Q5: Do you support the government’s
implementation of learning Mathematics and Science in English? Why?
Yes, I do support the government’s
implementation of learning Mathematics and Science in English. Honestly, I
think this is one decision that the government did right. If you ask me why do
I think it’s the right decision that they have made so far? I would say;
‘because it will benefit the country.’ Every story takes time to reach its
success. According to what I feel as a student, if they would have given some
more time, they could have seen improving results.
We Malaysian always have tons of
reason for why we should not do things but, can’t come up with one of why we
should and even we do come up with one, it is always arguable. Why is that?
When it was implemented that Maths and Science was to be taught in English, it
gave our students hope that; ‘yes, we are going somewhere together and not
alone. We are trying to succeed together and not alone.’ Like I said earlier,
let not the country succeed alone but, to succeed with its people. Well,
students might not realize it consciously but, subconsciously they know there
is a hope.
There were matters involving
students from rural areas not being able to cope with the changes due to
limited references, lack of teachers, insufficient supports and the struggle of
learning the core subjects in English but, in every success stories there are
challenges. People see these problems separately and that is why it seems like
it’s too much to handle. Let’s see this problem as one shall we? In one word
all the problem can be put into one word which is; challenge. Yes implementing a second language into the
curriculum is by itself a challenge. See, common sense will tell you that every
success will take its own phase of time to be achieved. It was just a matter of
time that we were about to see real results but, we backed off early.
The failure was blamed on several
factors of the challenge. Firstly, it was due to limited references available
in the rural areas. References limited or not, does not mean that they are
unavailable. References are available but they are not used up to their full
potential and to my understanding, references can be recycled for future use. If
you want to relate the limitation of references to the limitation of IT
available in the rural areas, still I’d say; ‘although it is limited, it does
not mean that it is unavailable!’This leads me to the next factor which is the
lack of teachers, now this is one of the most annoying reasons of all time.
See, our country does not lack of teachers at all, it lacks of quality
teachers.
All our teachers are qualified to teach but,
they don’t put much effort into teaching. As beginner teachers, they might have
the enthusiasm but, in time that enthusiasm fades. Society has this
stereotypical mind set that a teacher’s job is really easy. What they don’t
know is that like other jobs, being a teacher has its risks as well. See, like
all other profession the teaching profession has its own principles. Teachers
are bound to teach according to the specific curriculum that has been set by
the Education Ministry. However, we should understand that every learner has
his/her own way of learning. On top of that, even in a small organization such
as school has its politics. Language teachers especially, have to be able to
use whatever resources they have in that rural area to make the lessons in the
classrooms to be purposeful. Therefore, instead of saying that we lack of
teachers to teach in the rural areas, it’s better to make some improvements for
them to be much useful. Teach teachers to make everything they’ve got useful.
This
brings us to the next point; ‘insufficient support’. This factor refers to two
types of support; one’s financial support and the other is the support from the
society. Financial wise, I would say we can manage. We think that our
government can’t do much but, the truth is, they can. We pay many types of
taxes in our country. Tolls are everywhere along the high way and people are
travelling everyday sometimes their trips are more than once. I’d say, we out
government can manage their financial well; we wouldn’t have any kind of
financial problem to provide for the education of the people in the rural
areas. It is possible for our government to provide financial support for those
from the rural areas. Not only that, our government have to have to decide and
prioritize. Taking steps, one at a time could help to solve the issue.
The
other issue about the support from the society is that, people from the rural
areas are easy to manipulate. When people from higher authority tell them that
the English Language jeopardise the stand of the national language, they
believe it. Higher authorities constantly confuse them and take advantage of
their trust. What I believe that should be done is that, instead of threatening
them that the English causes jeopardy to the national language, why not inform
them why the English language is important for them to learn in order for them
to have a secure future. Our government officials have to stop mixing politics
and education. Only then, they can come up with a secure and healthy education
plan for the country.
On
top of that, the last factor that worries everybody is the difficulties that
students face in learning the core subjects especially maths and science in
English. Not only do the students face these difficulties, even teachers are
facing difficulties teaching these subjects in English as they have been
teaching in Bahasa for a very long time. However, this does not mean they
should give up on it. The main reason why the government implemented that maths
and science being taught in English is so that, students have more reason to
communicate and learn the language quicker as well as help them think using the
language. I repeat again, that this does not mean that the implementation of
the language is to jeopardise the status of the national language. People
should realise that, most scientific terms are of the English language which
makes it easier for our learners to step into the grounds of higher educations
as the syllabus in higher education systems are in English.
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