Just leave English alone

The Education Minister may decide on the hotly debated issue of using English for the teaching of Mathematics and Science in primary schools on Tuesday.

The feeling on the ground is that the English speaking silent majority in Malaysia are not overtly optimistic of the outcome.

If the outcome is not in favour of English then I think it is quite sad to see that the country that is trying to advance itself into future development is retrogressive in its steps.

I have picked a few recent topics from other bloggers such as from Rantings by MM says: “Our kids need to learn to speak English properly in order to get on in the world. That's not to say they should neglect their mother tongue and other languages. I happen to believe that children are capable of speaking more than one language easily. The key is exposing them to these languages early, as young as possible. Language researchers say that the best time to teach children languages is before they are five years old."

Education in Malaysia posted by Kian Ming says: “It seems a little ironic to me that the different 'nationalist' groups, who are usually at each other's throats, can unite over this issue because of their aversion to the policy of teaching Science and Math in English. While one may doubt the efficacy of this policy in terms of either improving the quality of English or the standard of Science and Math among our students, I have no doubt that reverting to the previous policy, without doing anything else, will definitely NOT improve the standard of English among our students.”

While Random Thoughts says: “My concerns are more on the education policies and vision and the lack of vision and direction are setting our children, along with that, lose several generations of young Malaysians. From the perspective of the parents there are several key issues. Firstly, the overall quality and standard needs to be improved. If any parents does not find schools innovative enough (I am sure there are many), there are no choices.”

So the fate of future education for our young Malaysians are left on the hands of the few who can make the decisions through their whims and fancies, without even referring for a consultation or referendum from the masses.

We'll see what the outcome will be.

Latest Update to Roundtable Discussion on the Issue on Tuesday, Dec 16

The options are:

1. To continue teaching and learning of Maths and Science in English as it is now.

2. To use Bahasa Malaysia or pupils' mother tongue as the medium of instruction from the primary school level and English for Maths and Science at the secondary level.

3. To start using English for Maths and Science from Standard Four right into the secondary level.

4. To use Bahasa Malaysia or mother tongue at the primary level, and Bahasa Malaysia fully at the secondary level.

5. Schools to determine the medium of instruction for Maths and Science.

6. To use Bahasa Malaysia or mother tongue from Standard One to Three, implement bi-lingual use from Standard Four to Six and full use of English at the secondary level.

7. To abolish the Science subject from Standard One to Three and incorporate teaching of Science in other subjects.

The findings from the series of roundtable discussions on the policy of teaching and learning Maths and Science in English will be handed over to Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein soonest possible to be tabled to the Cabinet.

Looks like it is quite positive, so far. Except for option No.7, which I think they need to review a little bit more.