Updated Sat 7 Dec: In Mickinsey Education System, after telling us that Tony Fernandes has been given TWENTY licences to open private schools in Malaysia, the blogger OutSyed the Box tells Sam Hamid and others fighting for the education system to press Muhyiddin to answer TWO pressing questions ...
Original Article:
The temper-ature at ASPIRES, the FB group created by parents upset with the way politicians are messing up the education system, is rising slowly but surely by the day. You can tell by the tone of the postings, e.g. a very recent statement made by Sam Hamid, the man behind the group:
TSMY, we know that you are deaf but you cant be blind as well.
TSMY is Deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin, a politician who has earned my respect for the role he played in helping end Abdullah Badawi's 5-year reign. As Education Minister, however, the multitude of challenges do seem to have overwhelmed him. What ASPIRES is doing - the tone of some of the postings aside (this is the social media, after all) - should help Muhyiddin overcome some of those challenges.
One of things I like about ASPIRES is that it strongly supports the PPSMI, the learning/teaching of math and science in English. There is no reason why the government should bow to the demands of people like Samad Said and the politicians who had encouraged them to kill a good thing for our children. They are not only in the minority, they are also wrong!
If you are a parent and you are worried about the state of the education system, come join us for PGIP4114.
Date: 4 Jan 2014
Time: 9am to Noon
Place: Taman Jaya, PJ
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| RIP: Mandela inspires ASPIRES |
Why doesn't Muhyiddin comment on the latest PISA rankings?
ReplyDeleteOr he think that it's another new-colonialist tool that ignores the "legitimate aspirations" of certain sectors?
Education in Malaysia has become so politicised (witness the angst about vernacular schools) that it's become synonymous with denoting loyalty to the country.
As if there's anything disloyal in Malaysian parents aspiring to give their children the best education possible.
Even if that means busing them to Singapore in the early morning just to take advantage of a world-class English-medium education system.
But, of course, the language "nationalists" don't care.
Why should they when they never had to compete for jobs in an environment where reading, maths, science, computer and creative skills are regarded as "must haves"?
The education system's flaws go deeper than that, but yes, I fully agree that PPPMI needs to be brought back.
ReplyDeleteIt's an endless debate, but I think the most clear-sighted view is this: What's best for Malaysia's future competitiveness? Surely, the faster we acquire knowledge, the faster we can go beyond acquiring, to innovating.
The PPPMI has a key role to play.
No more delay, please, in bringing it back.
Education system has been in a mess since many many years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt gets worse when the population grows bigger and people are cleaverer.
Even teachers are complaining, they don't have the faith so how can we as parents put our faith ini.
The education department sounds arrogant but ignorance from what i hear. They don't accept critism and will massage surveys by indirectly forcing teachers to provide good feedback only.
Ministers are also spoilt bunch. Most of them send ther kids to private schools or overseas. How do you expect them to be good national school policy makers?
Why pass the buck to school? Can't we all as parents play our role? The new iteration of school curriculum (dubbed as KSSR) is so good that it moves away from exam centric education.
ReplyDeleteAssessment done throughout the year. This also means parents get involved in every part of their children's learning process. Major examinations only make up 10% of total assessment.
Of course the English language is important, but understanding of the subject being taught matters just as much, if not more. And our teachers (save for the majority of English subject teachers) are just not capable of handling the mathematics and science subject in English. This is among the major reason why the PPSMI is pulled out. Not because of that white beard of A Samad Said.
Census of Population 2010 Statistical Release 1
ReplyDeleteDemographic Characteristics, Education, Language and Religion
ISBM 978-981-08-7808-5
Copyright of Department of Statistics,
Ministry of Trade & Industry,
Republic of Singapore
Population of Singapore:
1970: 2,074,500
2010: 5,076,700
Singaporean Graduates
(Citizens and Permanent Residents):
Chinese: 476,705
Indian: 83,690
Malay: 17,194
Singapore-born Graduates:
Chinese: 333,297
Indian: 19,492
Malay: 17,194
Betul tu anon 8.38am
ReplyDeleteFinally latok , this blog i like since najib become a PM.... i must go for my children i cant afford private school and governmane school now is suck .
