English-Wrangled,Mangled, Strangled

I certainly find it hard to believe that a DPM is not aware that there is no need to pass the English paper to get an SPM qualification.

So what is the hullabaloo this time around on English?

Has the DPM actually suggested that English be made a compulsory paper to pass in order to get the SPM qualification? No, not definitively anyway.

A raging debate is now on in the papers and in the coffee-shops, pitting one side against the other; with many ignoramuses within the ranks, unthinking but passionate about Bahasa Malaysia and mother tongue eminence over the need for good English to excel in a globalised world.

To say the standard of English has fallen, is almost 40 years too late. The low level of English, be it in spoken or written form,is almost non-salvageable.

It's no point barking at the hills if you are not a great dog in the first place. Politics was in the driver's seat for the last 50 years and we have actually allowed English to slide at the expense of putting Bahasa Malaysia on a high pedestal for nationalistic pride and political expedience.

And now when the ghouls of political ineptness have come home to roost, fingers are pointed at everyone except at the known culprits on their "high horses".

Mahathir, our ex-PM, tried to turn back the tide when he knew we were going down the drain in English. He managed, by policy, to bring back English as the medium of teaching for Science and Mathematics. Alas, he has few friends and the opponents to his policy are getting more vociferous with each passing day. They want to be laid back with just knowing Communication English, which is good enough for them to be tourists in English speaking lands.

The Thais and Indonesians who could hardly speak English in bygone days speak excellent English these days. At international fora, Malaysians could hardly articulate. At overseas trade fairs, Malaysian companies could hardly market in comprehensible English.Even websites of government agencies are laughing stocks!

The policy makers must take cognizance of this. Students must know English grammar. How it is taught is a matter of strategy. Let's grapple with the Why and the What before dealing with the How.

Some of the inadequacies of English are given below:

" 'The current simplified syllabus has resulted in students not knowing the difference between words like ‘pain’ and ‘painful’, The Star daily reported.

“They don’t understand why they are wrong when they say ‘it is very pain’. Imagine, in an English paper, students are given marks for just using key words,” said one teacher. (Alamak, what kind of cikgu is this!)"

The rationale for studying English is crystal clear. As the DPM puts it:

“English is a language of the world and business. It is an international means of communication.”

The feedback he got? 500 callers rejected his suggestion to make English a compulsory paper to pass in the SPM.

So, as usual for Malaysia Boleh, this idea will be relegated on the back-burner and soon will be archived for the next Education Minister to dust it off for consideration. By then,is will already be too late and it can do little good if he gets the support.

Judging from the government’s experience with the controversial policy of using English to teach maths and science, more commonly known by its Malay acronym PPSMI, the negative response actually came as no surprise.

PPSMI has been a political hot potato for the ruling BN government since it was introduced in 2003, supposedly to improve English standards.

It was pushed through despite great resistance from parents, students and even teachers, and that unhappiness has 'volcanoed" in recent months.

Most Malaysians recognise that proficiency in English is important if the country wants to stay competitive. But the rural folk lament that there is no level playing field. Unlike the urbanites, they suffer from a lack of access to good English teachers and materials.

They also argued that they do not need to use English in everyday life, and that it would be unfair to penalise students in the rural areas by forcing them to pass the subject. A strange reason, as if the rural area is insulated from globalisation and the IT revolution! "Tak masuk akal,"your Malay friend will tell you.

Meanwhiule, Malaysian Chinese Association's controversial deputy president Datuk Chua Soi Lek said Malaysia cannot put off this issue any longer.

“Progress waits for no man. We can spend our time arguing while the world progresses,” he wrote on his blog. “We have to make a start somewhere.”

Do we have political will?

Will Dato' Najib cut off the naysayers at the gap,severe the Gordion Knot of opposition and take the plunge to sink and swim with the status quo of using English in teaching Science and Mathematics? Will he decide to make English a compulsory passing subject for the SPM?

The jury is out on this one.