Bye-bye English

And so, it is to be no more: the decision has been made to scrap the teaching of science and maths in English by 2012.

The reason? Apparently, teachers are not able to cope with the speaking of, and teaching in, English.

My question: Is this a recent development?

Is the implication – by the reason given – that when the decision was made in the first place, the competence of the teachers in question was good, or better?

Or did they go ahead with the implementation of teaching in English hoping that competence would improve by some miracle?

Really lah, this whole thing sickens me. For the simple reason that the only ones being messed with are our children. Their brains are being fried.

Once upon a time….

We have had such a crazy romance with English, haven’t we?

When I was a child (circa:1950s), it was the only language: at school, at work, at play - for many of us.

And then, when I was in Standard 3 – now called Year 3 – I was introduced to Malay, our National Language. And I sucked at it. I hated Malay class because most of the time, it was boring and involved reading a ‘comprehension’ piece that I didn’t comprehend. Sigh. (I copied the answers to everything from my friend who went for ‘tuition’ – and her book was littered with answers! Yay!

So I struggled with Malay – also known as Bahasa Malaysia; later known as Bahasa Melayu, now known as what?! – and prayed that I’d get a Credit in my MCE (now SPM, or O-Levels) so that I’d be able to continue to Sixth Form, and university.

And then, in University … SLAP! DAMN! everything was in Malay!!!! I was an English Literature undergrad, but all my electives were to be in Malay; even my English Lit electives!!

So how? Struggle lah. Do simultaneous translations, that’s how. My lecture notes were often in demand: because I didn’t think during lecturers. All I did was write: whatever came out of the fool-lecturer’s face, I instantly translated into English, and put it down on paper.

I was not the only one struggling. Everyone in my year – 1976ish – was in the same soup.

But soon it was not a problem – for others lah. Not me. The conversion to Malay was complete. Everyone studied everything in Malay. Our National language, mah.

And then, people noticed that the standard of English was kinda dead here. I wonder why….

And the ding-donging began. This was already the 1980s. Extra classes for the English subject in school. A reading programme to help students use and learn more English. Streaming of students from ‘poor’ to ‘good’ – so that they could study English with others of the same standard, or lack thereof, or whatever.

English teachers, in the meantime, were making a bundle in ‘tuition’ – laughing all the way to the bank!

Me? No lah. I very the bodoh. I joined the army, and was teaching English to the Royal Military College putras, and officers who were off for courses in Staff College or overseas.

And then, a brainwave: let’s teach Science and Maths in English! Why didn’t we think of that earlier??! Why did the fact of teaching two of the most difficult subjects in English slip past our brains???!!!! So very the duh, huh?

OMG!! Why not ‘Moral’? A non-subject full of crap? Why not Physical Education (PE) or games or whatever? Why not Art, or arts and crafts, and woodwork and Home Science? Oh no. Science and Maths! Because it’s just numbers lah. Yah, right.

And who was going to teach this?

Ahhh…, I know who: the very same people who’d come through the system learning everything in Malay, that’s who. A recipe for success, no?

Just like it happened when the system was turned on its head to teach everything in Malay, it happened again: teachers were the poor souls at the centre of it all. Where before they struggled with putting all their notes and thoughts from English into Malay, now a new batch was struggling doing the reverse.

And the students?

I dunno lah. Nobody seemed to care too much about the students. I remember sitting in a lecture room watching a senior lecturer address his lecture to the ceiling, while reading from a very literal translation of his notes (musta paid someone to do it lah). Most of it made no sense. On the first day, it was just that: we’d sit and stare at him while he talked to someone on the ceiling from those strange, strange notes.

And then, on the second day, after reading that puke for a bit, he’d actually look down upon us lost souls, and talk to us – in English. I tell you, it was almost orgasmic! To hear something you understood, in a language you knew, even if it was about a subject you didn’t give a shit about!

So is it the right decision?

Given the reason for the backtracking switcheroo, I’d say ‘Yes’. If the teachers are not competent to teach it, then how can they?

If students do not speak English in the first place, how can they understand what’s going on? So, ‘Yes’, again.

BUT, why wait till 2012, then? If they can’t cope now, what’s the point of keeping them in this torturous situation? I cannot see the sanity in that.

I have always maintained that Science and Maths should be taught in Malay. For the simple reason that that is the language that is well understood. To be good in either subject, you need to understand the concepts and the way things work. To understand that, you need to be spoken to in a language you understand. To make someone understand these concepts, that is, to teach it, you need to use a language you yourself, as teacher, understand and are good at: Malay.

BUT, I’ve also always said that the best thing for us to do at this stage in this mess of a game we call our education policy is to maintain the status quo: we’re only messing with everyone and everything if we switch back.

Now, some people are happy: they can go back to a language they know. They breathe sighs of relief.

Others are mad as hell: they want to do this in English; they want their children to be able to go to foreign universities, or into the workforce, able to speak English, the language of the internet, and the lingua franca outside of Malaysia.

And I’ve always asked this second group: who’s gonna teach your kids lah? As far as I know, not many people can speak good English in Malaysia lah. And of this ‘not many’, a very teeeeeeeeny-weeeeeeny bit of them are able to teach in English lah. So how?

The debate goes on . . . .

So this is not the end. Every one, including me, will have his thoughts on this. Here are some things that came to mind as I heard it on the news yesterday:

Did you see how the guy from GAPENA started out speaking in English, and then spoke in Malay? Well, he, and many others in the GAPENA-gang can speak and understand English. And they do it well. But they are not affording those that come after them that same chance: to learn a second language, and be good at it.

Years and years ago, I heard Anwar Ibrahim do the same thing. He was pontificating on the glories of Malay as the language of nationhood, and the spirit of Malaysia, and other nationalistic yada yada yada. And he was doing it in English. All I could think was: yah, you can speak English. What about the others? It is easy to agree with you, because it means they don’t have to struggle with another language. But you’re confining them to this ‘well’, and denying them a means to ‘leap’ out of it, no? (What is it with Anwar the idea of frogs, ah?)

The same is happening again.

And, who is the biggest loser?

It is so politically incorrect to speak of Malay/Chinese/Indian/whatever these days, no? We’re all happy Anak Bangsa Malaysia, no?

But in very un-politically-correct terms, the Malays are going to be the ones who lose the most: the ‘Chinese’ will have their dialect, Malay, and possibly Mandarin. The ‘Indians’ will have their language – Tamil, Telegu, Gujarai, etc. – plus Malay. And both will either be speaking English at home, or sending their offspring off for ‘tuition’ in English.

The ‘Malay’ child will have just Malay. His English will be rudimentary, or non-existent. He will know no Mandarin or Tamil or whatever, because his chances of having friends from other races are probably slim (he does make up close to 70% of the population I am told).

There will be others in his shoes. It won’t be just a ‘Malay’ thing.

And they’re confined to our shores. And they’re going to be denied the opportunity to communicate with the rest of the world, because they don’t understand English. And they'll be denied the oppotunity that was afforded us, all of us reading and thinking in English.

And, no, it is not the end of the world. It is the same in many other countries.

But, we had a chance to be different. To be better. I think we’ve blown it.