The letter which appeared in the star of 10 September 2008, from a 19 year old student might not sway the opinion of those in favour of continuing teaching science and mathematics in English to Malaysian students. Some highlights: "I have found that my friends and I have not had much problem switching between languages even though we were taught S & M in three different languages. So I can conclude through my experience, and I’m sure most students would agree, that language isn’t the issue here.
However, the quality of education in these two subjects has greatly deteriorated over the years.
I say, settle on one language and focus on improving the quality of our education."
There was another letter which appeared in the nst of 11 September 2008. Some highlights:
"Rembau member of parliament Khairy Jamaluddin ("It's high time we ditched this policy" -- NST, Sept 9) makes an important point in questioning the policy of teaching Science and Maths in English: that it goes against the core value of educational equity for all social strata.
The policy has a strong class bias, favouring children from urban families with higher income.
It acts to widen gaps between rich and poor, urban and rural."
The main gist of this ongoing debate to me is the deteriorating quality of education in this country and the unequal distribution of opportunities to deserving students. The victims are the students. A flawed policy must be acknowledged as such. It is not too late to take remedial action and follow the recommendations from the study, ie, improve the English language standards but not by teaching other subjects in the language. The emphasis should be teaching the language itself and improving the overall education system.
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