FMT LETTER
From Arumugam Soundara Rajan, via e-mail
The year is coming to an end and one that has seen many outrageous issues either coming to a slow and steady end or being swept under the carpet when no one can be seen to be taking care of such issues. As an ordinary citizen, I often felt that if there is one thing that the powers that be should never ever compromise is on the topic of education and all things having to do with education.
In the beginning of the year the spate on the Teaching of Maths and Science in English took various forms of beatings. A rather dubious outfit was put together to compartmentalise that particularly sensitive topic. And right up to the last quarter of the year we ended up with some sort of conclusion of what seems to be a conclusive approach to having English as an ‘ alternative’ medium of instruction for these vital subjects in our Upper Secondary education system.
It might be interesting to note that whilst the instruction might be clear, we may not really have the needed resources to impart the desired level of teaching of Maths and Science in English. It would be a blatant lie by any authority in the education sector to state that it there would be an option provided to the students entering Form Four in the up-coming school semester for Year 2012.
Much has been lost over the years as many of our graduates now, inclusive of the teaching professionals, were either not exposed to learning those vital subjects in English nor were they made to emphasis the equal importance of English in teaching subjects such Maths and Science.
It seems amazing that the batch of students who had the majority of their subjects in English, as in the old days, seems to have a much more eloquent command of Bahasa Malaysia, then even some of my Malay colleagues. No offence to them but in fact often I hear such comments in passing. In my case, the subjects that were in English during my Upper Secondary Schooling were Maths, Science, Commerce, Industrial Arts and Accounting amongst the many subject we had at that point in time, if I were to recall.
But I still can command a respectful Bahasa Malaysia conversation when having to deal with clients and business associates as and when the need arises. So the next possible question here is what has happened to those who learnt in the other way round; with the majority of the subjects in Bahasa Malaysia. Why did the standard of command of the English Language take such a tremendous dive downwards?
In the course of my career, I have interviewed hundreds of people and from either universities, colleges and even high school graduates. Often times, there had been frustrating moments as many of the candidates usually requested for the interview to be in Bahasa Malaysia. And that too despite having had a degree from local universities that displayed Business English in their Dean’s List with moderate markings.
What went wrong was simply not the students. Whoever cares for such things as “ interactive hypotheis ‘ , ‘ input hypothesis’ or ‘acquisition hypothesis’. They all seem to be Greek to the many of the Language Teachers these days.
When I was in Standard One in 1968, I do remembers Mrs Samathanam taking the extra effort to take my English Language Grammar Book and teaching the class. Not that I was a clever student, in fact I was below average back then. But someone had given me that book and I had simply put it in my school bag.
And when she had seen that book she just took it for the purpose of conducting our English Language lessons. There you have it, going the extra mile surely works wonders. And there wasn’t any super-duper curriculum. Just plain reading, writing and conversation practice that made up our English.
With a daughter that enters her Upper Secondary in the next School Academic Year in 2012, I am at odds end as to what will she actually learn. And what will become of her as she goes on to college after that.
This is clearly a path not filled with any happiness for such a girl, I should think. What is the assurance that she will manage to learn those important subjects without having any reservation as to her ability to comprehend the odds here, leave alone her academic pursuit?
The reason for that question is simply based on what we hear and observe from our children at home. My 11-year-old daughter has a spelling list for English. One of the 20 words in that list was ‘aisle’. When the spelling exam was over I asked my daughter, ‘How did your teacher pronounce the word ‘ aisle’?
Your guess is as good as mine! And I was not shocked. This is what exactly we have when we try to make babies to walk before they can crawl. How grateful I am to Mrs Samathanam and the education back then.
The writer is a management consultant and believes that English is fun for anyone if you get the right start.
