I just went to Dr M's blog to "busybody around" and if possible, write a comment there. After seeing 595 responses for his blog post on the teaching of Science and Maths in English, I decided it would be a waste of time to comment. Dr M is not going to read 596 comments!
After some browsing around on his webpage, I discovered something which I find ridiculous, or should I say, "nonsense". Here's what I found:
By hisham1 on July 9, 2009 3:05 PM
firstly I thought that it wise to teach math and science in english. but after the minister, who is a nonsense guy, form a committee, discussed, and decide about it I changed my mind. I go with the government. So, I vote:
YES
Hmmm, so what you're trying to say here is that you're a nonsense guy as well?
Eh brother, wake up-lah! Do you really really think Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is rasional in making his decision? (Note that I'm trying to make his status sound like an insult.) For heaven's sake, even a normal kid is able to explain why Maths and Science should be taught in English. What about all those scientific terms? Not like they'll be the same in Bahasa Malaysia! "Monocular vision", "astigmatism", "heart attack", etc. are only accurately described in English mainly because there is no existing word for those terms in BM. Thus, the closest that "heart attack" can be translated into is "penyakit jantung", which literally means "heart sickness". At this point, it is grammatically correct to say I have "penyakit jantung" because of the government's decision, yet scientifically wrong to do so.
And the Education Minister still wants to revert the subjects back to BM. Oh dear, it's back to the Stoneage.
Muhyiddin Yassin claims that the grades of students are gradually deteriorating every year since the teaching of those subjects in English was implemented. What sort of excuse is this? Lower grades don't show that we're getting dumber, neither does it show that the English language is the main cause of deterioration in grades. Firstly, the papers are marked very strictly and we students know that the examiners only follow a guideline when marking. You would only be considered correct if the words you used are found in the marking scheme, regardless of whether your answer should be rightfully correct or not. Secondly, maybe students do not understand certain things like the aim of the experiment, or are not well-read in a certain topic. These are not because they do not understand the terms, but because they don't prepare themelves well. Thirdly, have you noticed that students' characters are changing by the day?! More and more people are slacking and that may also be the cause of declination in grades.
EdMin, don't you want us to continue improving so that we can rise to the standards of other countries? Maybe not. Maybe you just want all your citizens to grow up stupid at the same rate. Maybe that's your concept of 1Malaysia, where rural and urban students learn at the same, slow rate, never being able to grasp the actual terms used in the scientific fields. Maybe they want students to have a tough time keeping up in universities. And all the potential scientists can suffer forever, for the sake of learning at the same rate as kampung people. Sweet, sweet 1Malaysia.
But NO! That's not what students want! Urban students want to keep up with the rat race, while rural students just want to have proper education where they learn proper terms. Honestly, how many countries in the world use Bahasa Malaysia as a medium to study science? So, do you think that learning these subjects in BM will be of much help to us? If all we care about is our examination results and the SPM certificate, how on earth are we supposed to improve ourselves?! How are we supposed to be accepted into overseas universities?
The whole point here is not that the English standard will drop, but that the understanding of mathematics and the sciences will implode into a complicated heap of BM words which cannot be converted into english fast enough.
If we cannot understand English terms, how then can we learn about more complex researches and findings? How can we grasp the knowledge which we ran away from? How are students supposed to convert back to english in their higher education, and what about those who wish to be future scientists? All the answers are simple and they point to a certain phenomenon Malaysia hates : Brain Drain.
People say that knowledge is power. At the rate this is going, it is almost a prophecy to say that the forthcoming generation will be intellectual weaklings.
I pity aspiring scientists.
Najib, Najib, your deputy prime minister has tarnished your name within your first 100 days as PM, eventhough "some" people are happy and you came out in the headlines with showers of praises from an 11-year old gifted kid. Your senseless party Barisan Nonsense have absent-mindedly agreed to his decision and you have not opened your mouth on this matter. Mr Prime Minister, you have earned my lifelong contempt for killing my compatriots' futures.