ReplyDeleteMay i say THANK YOU TO U at least u promote this thing
I lived in rural Trengganu back then when Maths and Science was taught in English. The schoolkids I asked said that it was hard because no one for miles around spoke the English language; but they said there was no need to go back to Malay medium ... I guess their scores in the exams did not support their enthusiasm. Anyway I've learnt that the maths and science teachers were much less successful at their task, simply because most of them there do not have a good enough command of English. You know, such a state of affairs will be a vicious cycle of incompetency spanning generations especially for the rural people, if we do not persist with the PPSMI by thinking out-of-the-box for means to deliver the programs better. In fact,for me, the greatest innovation arising from it, are the dual-language textbooks - it helps the child to conceive scientific concepts back and forth between English and Malay. Malays, on the average, are just too far behind in English language competency and this certainly doesn't augur well for the social milieu.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to mention an incident related to me by a teacher friend from Trengganu. He got to know that the Ministry inspector who came down to assess a Malay teacher teaching Maths was adamant that the entire lesson should be conducted in English only or she would receive an unfavourable grades. Couple this together with a class full of rural children who never speak English outside of school hours then you can begin to imagine the ridiculous teacher-student interactions. This is why the PPSMI did not work in rural areas! The training of teachers and the system of delivery was not competently designed nor delivered. Together, we can overcome such hurdles. In this project to build our children's English and Science competencies we must not falter, because our their future is at stake ... Can we bear to deny our kids the opportunity to break out of their parents' dim past, in facing the global transnational reality of today?
Anon 8:38 am
ReplyDeleteSo, is English important or a waste of time, because a thorough understanding of Maths and Science can just as well be taught in Malay as they can in English?
So, what happens when these kids pass the local exams, score scholarships and go to study in overseas universities where courses, lectures, tutorials and exams are conducted in English?
Are they going to sink or swim? And if they are on public sector scholarships, is it a waste of money to send them to study overseas, when they are not fully equipped to do so?
All the present education system (and it's previous versions) does is to perpetuate the growing divide between the "haves" who can have their kids schooled in English and those who have to settle for their kids go through the national education system.
Is that good for Malaysia which is trying to build a world class work force?
The global ranking of our work force is there for all to see.
Bro, salah tu kalau kata yang menentang PPSMI adalah minoriti. Yg. Paling terjejas dengan pengenalan PPSMI adalah penduduk luar bandar yg menjadi majoriti memilih BN terutamanya UMNO. Yg hendak PPSMI itulah sebenarnya minoriti.
ReplyDeleteKSSR that recently introduce is hidden trap for your child education.For example if your son actively participate for school in curicullum for the state event,it will drag your son curic.activities until a week before the exam.It will last longer depend on their school a hievement.As a result they might skip evening SRA classes for their event preparation and of course for their exam preparation in morning class.When your son get 4A instead of 5A, they will not given any chance to go for full boarding school because in Malaysia education system,5A that's count.
ReplyDeleteThere are different in policy when they said curicullum is a best but at last the result of the exam that they are looking for. In this problem, some people in Education Ministry sleeping when doing their jobs especially at the Bahagian( SBP).
Parents,don't encourage your children participate in curicullum when they need to take an important exam during the year especially in UPSR and PMR.
Anon 2:15 pm
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you quote from the same census stats to show the Singapore population breakdown by Chinese, Indians, Malays and others?
Muhyidin is incompetent to rule on behalf of UMNo and the Malays.
ReplyDeleteHe is one of the legacy politicians from Mahathir era, he in fact is Mahathir baruah, the way he used the excuse of Education Blueprint to enrich the Christian Francis with a 9 billion bestarinet, frog asia.
Ini lah masaalah UMNO dan Melayu.
Dah 56 tahun, perjumpaan UMNO masih di takuk lama kerana orang Melayu yang mempinin UMNO itu telah dibeli oleh Kristian dan Cina.
Bukan saja GLC yang meminggirkan perjuangan UMNO dan Melayu tetapi Ketua-Ketua Jabatan dan Pengerusi MCMC, SC, KSN bukan lagi Melayu.
Siapa yang lantik?
Presiden UMNO.
Ya dalang kekayaan o0rang Cina seperti seperti YTL adalah Presiden, Timbalan Presiden, Ketua Pemuda, ahli MT Nurraesaah yang telah di raasuah orang Cina.
