2009/11/18
I REFER to the letter "PPSMI: Ministry must stick by decision" (NST, Nov 13) from Sa'ari Hasan of Ayer Keroh, Malacca.
The teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI) was never about learning English through science and math but about learning the knowledge of science and math through English.
Does the writer not understand by his own admission that in the early period of the Abbasid dynasty both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to gather and translate all the knowledge of the world then into Arabic? And it was 75 years later before they achieved greatness in the philosophical and scientific fields. The Europeans mastered Arabic and came to Arab lands to seek knowledge. And likewise, most of the knowledge in Arabic was translated into Latin, English and French before the Renaissance.
We cannot depend on the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) to translate even a tenth of one percent of all the current knowledge in the world into Bahasa Malaysia. They even failed to translate our foreign technical assembly-line manuals into Bahasa. The DBP has failed us in the industrial era. And they failed us again in the information era when they were unable to produce a practical online kamus for our children to use.
The language of knowledge in mathematics and science today is, first and foremost, English, followed by Mandarin, French, German, Japanese, Korean, etc, but not Bahasa Malaysia. To emulate scholars of the Abbasid dynasty and the Europeans prior to Renaissance, we have to master at least one of the above languages to gain access to this knowledge. And as knowledge grows very much faster now than in the old days, we cannot depend on translators but instead seek knowledge from its primary source ourselves.
The decision to abolish PPSMI is akin to asking us not to don Western attire but to keep using our sarong for daily activities to maintain our Malay identity, hoping one day it will become a universal dress code for the world.
The survival of a nation is dependent not on its language but by the knowledge held by its people. Why was "The House of Wisdom" in Baghdad, created a thousand years ago, so easily destroyed together with its people and entire nation in just a few years? Let us learn from this and seek knowledge even in the language of our "enemies". It appears that the "small acorn" may have been a "bad seed" after all.
Incidentally, the PAGE survey was conducted throughout the country via the parent-teacher associations of schools. Parents who were supportive of PPSMI not only came from the urban areas but also suburban and rural, including Keningau, Penampang and Tawau (Sabah), Long Lama (Sarawak), Kodiang (Kedah), Bukit Baru (Malacca), Tampin (Negri Sembilan), Beserah, Kuala Lipis and Jengka (Pahang), Kuala Kangsar (Perak), Bukit Keteri (Perlis), Bukit Mertajam (Penang), Tampoi (Johor), Jeli and Pengkalan Chepa (Kelantan).
PAGE is only asking for options for parents to decide what they feel is best for their children. Those who reject PPSMI do so at their own peril.
PAGE Chairperson
UNTUK ANAK-ANAK MALAYSIA
FOR OUR CHILDREN
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Our govt recently decided to spent milions to retrain teachers and also hire foreign English teachers to address the issue of low std of English.
Even before it's implemented, I am horrified to read this. Why bother spending those millions???
(Copy & paste from malaysia-today)
Malaysian minister says English at work 'weird'
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
(The Star) - (AFP) - Malaysia's deputy education minister has said that speaking English in the workplace is "weird" and harmful to the nation's culture and identity, a report said Wednesday.
Mohd Puad Zarkashi said employees in the private sector used English 99 percent of the time and should switch to Bahasa Malaysia in order to show pride in the national language, the New Straits Times reported.
"This also occurs in government-linked companies where we have this weird culture of people speaking to each other in English instead of the national language," he said at the launch of a linguistics seminar.
"We are polluting our own culture and identity as a nation," he said.
"It would be difficult to strengthen the position of Bahasa Malaysia if this culture continued," he added, urging Malaysians to emulate the French, Japanese and Koreans, who stuck to their own language.
The New Straits Times said Mohd Puad also criticised young people for using a mix of English and Bahasa Malaysia in SMS text messages and on the Internet.
He called on the nation's leaders to use Bahasa Malaysia for all meetings and events and said that when he receives letters in English he returns them and asks for them to be written in the national language.
English is widely spoken in Malaysia, a multicultural nation where the population is dominated by Muslim Malays but also includes large ethnic Chinese and Indian populations.
Many Malaysians speak several languages including English, Bahasa Malaysia, and Chinese and Indian dialects
Hello world. Hear oh ye.
Manik Urai by-election July 2009 had prompted the MOE to officially abolish PPSMI effective 2012. Why during this time?
The decision was made based on the assumption that PPSMI was, is, will forever and ever the culprit in our education system. It has caused the rural pupils lags behind those in the urban. Studies (many are questionable) were also conducted to ascertain the root cause of the disparity.
It was claimed that the reason for disparity is non other than language barrier.
Further, it was opined that student is at best to learn the subjects using mother tongue.
This means, both Science and Math subjects will be taught using mother tongue.
- The Malay will use Bahasa Melayu,
- Chinese will use Mandarin and
- Indian will use Tamil.
Whoa…fair enough! Applause! Applause! Is that a brilliant idea? I beg to differ.
The MOE is downright ignorant and arrogant. Let me point out natives of Sarawak state, the DAYAKS. We do not speak Melayu at home. English is not our primary language either, let alone Mandarin. We ought to preserve our mother tongue as well.
For examples,
Ibans will always speak Iban
Bidayuhs will not cease speaking Bidayuh
Kayans loves theirs
Kenyahs speaks Kenyah
Kelabit will speak Kelabit
Lun Bawangs also want to master Lun Bawang
Bisaya speaks Bisaya as well as
other minority groups.
