A taste of Mine

I have been completing my freaking critical review for Malaysian Studies these few days. And you may want to share a particular bit of my taste.Agreeing if you opt to ignore the entire blue-font part.

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will revert to using its national language, Bahasa Malaysia, to teach science and math starting in 2012, abandoning a six-year English policy that the government said had failed to improve student grades.The long-awaited decision, announced Wednesday, came after months of lobbying by Malay nationalists and was largely viewed as a political decision by local commentators.Malaysia has taught science and math in English since 2003, when former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad implemented the English-language policy in an attempt to help graduates improve their English and employability. However, the government has found that academic grades in science and math have fallen since English was introduced.Students in rural districts, who are mainly Malay, suffered the most because their English proficiency was low, The Associated Press quoted Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as saying. He said the government would recruit more teachers and increase English classes in an effort to improve English levels in schools.

Professor James Chin, head of the school of arts and social sciences at Monash University in Malaysia, said the decision had also become a political issue. “They decided to buckle under the pressure from the Malay nationalists who argue that by teaching students in English you are neglecting the position of the national language,” said Mr. Chin, a political commentator. “I think what it shows is that the Malay nationalists feel that U.M.N.O. is very weak so that they can force U.M.N.O. to do a lot of things,” he added, referring to the United Malays National Organization.Many parents and employers had called for English to be retained as the language of instruction. Concerns have risen in recent years that students’ English skills have declined, with employers citing this as a major weakness among graduates. A 2005 government survey found that there were almost 60,000 unemployed university graduates.

A recent poll by the independent Merdeka Center showed that 58 percent of Malaysians wanted English to remain the language of instruction for science and math, the Malaysia Insider Web site reported this week. The Malaysian Employers Federation had lobbied strongly for English to be retained as the medium of instruction. “This is a setback for the efforts to enhance the command of English for the students,” said Shamsuddin Bardan, the federation’s executive director.While Mr. Shamsuddin welcomed the government’s decision to improve students’ English proficiency by increasing the number of English teachers, he maintained that poor English skills remained a major weakness in the local workforce. Mr. Chin said that English was the language used in Malaysia’s private sector. “A lot of Malaysian parents are very worried about the standard of English,” he said. “A lot of parents realize that for their children, without English they can’t survive, not in the private sector.”

I strongly disagree with this decision. Quite simple,ridiculous.We've only spent 7 years trying out this new system,haven't fully worked out the kinks yet and now half way through we want to say?It's not working. Let's just go back.Is this the kind of message you want to send to the people?Life doesn't come with an undo button.You cannot just switch back half way. Imagine those kids who were taught in English for one half of their lives only to have it switched back to Malay.Would that not be even more detrimental to their performance?

Almost all significant findings in terms of science and technology are in English.The ministry must accept the fact that scientific and technological knowledge is mainly available in English throughout this developing world of ours. Students will find it difficult if they learn this two subjects in Malay because they do not acquire the necessary language skills to access those information.In fact, our nation will not be able to keep up with great developments in science and technology and will find it difficult to compete with others. Malaysia will never able to be a developed country.

But of course apparently English is ruining Science and Math grades now (although last year it was running smoothly and the students were showing encouraging use of English) because the rural students cannot cope so we SHOULD switch back. FREAK!! Are we going to make things easier for them?Is that how life works?If you can't cope someone will swoop down to take away the obstacles?!Retard!Life is hard. Live with it.Suck it.They may suffer now but revert back to Malay and they'll suffer long term.What is an adult like if he has never been exposed to challenges and learn through mistakes in their adolescent life? Rural is already rural but the ministry’s new policy is degrading them further down.God bless,they'll be rural forever!

Let me ask you, where do rural teachers come from? Rural students la!Our problem lies with not just the students but teachers. If we can train teachers to teach English, why can't we train teachers to teach Science and Math in English?Anyone who has seen our exam papers will know that our level of English is appalling anyway.Remember the days when we bought Singaporean English revision books just because they were that much harder?The teachers we have now are a product of a Malay education.Of course they cannot teach.And how many of them, having become teachers are willing to learn anymore?All of us have that story, the story of the one teacher who kept insisting she was right in some use of some English word.

A new policy needs years to be fully adapted.The government should understand that they must be patient in order to see a long-term effective result in every of their new implementation.English has only been introduced for a mere 7 years and they are complaining non-stop about the outcome even during the first year (2003) of introduction. This is so foolish of them to expect students to adapt incredibly fast and perform very well in just this short 7 years.Switching back to Malay means students will never have the chance to prove that they can do it better in English more years to come. We never plant a seed today and expect it to harvest tomorrow(waha-barn buddy!).Nevertheless, the quality of Science and Maths based on public examination in these years did not really decline that bad.Meanwhile,some students have just got used to the current system and are getting better on it. Now that Malay is being brought back, students will have to adapt to a new medium again. They are not toys for our childish government. This will just frustrate them, forcing them to lose interest to continue studying in whatever language the government wants.

And,how many millions of taxpayers’ money have to be wasted,from the process of hiring the best to translate,rewrite,edit and reprinting those textbooks,not to add the shipment fee to all the schools throughout Malaysia.How much more we have to pay for teachers involved to attend seminars and training in Malay,so that they are well-prepared?

I was in the second batch to be educated in English,there left much to be desired but it was alright since we could read the books by ourselves.Sorry but I find English just that much easier to read not cause I'm okay in English,but simply because if you don't understand anything you can just Google it, try Googling 'germination' vs 'percambahan' and see the kind of information you get.Yet,I am having a way GREAT privilege now as I have always been dreaming to try out an international,at least overseas education,understanding what really a-level means to ''people'',and IB is just so fun.Just compare IELTS/TOEFL with MUET.I don't know what else Mahathir did wrong or what you may think about him or why he did it, THIS (learning Science and Math in English) was the best thing that ever happened to us. It just made the two subjects that much more accessible.

I don't think I'm the only one.How many of us,having moved on from secondary school education,have used Malay well... at all?Aside from a hilarious conversation of mine with LamSiLone and a smattering of colloquial phrases in conversation like "teh tarik satu", what other use is there for Malay?Have many of us,after graduating from high school,done any form of Science and Math in Malay?I'm glad I got myself out.I want to salute the government for once.

This is an obvious copy and paste work from Words.But of course you can tell that I mix up bit from my harsh-y draft to throw my fury and a part where you can sense total formality,that is what to be submitted,resulting in this technical post.

*This piece is mere of how my brain-juices taste.For no apparent reason,it is not meant to provoke any other brains that exist in this universe.*