Ahli UMNO dan orang Melayu menjerit diperhimpunan tetapi cina dah gosok tangan tunggu nak sapu projek yang akan diberi oleh Presiden UMNO.
English is a waste of time for Malays. Remember the Filipinos maid speak English. The taxi drivers in London speak english, the rubbish collector in london speak english.
ReplyDeleteThus, there is no correlation between language and jobs.
Apa yang lebih penting adalah control, Kawalan ke atas dunia melayu kita. Dan kawalan ini dilakukan secara fizikal oleh ATM, Laut, Udara.
Di dalam domain Melayu ini melayu akan berkembang. Saintis dalam bahasa Melayu, teknologi dalam bahasa Melayu seperti jepun.
Sesiapa boleh belajar bahasa inggeris dalam spare time mereka.
Tapi core bangsa dna budaya melayu adalah bahasa melayu.
Bahasa Melayu ini penting kerana ia yang mengikat orang Sabah, Brunei, Sarawak Indonesia dengan Malaysia.
Lihat saja Maharaja Lawak dengan Luna Maya yang cantik atau Bintang kecil dengan tetamu dari Brunei untuk menyedari Bahasa Melayu itu adalah nadi SEA.
Dan kamu yang berbahasa Indggeris adalah picisan sebenarnya.
Lihat saja perjumpaan UMNO, Mereka yang membina Malaysia dan membangunkan Tanah Melayu.
So you all sia sia saja...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Anonymous said...
Anon 8:38 am
So, is English important or a waste of time, because a thorough understanding of Maths and Science can just as well be taught in Malay as they can in English?
So, what happens when these kids pass the local exams, score scholarships and go to study in overseas universities where courses, lectures, tutorials and exams are conducted in English?
Are they going to sink or swim? And if they are on public sector scholarships, is it a waste of money to send them to study overseas, when they are not fully equipped to do so?
All the present education system (and it's previous versions) does is to perpetuate the growing divide between the "haves" who can have their kids schooled in English and those who have to settle for their kids go through the national education system.
Is that good for Malaysia which is trying to build a world class work force?
The global ranking of our work force is there for all to see.
7:04 pm
Those who started their education since Penyata Rahman Talib (when government started streamlining the national curriculum into Bahasa Malaysia) came into effect, many of them were sent overseas, particularly to UK and US. Did they turn into shitheads? I doubt so.
Even the Bangladeshis who arrive in Malaysia will have reasonably good command in Bahasa Melayu in about 3 months. How different is our brains compared to that of other nationalities?
Yes, since we moved away from English medium to Bahasa Melayu medium, a generation or two may have lost their proficiency in English.
But to jump back right into English medium, especially by the educators who live their lives knowing 1 language only, how can they help the students improve their competency in Science and Math when the educators themselves are struggling with their language? Government would be downright irresponsible to do such thing.
After all, isn't it part of the National Education Blueprint to improve upon the quality of our educators so that they become well-versed in English?
Until that time comes, it's best to stick to our proven formula.
P/s:
Those who criticize KSSR. Do take some time to go through the new curriculum and do a comparison with KBSR. It's not just about spelling or counting anymore. It's more than that. Our education system is indeed progressing. Everyone just need to adapt to the new change; universities, employers etc.
Tony Fernandes has been given TWENTY licences to open private schools in Malaysia?
ReplyDeleteWhy not?
Do you not remember the many BIG events that the Federal Government spearheaded? Where do you think the organisers got funding?
From the likes of Tony and AK. It has always been the case. And what do these buggers get in return?
Some license or other so that the money they pumped in for the BIG events are recovered.
But the best thing is - while the Tonys, AKs and Vicent Tans pump in money for a one-time project, the permits they get back are for eternal revenue earnings.
This is how those in the administration get conned by the organisers as well. And the organisers are also connected well to those in the administration.
As if you did not know?
Its the same with writers like you too. You get paid to whack the non-BN parties and now the pool competes with one another to get more higher payments as well as 'PR' consultant jobs.
PARAMESWARA
Come on la budak2 tak faham BI konon tengok hafal lagu2 BI mcm kacang je. Budak kat kampung bila main FB, bole pulak faham APA tu notifications,profile,privacy setting etc.
ReplyDeleteDon't underestimate them ok.