Math and Science in English, MOE to decide...yet again!

This is from The Star, Fri 18th April 2008.

Decision on Maths, Science after UPSR results

PUTRAJAYA: The decision on whether Science and Mathematics will continue to be taught in English will be made after the UPSR results are released at the end of the year.

Reason given…

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the pupils who would be sitting for the examination in September are the cohort who started studying the two subjects in English from Year One in 2003.

Cannot understand why they have to make the decision whether to continue teaching Maths and Science in English. English is important. Period. Even in countries like South Korea where they have proudly hung on to their Korean language, efforts to teach Math and Science in English have recently taken a new vigour. They started using English only in selected schools in Seoul early this year.

In 2003 English was used as the medium of instruction for Maths and Science in Std One. Exam papers for both subjects then became bilingual, meaning students who wanted to answer in English were allowed to. This year the papers are supposed to be in English only but they have since then backtracked - papers will remain bilingual still. 6 years down the road, our MOE is still coming out with statements like the above. Seems to me like every now and then they keep doing the same thing.

Face it! English is the language of science and technology. The inability of our younger generation to communicate well in English has already rendered us less competitive. While the rest of the world are pushing for English to be used more extensively, our politicians keep coming out with statements which seem to stoke their perceived importance about themselves. It's that sort of feudal mentality that still plagues many of our politicians. We should stop making such retrogressive statements and push forward. Our graduates are already at a disadvantage. The lack of English is already causing a whole generation to become ‘katak di bawah tempurung’ where knowledge is concerned. How can they keep up with the expansion and changes in the world today if they are made ‘cacat’ by their lack in the lingo of technology?

Times dictate that a change is required. We have already made that change…now time to move on and make sure that change benefits the country. 30 years of ‘politicking’ has already negated our English language advantage. Continue this and we’ll probably lose whatever we have left.