Although the Dayaks populate most parts of the state, SJK/Dayak school is non-existence. Or is it time to have SJK/Dayak for better learning of Science and Math if not all the subjects?
So now, which school type to choose?
Sorry, absolutely no choice. Don’t dream you.
Say you!
…tidak apa bah itu
…cincai also can
…awa, nadai ngacau
…tobatok mei, dagi har ik
…awai…
…na’am inan
…na mekudeh
In this case, stop mentioning those words. Are the Dayaks that gullible?
Wake up. Know the fact that PPSMI SK/SMK (SMI) is a perfect choice for us the Dayaks knowing very well that to be competitive we need to learn Science and Math in English.
Having said that, it is justifiable that we have the right to CHOOSE PPSMI/SK/SMK(SMI). The government should allow us to opt for the so called PPSMI indefinitely.
“AGI IDUP AGI NGELABAN”-PPSMI is the way forward.
BN must also NOT forget that its backbone is now SABAH & SARAWAK. Without Sabah & Sarawak, BN is weak.
This is what our Deputy Minister of Education writes. As for the state of our Education System, after reading this, I rest my case.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Assalamualaikum wr.wb. Assalamualaikum wr.wb. dan salam 1 Malaysia. 1 Malaysia and peace.
I was opening the International Conference on Linguistics and Culture Development malay.. Conference is organized by UPM in cooperation with DBP.. The theme of this seminar is 'Pemerkesaan Malay identity as a nation-state building' I take the opportunity in the inauguration speech was to raise the matter that is the tree 'acculturation Malay' in Malaysia.
Language is social capital and cultural capital. Nations that marginalize language is a nation that does not animate the race and there is no self-esteem.. Therefore language acculturation is very important. It will produce a nation that move collectively.. Feeling accountability thick. This is what Francis Fukuyama called, why have the Japanese culture Japanaese Incorporated. They have their own culture to language.
Language but the culture of Malaysians especially the Malays is very annoying, sometimes frustrating and sometimes disturbing. Just look at the language and text and language on the Internet. Very strange cultural language of the Malays today.
The first example, when the Malays chat chat among themselves, especially the elites, they like talking in English. What they need to converse in English. We do not like the French, the Japanese and Korean people. If talking to each other, they use their language, not English. Strange is that we both love to chat chat, especially those middle-class language use rojak mixed mixed between Malay and English. This is clear enough drama in TV dramas including those published in the TV 1 and TV 2. TV 3 do not matter. Skripnya we see is a script language that mixed mixed. Malaysia is the third culture people do not obey the French language as such abide by the language. Although the French know and speak English, but they still speak French.
For those French have a long history. They claim that the French language in the diplomatic Erofah than English. Actually malay also aged 2000 years. Malay 6 stages of evolution have suffered from an ancient language to the language of modern. But what problems we are. The problem is that we can not distinguish perana Malay as the national language and English as a second language. We see the role of the Malay language as the language of official business only.. That is spotted. Next problem is that we are no longer as capable of not even want to control it GLC and private actions that make full use of English in their board meeting meeting. With the rapid development of the private sector, he feared, culture does not abide by this language become increasingly so.
The problem, the problem is not Malay, but our problem attitude. That betray our own national policies or pollute citra cultural Malaysia That's why there are meetings and meetings at the faculty senate that the university will use the English language entirely. This is a challenging acculturation Malay language in Malaysia.
Perhaps the Deputy Minister of Education may want to propose that the following should be change from English to BM..........
UMNO which is in English for United Malays National Organisation
FELDA which is also in English
RISDA also in English
KLCC to PBKL that is Pusat Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur
KLIA to LTAKL
Petronas Twin Towers should be called Menara Berkembar Petronas
It is crystal clear that no matter how much is said and done by the concerned RAKYAT (in caps for people power) it is those people in power who still refuses to listen to the silent majority as to the importance in using the English language as a medium to face a fast developing world. We don't need to look far, just go across the cause way south of the country. There you'll see impressive progress, from the self imposed chinese medium of yesteryears to the current day when they conduct themselves confidently in any language including English. Like Malaysia, it is multi-racial as well but there is one main difference though, they don't discriminate the language and claim it to be patriotic or otherwise to favour one over the other. Collectively, they know the simple rule of survival of the fittest, master one world language and you got it made for the next generation. Their leaders know that they should never hold back the next generation in terms of education and the worst failure that any leader can do is to take away the liberty to learn in English because it is the same as handicapping them. Here, our government knows that and so do we. It's clear and simple suppression of the mainstream Rakyat (disallowing them to progress far). But remarkably these so called leaders are sending their very own children overseas at young age to master their studies in English. Now if this is not a political tool to divide and rule, then I don't know what is. Whatever, these people are doing it for their own selfish reasons and do not consider the wider implication and benefit of the English language. Just look at Singapore. Even "mighty" China has woke up to the fact that its children should be learning in English. I know it is useless to speak up to the Govt because they have their selfish agenda to fulfill, so our only other hope is to look up to "change" come the next GE so that we elect people who are less inclined to be so selfish.
The ministry and most government agencies always claim "lack of staff" and "lack of resources". In this case they are "re-inventing the wheel". Trying to translate knowledge when we can all read from the original. If they need to reinvent the wheel all the time, needless to say they always do not have enough of manpower and are always lacking of funds.
Post a Comment