, I dread to think what will happen to our future generations while the government and these ethnic based groups gamble with our student’s future.
I am particularly concerned that the government is considering changing the teaching of Mathematics and Science from English to the Bahasa Melayu and mother tongue. I always believed that the government made the right decision to change the teaching of these two subjects to English back in 2003 and we should not make a U-turn now.
Furthermore, with English, you can do research on the Internet to supplement and enhance our knowledge, much more than what you can get from books. More often than not, you will also find up-to-date information on the Internet compared to what the books contain. However, to use this important tool, you need to be well versed in English, not Bahasa Malaysia or Mandarin or Tamil.
Considering the critical shortage of textbooks, journals, and other literature in other languages, teaching the two subjects in English would facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge by our students. Some parties also fear the threat of the erosion of their ethnic roots, culture and customs in this country and they believe that the way to prevent this erosion is by ensuring that schools teach important subjects in their respective mother tongues.
But is this a threat real? Let me be the first to tell you that I am a Malaysian Indian that received primary education in Chinese school. Besides learning Mandarin, of course I did not fail to remember Tamil, my mother tongue. My English is not excellent when further my study to secondary school. Because of that, I had difficulties in my class. All the subjects in primary school were in Mandarin. The subject that only in English is English, there were no any action or effort to allocate extra hours to the subject. This crisis does not happen to me alone. I believe most of the students in Malaysia experienced that.
So, let’s support PPSMI for a better Malaysia.
http://malaysiansunited.blogspot.com/
Ya Vasan..I agree.
BN just doesn't have the guts to follow through what it started.
I too feel it's a very unwise decision.
Also seems like a BN divide & conquer thing to me. Instead of all studying in one language, students are studying in multiple languages now.
All this despite BN knowing the importance of English today.
To win the votes of the minority, desperate BN is going to get a whacking by the majority.
Post a Comment