YourSay: 'Let the parents decide'
Published: Jul 10, 2009 4:13 AM | Updated: Jul 11, 2009 2:08 AM
YourSay: ‘Let the parents decide'
'Why couldn't the government have left that choice to the parents? What's stopping the ministry from providing schools in both the English and the Bahasa Malaysia mediums?'
On ‘Dr M turns up the heat with online poll'
Jason LKH: There are evidently two warring factions here and one of them has finally won after a three-year "battle".
It is really a case of difference in opinions and the government has decided. Well, why couldn't the government have left that choice to the parents? What's stopping the ministry from providing schools in both the English and the Bahasa Malaysia mediums?
This way, urban parents can choose to send their children to English medium national schools. The rural folks and those protective of their mother tongue can send their kids to their respective language schools. All the kids sit for the same examination papers but only in different languages. Content remains the same, only the format (language) is different.
To unify the people, just make BM a compulsory subject and focus efforts and funds in organising more joint-activities for students from all schools. Include these activities as part of the curriculum (to replace the ineffective moral studies say).
We are after all divided by our education system by having Agama schools, Tamil schools, Chinese schools, national schools which use BM as the medium of instruction. Why don't we just accept the inherent differences, work within it and take advantage of it?
Peter Ooi: Dr Mahathir knew that rural kids generally perform poorly in most of the subjects even though the medium of instruction was in Bahasa Malaysia. Despite this fact, he still insisted that English be used in teaching Maths and Science.
How ridiculous. I should say that he is selfish because he wanted his idea to be implemented at the expense of the rural kids.
Was he not aware that rural kids would be left even further if those two subjects were taught in English. At least if taught in BM or their mother tongues, a few bright rural kids may excel in those two subjects and go on to become doctors or engineers.
To put it bluntly, if English is used to teach those two subjects, the hopes and aspirations of rural kids will be snuffed before they even start on a long road to success.
That aside, I wonder if Dr M's poll is a reflection of all walks of life. Did Awang or Ah Kow or Muthu partake in the poll?
He must remember that those voting are English-speaking professionals whose children might speak English better than an Englishman.
Come on, Tun, let the new government have a mind of its own. You have put Pak Lah in a pathetic state, please do not do the same to Najib.
Ken: Another of Dr Mahathir's carefully thought out initiative bites the dust. Before his retirement, the ex-PM initiated the switch to English to teach Science and Maths as he felt that English was important for Malaysia to be competitive.
His successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not have the ability to push through this strategy successfully, and Najib also does not have the ability to see it through.
Both these individuals' inability to switch back education to English will cost the nation much in the future, if not now.
We need someone strong and decisive to make the switch to English materialise. Who would be better than the person who initiated it in the first place?
Only Tun Dr Mahathir has the ability, intelligence and political acumen to successfully implement English back in the schools and universities. He needs to come back as PM.
Mahathir needs to come back as PM not just for restoring education in the country but also for various other reasons. Abdullah cancelled the all-important "crooked" bridge to Singapore. By initiating a third link between Johor and Singapore, Najib has clearly indicated that he would not be restarting the strategic "crooked" bridge to Singapore.
Abdullah scaled down many mega projects started by Mahathir such as the Bakun Dam and the dual-track electric rail from Johor to Thailand. Proton may be closed down. MAS is no longer the great airline it once was. The MSC is anything but a Silicon Valley.
Law and order has broken down, and people are ignoring the police and openly demonstrating. Crime has escalated. Corruption has reached new heights. FDI has fallen drastically. The country is facing a bigger financial challenge now than in 1998.
The country is in recession and the ringgit has been declining and nothing is being done to halt this fall of the currency.
We need a truly strong PM to lead the country in the current serious economic downturn. Mahathir is the only one who can do it. After all, his brilliant currency control and pegging of the ringgit saved the country's economy in the 1998 financial crisis.
