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Apologies for the long title, but I thought it was quite fun. Or funny.
If you have been keeping up to date with current events (as in today), you would probably already know by now that Deputy Prime Minister (and Education Minister) Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has asked for public feedback on whether English as a subject should require a compulasory passing grade in order for a student to obtain the SPM certificate.
When I received the SMS via The Star’s SMS News Alert, my initial reaction was, “Hell, yes”.
Then as I thought about it more, I was thinking what a stupid question it is anyway. And if I would dare make a prediction, it will go through anyway, the same way Math and Science will remain to be taught in English (or at least, have the option available – btw, why isn’t the results from the “feedback” gathering been released yet?). It’s ridiculous politicking at students’ expense, methinks, just to show that the public has been engaged.
Why can’t smart decisions like this be just made like many other silly decisions our Government makes without consulting the people? In any case, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has already called for the people to embrace English, something former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has pushed for since the mid-1980s (he again called for science and math to be taught in English today – lest Malaysians, and Malays, he said, become “bodoh”).
What really upsets me more than people not acknowledging English as an essential language to know, is the ones who know this but would rather push a different point of view through for political reasons or insecurity.
I mean, it doesn’t take a very smart person to see that English is THE international language (sorry, my French friends and we’ll just have to wait till China takes over the world before we worry about Mandarin – no problems starting early though!) and I’d like to think that people, in general – and I say this with a huge fistfull of salt – are quite smart.
Never mind that a helluva lot of literature is in English (and those that aren’t have been translated mostly). Never mind that it is the choice language of the Internet (though there are efforts to make the Net more universal).
I was just having dinner with two French friends and the common language we had was English. If I only knew Bahasa Malaysia (or had a really bad command of English), I probably would not be very good friends with them. And what about the Singaporean Chinese-Indian friend of ours who introduced us all to each other?
Please, please realise that common sense dictate that we all need to know English, and know it well. I love Bahasa Malaysia as well, don’t get me wrong, and I really do believe that there are lots of ways that BM can be used that is efficient and at times, sexy. Peribahasa and such are good examples.
The two can exist alongside each other, and giving them both equal emphasis will not destroy the other.
And if any detractors are going to argue and say that English is already taught in schools and that this is sufficient, I disagree. My sister’s children are coming back complaining that they have been corrected, wrongly mind you, by their English teachers who are not very proficient in English. I recall many incidents where my classmates and I were correcting our teachers, and this was 15 years ago.
Besides, I think that my English is slightly above-average (and I’m trying hard to be modest here) yet when I took the GCE O’Levels 1119 English (the real one), I didn’t even get an A – and I was terribly dissapointed! Imagine how much worse my friends who didn’t get an A in the regular SPM paper my time would have done if they took that additional subject?
So, if the Ministry wants responses, then we should give it to them (at least they are talking to us). You can email or fax your views to Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom at alimuddin.dom@moe.gov.my or 03-8889 4548.
I will be forwarding him this blog post.
12am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Bahasa Malaysia, Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom, English, Ministry of Education, spm, SPM English, tan sri muhyiddin yassin
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Why would it not be a ‘Yes!’? Ain’t the MOE aware how important is English especially in the international level?
How is it possible for Malaysians to advance into international levels (just an example) without a grasp of English? We can’t possibly be dealing internationally with Bahasa Malaysia nor using a translator would be good image.
Bahasa Malaysia is important because it is our national language, English is even more important because our future depends on it. Hmm, well, that is purely my opinion though.
When I read that DPM was suprised that SPM candidates do not need to pass English to get the cert, I was suprised. He didn’t know?! That’s really weird.
Anyway, I totally agree that SPM candidates have to pass English! It’s high time for us to realize the importance of English. Science and Maths in English is still not enough. Have seen the English standard among the students, it’s still weak. Students from good classes can’t spell simple words correctly.
This is something that we should be worried about. So, it’s time to give English a better treatment!
OMG…. can you believe it? Many Malaysians object to it… http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/10/nation/4084482&sec=nation
what the…?
Just amazed the DPM doesn’t realize all this. Obviously his kids have been away from this country – and its education system – for a long, long time.
i think the real problem for most people is not that they’re not aware of the importance of english, i think its because they doubt if our education system can serve them fairly well to make sure that they can pass their english papers. coming from someone who is relatively fresh (=p) from schooling years, i think our education system is still a little crippled somehow with regards to english – 11 years of education and still some of my friends can’t even speak the language too well (and i don’t really blame them).
i somewhat object to the DPM’s proposal as well, actually, because i worry for the students in schools without proper access to good english teachers (especially in the rural areas). to make english a compulsory pass might be suicidal for some students who are otherwise brilliant. i think a better way of going ahead with affirming the importance of english for malaysians is to actually improve and revamp the education system itself to make english more accessible, and i think maths and science in english is in the right direction… though how it was implemented is another matter – i found it unfair, especially for the teachers, that the transition was made in such a short period of time, because, well, just think about it: prior to this policy, teaching english was – and still is – a specialty, and for the gov to expect maths and science teachers to suddenly grasp the language at a proficient user level and use it to teach is just ridiculous.
with regard to the whole issue overall, i think the main focal point shouldn’t be on those who can/should pass – it should be on those who can’t pass or think that they can’t pass (given how the system injects little confidence in their capabilities), because if only 70% of students pass spm english so far, i would be very worried about the prospects of that remaining 30% who would end up not just failing that paper, but failing spm overall.
plus, at the end of the day, i doubt the average student who objects to english being a compulsory pass is doing that because he wants or is planning to fail the paper, mesti ada an underlying fear with what the proposal has in store for his future, kan? maybe because he’s not sure that he can pass. just my two cents =p
i think we must use english for the two most important subject in studies that is science and mathematics.English can let us communicate with the people from other country more easier.Futhermore,english is more affective and can let us understand more in our studies.In the conclusion,i think in 2012,the mathematics and science will mantain back to english languge……