1. As of today, almost 100,000 people have voted vehemently in a poll against the Government's decision to scrap the policy of teaching Mathematics and Science in English.
2. The poll was conducted by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad via his blog - chedet.co.cc.
3. In percentage terms, the number of votes is equal to 86% of the total votes polled thus far.
4. The result in political parlance is equal to a landslide.
5. From another angle the result can be also seen as one big slap in the Government's face.
6. I would not elaborate on the merits or demerits of learning Science and Maths in English.
7. I believe there have been enough debates already.
8. On the other hand would like to share my experience during the good old days when learning Science and Maths in English was a norm rather than an exception.
2. The poll was conducted by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad via his blog - chedet.co.cc.
3. In percentage terms, the number of votes is equal to 86% of the total votes polled thus far.
4. The result in political parlance is equal to a landslide.
5. From another angle the result can be also seen as one big slap in the Government's face.
6. I would not elaborate on the merits or demerits of learning Science and Maths in English.
7. I believe there have been enough debates already.
8. On the other hand would like to share my experience during the good old days when learning Science and Maths in English was a norm rather than an exception.
9. I believe that although history doesn't always repeat itself more often than not it rhymes.
10. Perhaps we can learn something from history.
11. As most of you should already know, under British rule, education opportunities especially for the Malays were limited.
12. A Malay boy would be lucky to study beyond Standard Six.
13. The purpose of education, at least in the eyes of the British, was to equip the Malays with the basic ability to read and write in order for them to become a better farmer and fisherman than their fathers.
14. If I'm not mistaken it was Sir Richard Winstedt, a senior officer in British Malaya, who said this.
15. In those days, studying beyond Standard Six would mean traveling many miles to town - where secondary schools were mainly located.
17. I can recall clearly that when the good news was relayed to me by the headmaster, I was thrilled, not so much of the prestige of going to a boarding school, but more of the opportunity to live and study in a big town beyond the confines of the rural settings that I have used to for the first 12 years of my life.
18. However, the feeling of elation did not last long, it dissipates and quickly turned into despair when I set my foot into the Remove Class.
19. To my horror, the medium of instruction in my new school was English.
20. Hailing from the kampong, my vocabulary was very limited.
21. At that point of time I only knew two words in English - "You" and "I".
22. Fortunately, I had one big advantage.
23. I was not alone in my predicament.
24. There were 40 others students facing similar problems.
25. This situation was nothing strange because students in the school came from the kampong throughout Malaya and they were children of poor kampong folks, the sons of farmers, imams, rubber tappers, fisherman and laborers - who naturally had little exposure to the English language.
26. Our boarding school was in site for an experiment in education - to provide secondary education in English to poor but bright Malays kids.
27. If I'm not mistaken this visionary idea came from Tun Abdul Razak and his idea was swiftly executed by Tun Hamdan Sheikh Tahir.
28. Apparently many in the Government were hesitant in implementing this move.
29. They, like many others 'brown Englishmen' around them, were not confident that the children of farmers, fishermen, imams and rubber tappers could be taught to speak and write well in English.
30. Fortunately, we had brave and visionary leaders, who not only paved the way but also provided the 'hardware' and the 'software' required.
31. Swanky buildings (at least by 1950s standard) were built quickly - to house the school as well as the dorminatories for this rural kids.
32. To many of us, this was the first time that we came close to basic necessities today, which were then a luxury, things like tap water, toilet bowl and electricity.
33. In the classroom, scenes were similar to the scene potrayed in Mind Your Language - the popular BBC TV series in 1980s.
34. However, we were lucky that we had dedicated teachers who were also tough taskmasters.
35. In the early months, it seemed that some of them enjoyed giving us the jitters by talking to us exclusively in English when we hardly knew a word of the language.
36. Others, amused themselves by saying that they would only speak to us in Malay only during the weekend and should we need any assistance from them we should be speaking in English, failing which assistance would not be rendered.
37. As newcomers, that scared almost all of us but it was also good as it forced us to learn the language as fast as we possibly could.
38. A routine that had not escaped my mind was that every day without fail spelling would be a regular item in the class.
39. The students would be picked randomly and would be asked to pronounce and spell the word that was written on the blackboard.
40. Through this way, students were provided an avenue to expand their vocabulary, developing their vocal cord as well as building their self confidence in speaking in English in public.
41. Sometimes the situation can be quite hilarious, especially hearing classmates from the East Coast pronouncing words in English with thick Kelantanese or Terengganu accents.
42. Nevertheless, over the years most of us managed to improve ourselves and the evidence being the ability to pass the MCE which was conducted fully in English.
43. But I guess we were lucky because in those days education was not being overly politicized, unlike today, whereby education is used as a platform to champion certain party's racial agenda.
44. That is why, the idea to establish Sekolah Wawasan flopped, while on the other hand government grants and assistance is now being extended to the privately owned vernacular schools.
45. Renong-renongkan dan selamat beramal.