Doraisamy Karuppiah: I'm glad that Mahathir took the initiative to conduct the poll. However, I must say that the results can be confounded by the fact that this is an online poll - in other words, only people with internet access and are computer literate can vote. Who are these people? The urbanites.
Therefore, the result of Dr M's poll is more likely to reflect the opinions of urbanites rather than those from rural students. In as much as he is unhappy with the statistics released by the Education Ministry to justify the scrapping of his policy, the result of the poll is not credible.
I agree with our former premier's decision. We need to know how the government came to the conclusion that teaching Maths and Science in English has failed. What basis did they use? Did they appoint any consultant to carry out the survey?
The decision is politically motivated, merely to get the support of the rural folks. It's a wrong and hasty decision.
The government should understand the intention our former premier to switch the teaching of the two particular subjects in English. Why he didn't he decide (Tun Mahathir) to switch other subjects like history and geography to English? Why? It's not a matter just teaching the two subjects English but the technicalities of learning it in the language.
Our children must understand the scientific terms and the maths formulas in English, all science experiments and the conclusions in English. At the primary level, once the children learn in English, it will be easier for them understand the subjects at secondary level as well as in higher institutions of education.
From my own experience, I studied in a local polytechnic, but when I moved to further my studies, I had a lot of problems coping with my engineering studies, because all the books and other periodicals were in English. I had spent most of my time translating it.
Apart from the core issue, do we have enough writers or authors to translate all technical books in English? Can we do it immediately? For our nation's well being, teaching Maths and Science in English will propel our children to do well in the science and engineering fields.
The least that the government should do is to let it be in both languages so that the parents are provided with a choice.
Visionary: Six years is too short a time to assess the success of the PPSMI. It took our Science and Maths teachers four years to be comfortable teaching in English.
It will then take several more years for its effectivess to be reflected in the students' exam results.
Please be patient. Give us another four years to prove to you it is the answer to our problems. Abolishing PPSMI will definitely have an adverse affect student achievements in English and ICT, no matter what the arguement.
The whole world is geared towards ICT; why are Malaysians going backward?
'Why couldn't the government have left that choice to the parents? What's stopping the ministry from providing schools in both the English and the Bahasa Malaysia mediums?'On ‘Dr M turns up the heat with online poll'
Jason LKH: There are evidently two warring factions here and one of them has finally won after a three-year "battle".
It is really a case of difference in opinions and the government has decided. Well, why couldn't the government have left that choice to the parents? What's stopping the ministry from providing schools in both the English and the Bahasa Malaysia mediums?
This way, urban parents can choose to send their children to English medium national schools. The rural folks and those protective of their mother tongue can send their kids to their respective language schools. All the kids sit for the same examination papers but only in different languages. Content remains the same, only the format (language) is different.
To unify the people, just make BM a compulsory subject and focus efforts and funds in organising more joint-activities for students from all schools. Include these activities as part of the curriculum (to replace the ineffective moral studies say).
We are after all divided by our education system by having Agama schools, Tamil schools, Chinese schools, national schools which use BM as the medium of instruction. Why don't we just accept the inherent differences, work within it and take advantage of it?
Peter Ooi: Dr Mahathir knew that rural kids generally perform poorly in most of the subjects even though the medium of instruction was in Bahasa Malaysia. Despite this fact, he still insisted that English be used in teaching Maths and Science.
How ridiculous. I should say that he is selfish because he wanted his idea to be implemented at the expense of the rural kids.
Was he not aware that rural kids would be left even further if those two subjects were taught in English. At least if taught in BM or their mother tongues, a few bright rural kids may excel in those two subjects and go on to become doctors or engineers.
To put it bluntly, if English is used to teach those two subjects, the hopes and aspirations of rural kids will be snuffed before they even start on a long road to success.
That aside, I wonder if Dr M's poll is a reflection of all walks of life. Did Awang or Ah Kow or Muthu partake in the poll?
