Sunday July 12, 2009
Let’s be more realistic, not ideological
Sunday Star Says
REVERTING to Bahasa Malaysia for Science and Mathematics is not the best option because there are no good options. This is not about one language trumping another.
The 2003 decision to teach these subjects in English was itself a compromise between English and Bahasa for all subjects. If some schools were not equipped for the first, a pragmatic future could not rely on the second either.
Since Science and Mathematics contained vitally distinctive English terms rather than complex grammatical forms, they came to be taught in English.
The decision to revert to Bahasa by 2012 appears to have considered rural schools’ supposed inadequacies while preparing for better English proficiency overall.
Some teachers’ claim that they lacked sufficient means to teach the two subjects in English may signal limited commitment rather than a limited capacity. Introducing pupils to mathematical and scientific terms for the first time can always be a challenge, whatever the language used.
Yet after pupils have grasped the necessary terms in Bahasa, they would have to grasp the English equivalents again to acquire any international connectedness or competitiveness.
The alternative is to remain cloistered in a domestic ghetto, or use English-sounding Bahasa terms that make a mockery of a seemingly nationalistic exercise.
To say that the Government’s decision had rightly been determined by primordial chauvinistic throwbacks insisting on indigenous culture at all costs is an unfortunate and costly mistake. No government can afford to be run by pressure groups.
As Bahasa is set to cover all subjects, more wealthy families would send their children abroad for a fuller education. Malaysia cannot and should not have to afford such disparities in educational attainment on top of the economic divergences.
The new policy of upgrading English skills in schools must at some point lead to the return of English instruction. Allowing individual schools to decide on the use of English in Science and Mathematics now would help keep options open.
Any policy decision is apt to encounter opposition of a subjective nature, but the consequences of policy are objective. How such opposition is managed in crafting realistic policies in a modern and competitive world is a measure of statesmanship.
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