There are limits to everything, my patience included. After some urging, I decided to actually pen down something voicing out on why I support the abolishment of the PPSMI policy; and hopefully manage to "correct" the confusion in our society today.
A small excerpt from my letter to the Editor of The Sun, published today (Nov 4th, 2011):
"Language is only a medium – the main goal of the subjects of Science and Maths is to instil and cultivate analytical skills in students. The main focus should be on how to enable them to grasp the basic concepts in both subjects. According to Unesco, there is no better language of instruction to achieve this than the student’s own mother tongue. In the Malaysian context, this should be Bahasa Melayu, our national language as enshrined in the Constitution."
To read the whole letter, go here.
May it be beneficial, inshaallah.
PRAPROMOSI II
5 days ago
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4 komentar:
im not sure why you found it amusing. the writer made quite a reasonable point of how the current *search technology* is dependent upon language.
"Therefore, is it not only logical that the writer should translate the term into English first, and then go on his/her quest for the articles required?"
don't u think this is counter productive? translating between two languages back and forth.
imagine a task of writing a 30 page report. the student would spend most of his time handling language issues ie translation rather than the problem at hand.
"Language is only a medium – the main goal of the subjects of Science and Maths is to instil and cultivate analytical skills in students"
language is NOT merely a medium. to a certain extent, language determines the process of thinking. please refer to sapir whorf hypothesis for i don't think i have the patience to explain the obvious.
"The lectures, assignments and thick textbooks in English did not cause me to falter me because I knew the national education system had given me the skills necessary to survive in such an environment."
people have done quite an extensive research on the reasons that had caused most students to falter ie language issues. you wish to discount their finding over your lil' experience? is this an attempt at humour?
"According to Unesco, there is no better language of instruction to achieve this than the student’s own mother tongue."
true, but what is the actual vision of ppsmi? merely to educate, or to prepare the students for the real world?
unesco was emphasizing on the short term success (subject understanding) while ppsmi dictates a greater long term plan (subject understanding + future prospect at work etc). you know this quite well, so why bother putting this forth as an argument?
i don't see the relevance of your *other* experience in this matter, rather than sheer pleonasm.
:)
Dear Sempoi Thinker,
thank you for reading my little insignificant experience and found time to comment on it.
The letter was amusing because it seemed like the student did not have an understanding of the concept of "Golgi apparatus" itself, regardless of what language it is in. I wonder whether he/she understands that for example "sun" and "matahari" are the same.
Thank you for bringing up the Sapir-Whorf analysis. Indeed language determines the thinking process, and by teaching M&S in English, what kind of thinking process that we are trying to impose on the young minds exactly? That by thinking about M&S in English then we are more progressive? In what term? Through what kind of measurement? Is getting good jobs with good pay an indication enough of progress?
Since my experience is insignificant, see what you make of Prof Dr Wan Ramli Wan Daud, the President of Akademi Sains Malaysia who has spent 30 years teaching scientific courses in UKM, in BM (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F11%2F4%2Ffocus%2F9835389&sec=focus#.TrOVcJDpb5M.facebook)
And how about UNESCO findings on the matter: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001466/146632e.pdf
(See SECTION 2.2)
But wait, you have dismissed UNESCO as well! So UNESCO is short-sighted because they don't believe in churning out candidates for the job market. But PPSMI is hindering unfortunate students with language limitations from understanding the concepts in the first place. So how can you claim PPSMI's vision is long term?
:)
what kind of thinking process?
sigh, look up *task based language learning". we ARE more progressive by thinking about M&S in english. lemme give u a simple example. someone i know discusses complex maths through chat with a genius in russia. think the exchange could take place had my friend thought about maths in BM? come on.. seriously, is this a real question?
"Is getting good jobs with good pay an indication enough of progress?"
it is not enough, but it's a helluva good start. imagine being a normal engineer of RM2000/month because you can't speak proper english, to a supervising engineer with RM6000/month pay. like i said, it does not encapsulate the complete meaning of progress, but it's a good start!
lol i didnt dismiss unesco. i merely said that your citation of the matter is not entirely pivotal if it were judge from the long term vision of ppsmi. please dont put words in my mouth.
since fiction is your forte, and our *discursive* exchange is far from that, allow me to enlighten the core proposed by structure of argument. now, to argue, you'll at least need ...
1. thesis
2. reasoning/justification
u're using unesco to back up your main thesis right, to show how ppsmi was a mistake? the problem is, the reasoning offered by unesco does not cover the entire vision of ppsmi. hence, by that basis alone, it is quite inadmissible.
using analogy,we could look at this from the economic point of view. certain things are not profitable in the short run. however in the long run it would be beneficial. for example ...
ali got A in addmaths because it was taught in malay. too bad ali didn't improve his english along the way.
abu got C in addmaths because he learned it in english. although his grades are not as good as ali, he can communicate his ideas better with the rest of the team in the company.
since working in a company is always about team work, abu got offered the job.
short term benefit? understanding and grades
long term benefit? career prospect
now which type of benefit is unesco focusing on?
understanding and grades.
which type is the main concern of in ppsmi?
career prospect
are they both (unesco and ppsmi) focusing on the same thing?
if not, why bother using it as an argument?
if you have problems understanding, feel free to ask professor dr wan ramli to explain these simple tenets of argumentation to u.
furthermore, try asking Prof Dr Wan Ramli Wan Daud in which language does he write his journals to get him promoted to professorship. the answer would cripple your whole argument. don't wanna take my word for it? u can pay him a visit :)
it's like, he's promoting BM but all his major works are written in english. how self contradictory is that? lol
to summarize, the concern now is..
1. english is pivotal for career development in the real world.
2. students are not inclined to master english because there is no compelling reason to do so at the early age of education.
3. students fall behind in their career development.
PPSMI vision?
1. PUSH students to master english by making it a compelling agenda at the EARLY stage of education ie M&S in english.
2. students master english through out their education.
3. students become more competitive in their career development.
u gotta understand that ppsmi was a good idea. the problem is the implementation, not the vision. most of the teachers were not geared for ppsmi. that's why it was such a mess. in addition, no pilot study was made to ensure that the implementation plan would work as conjectured.
stay cool becky, and try not to be too harsh on others. especially, when it's posted on the newspaper.
Sis,
Well said. Standing ovation.
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