He must remember that those voting are English-speaking professionals whose children might speak English better than an Englishman.
Come on, Tun, let the new government have a mind of its own. You have put Pak Lah in a pathetic state, please do not do the same to Najib.
Ken: Another of Dr Mahathir's carefully thought out initiative bites the dust. Before his retirement, the ex-PM initiated the switch to English to teach Science and Maths as he felt that English was important for Malaysia to be competitive.
His successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not have the ability to push through this strategy successfully, and Najib also does not have the ability to see it through.
Both these individuals' inability to switch back education to English will cost the nation much in the future, if not now.
We need someone strong and decisive to make the switch to English materialise. Who would be better than the person who initiated it in the first place?
Only Tun Dr Mahathir has the ability, intelligence and political acumen to successfully implement English back in the schools and universities. He needs to come back as PM.
Mahathir needs to come back as PM not just for restoring education in the country but also for various other reasons. Abdullah cancelled the all-important "crooked" bridge to Singapore. By initiating a third link between Johor and Singapore, Najib has clearly indicated that he would not be restarting the strategic "crooked" bridge to Singapore.
Abdullah scaled down many mega projects started by Mahathir such as the Bakun Dam and the dual-track electric rail from Johor to Thailand. Proton may be closed down. MAS is no longer the great airline it once was. The MSC is anything but a Silicon Valley.
Law and order has broken down, and people are ignoring the police and openly demonstrating. Crime has escalated. Corruption has reached new heights. FDI has fallen drastically. The country is facing a bigger financial challenge now than in 1998.
The country is in recession and the ringgit has been declining and nothing is being done to halt this fall of the currency.
We need a truly strong PM to lead the country in the current serious economic downturn. Mahathir is the only one who can do it. After all, his brilliant currency control and pegging of the ringgit saved the country's economy in the 1998 financial crisis.
Doraisamy Karuppiah: I'm glad that Mahathir took the initiative to conduct the poll. However, I must say that the results can be confounded by the fact that this is an online poll - in other words, only people with internet access and are computer literate can vote. Who are these people? The urbanites.
Therefore, the result of Dr M's poll is more likely to reflect the opinions of urbanites rather than those from rural students. In as much as he is unhappy with the statistics released by the Education Ministry to justify the scrapping of his policy, the result of the poll is not credible.
I agree with our former premier's decision. We need to know how the government came to the conclusion that teaching Maths and Science in English has failed. What basis did they use? Did they appoint any consultant to carry out the survey?
The decision is politically motivated, merely to get the support of the rural folks. It's a wrong and hasty decision.
The government should understand the intention our former premier to switch the teaching of the two particular subjects in English. Why he didn't he decide (Tun Mahathir) to switch other subjects like history and geography to English? Why? It's not a matter just teaching the two subjects English but the technicalities of learning it in the language.
Our children must understand the scientific terms and the maths formulas in English, all science experiments and the conclusions in English. At the primary level, once the children learn in English, it will be easier for them understand the subjects at secondary level as well as in higher institutions of education.
From my own experience, I studied in a local polytechnic, but when I moved to further my studies, I had a lot of problems coping with my engineering studies, because all the books and other periodicals were in English. I had spent most of my time translating it.
Apart from the core issue, do we have enough writers or authors to translate all technical books in English? Can we do it immediately? For our nation's well being, teaching Maths and Science in English will propel our children to do well in the science and engineering fields.
The least that the government should do is to let it be in both languages so that the parents are provided with a choice.
Visionary: Six years is too short a time to assess the success of the PPSMI. It took our Science and Maths teachers four years to be comfortable teaching in English.
It will then take several more years for its effectivess to be reflected in the students' exam results.
Please be patient. Give us another four years to prove to you it is the answer to our problems. Abolishing PPSMI will definitely have an adverse affect student achievements in English and ICT, no matter what the arguement.
The whole world is geared towards ICT; why are Malaysians going backward?
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