Prof P Ramasamy in his article, [#1]Mother tongues an aegis against homogeneity[/#] (March 16), remarked, "Mother tongue education becomes a perfect tool of resistance to stall the pervasive homogenising effects of the English language."

While we recognise the positive effects of mother tongue education such as the preservation of cultural heritage and resistance against Western homogeneity, we should also keep in view the potential negative consequences of the present system of mother tongue education in this country.

The good professor has failed to highlight that this system has and will continue to instil sentiments of racial segregation in its adherents, which is the very element that opposes homogeneity. Can we tackle something negative with something else which is equally negative?

What is opposed by this letter is not the mother tongue or cultural education but the system of its delivery in this country.

Students from Chinese and Tamil schools as well as those from religious schools have been socially and physically isolated from their counterparts who are of different cultural and religious backgrounds.

The polarising effects resulting from this lack of social exposure at a very young age are strengthened further by the instilling of pride in one's own culture and traditions through mother tongue education. This has inevitably resulted in the racial polarisation we see taking place in the local institutions of higher learning.

The complaints of racial polarisation come mostly from local public universities and not other institutions. Has anyone ever wondered why? One reason is because a sizeable number of registrants to these universities comprise vernacular-educated students. Apart from that, students from vernacular schools also show poor mastery of the international lingua franca.

Racial polarisation leads to racism and prejudice which would eventually culminate in a social upheaval. Recent events in the country have proven that this is staring at us in the face. Should the education system, which is the source of the country's development, also become a factor in its ruin?

In this country, mother tongue and culture have been misused by many members of our society to segregate themselves socially and linguistically. The external qualities of culture, like ways of dressing, culinary preferences, the use of mother tongue, etc. have been given more importance than the subtler aspects of culture which include politeness, courtesy, morality and humility.

Thus, people have become very conscious of their cultural identity, compared with the original adherents in the previous centuries, who were more self-effacing and had warm and pleasant personalities because they gave precedence to the subtler aspects of their wonderful cultures, which tend to be universal and thus unifying. These modern times, locals tend to be competitively defensive over a culture they do not even genuinely practise!

Mother tongues and culture should be taught so that people understand their heritage and let it melt together with national and international elements to form a 21st century society which is wise in its perception and not merely knowledgeable. This can only become a reality when Malaysians have adequate social exposure from a very young age.

With this, I propose that pupils from different backgrounds be evenly placed in the same schools and education system from Year One, and be separated only when learning their mother tongues (a separate, but compulsory subject).

Apart from that, the use of English in various non-linguistic subjects should be increased, especially in specialised subjects taught at upper secondary to university levels. On the other hand, the present style of vernacular education should be left to private schools, so that those who still favour it can be free to educate their children in this way.

The question is: Do we want to preserve the present facade of national unity or concretely establish it through the education system?