Education and politics......

It does not take a genius to understand there are many who against the idea of teaching science and maths in English at the primary school. The recent demonstration initiated by the likes of A Samad Said goes to show the growing concerns on this matter. But I'm saddened by the police who used force and tear gas to disperse the crowd gathered at Masjid Negara marching to Istana Negara to hand over a memorandum to the King. Of late, there are more and more demonstrations going on the road, and the government is quick to make use of police to restore peace by force, so to speak, but is that what should the government do? Police is under the Home Ministry, and if some parties intend to put up a demonstration for what so ever reason, you think police will grant the permission?

The government have themselves to blame. The education policies are inconsistent and without a long term objectives thus, when the graduates are so poor in English and can't get a job because they can't speak or write proper English, who to blame. Rest assured, please blame the government, because they are the one who make the policy and in the way shaping up the current generation of graduates who are poor in English.

I'm against the teaching of Science and Maths in English at the primary school. That is totally a bad move by the government, a fire-fighting reaction. I'm from a Chinese school, when I entered secondary school where everything were taught in Bahasa Malaysia, I suffered a cultural shock, I couldn't follow what the teachers were teaching in Bahasa Malaysia. I went back home, my mom was unable to help me as she was not fluent in Bahasa Malaysia. My interest on study soon deteriorated as I couldn't understand what the teachers were teaching us in Bahasa Malaysia. It took me two to three years to catch up, to be able to follow what the teachers taught us in the class. But I can tell you one thing, my classmates who were doing well in Chinese primary school who couldn't tune themselves into the Bahasa Malaysia eventually lost interest in their studies.

I can understand why the famous academician like Prof Dr Khoo who fully support the idea of teaching science and maths in English in primary school. These people speak from their own experience, they are from English-speaking families, from young they communiciate in English, thus no problem for them. In fact, English is their mother tongue anyway even they are Chinese, Malay or Indian. Some Chinese are so proud in telling others that they are not shameful even if they can't speak their mother tongue. To them, to be able to talk in English is like a class above of other race. But do you notice one thing, even they can speak well, they may not be able to write well in English.

The deteriorating of English among the younger generation is something to worry about. But we may have to tackle it differently, not by the teaching science and maths in the primary school. Don't let the young kids lose interest in maths and science simply because they are not good in English. The education is meant for all people, not only for those English speaking families, those young kids in the kampung or those from lower income families are not likely to benefit from this move by the education ministry. On the other hand, just look at the ministers or deputy ministers or other high officers in the government, some of them speak shit English.