Simply refered to as, "The Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English" in Malaysian Schools, but the other noble agendas could as well be, "Facilitating the Ease of Acquiring the Mastery of the English Language through the Learning of Maths and Science", and, "The Making of Future Malaysian Scientists at parr with other World Scientists".
The mastery of the English Language has deteriorated since the progressive introduction of Bahasa Melayu, the National Language, as the medium of instruction in Malaysian schools. Everyone within the Education circles might have been very much concerned with such notion but they were Malaysian enough not to attribute the decline to the introduction of their National Language as the medium of instruction in their schools. It had been found out through unofficial and rather informal quick oral surveys asked of the fast-deminishing capable English teachers that pupils, at Primary or Secondary levels born after 1975, save for those with English home-background, could not function in the English Language for the diferent levels of studies they were in, in school. The young primary school English teachers, too, the results of the deteriorated ELL in schools, could not teach good English even for the level they were licensed to teach.
But, all things start with a desire to improve something for the better and out of the rutted status quo. The desire to change might have been felt and realised singularly or corporately by concerned national icon. The target attainment might have been collectively set. The envisioning processes of achieving a set target might have been naturally arrived at or they might have been purposefully established at a mental workshop under an authority-enforced gaze. "When you get back, go into some quiet time, think about this idea and come back with some bright ideas tomorrow morning", he might have concluded his office normal Monday "morning prayers".
The teaching of Mathematics and Science has been aclaimed by all parents to be important for their children. An extrinsic motivation that they could readily appreciate was that a good grade obtained for maths and science at the SRP or PMR level was required to gain admission, at least, into the Armed Service and the Police Force. This was a good motivation for the parents to value their children's learning of the Maths and Science subjects. This parents' motivation could have been capitalised to choose these subjects, Maths and Science, for the cause of the EL revival.
The Bumiputra children in the National type Primary Schools, the SRKs, are openly known to be weak in their maths subjects. It has therefore even been trialled out to introduce the use of the abacus, the bead-grids, as a teaching and learning aid for the Bumiputra children in their schools. This T&L Aids had been long used in the SRJKs, the Chinese medium schools, to instill the basic mathematical theories and concepts. The traditional thinking bumiputra parents did not object at all. They must have mused, "As long as learning takes place there should be no bar to racially-inclined T&L Aids!"
More often than not a student's desire to continue learning Science subjects for the upper secondary level, post PMR screening, by joining the Science Stream, is shot down when the school authorities decided which class-stream the students can follow. The students could be placed in the Arts Stream, contrary to his or her desire and choice. The school might guise its own weaknesses by calling such placement as an honest educational advice for the students. In actual fact the school could not provide a place for the student in the science class… limited science classes opened or the lack of teachers to teach the subjects. This truth was even demonstrated by the fact that, some years ago, not all secondary schools could offer the Science Stream.
To demonstrate how a child's parent could be forced "to accept without explanation", there was an instance many years ago when a parent of a fortunate pupil from a relatively rural area came to an Education Office to complain that his son was wrongly assigned to study in a premier town secondary school. He was told in such limited scolding words that his son was actually assigned to study in heaven!
It has, perhaps, been accepted that the maxim, the logical thinking and reasoning, "The English Language is best learnt in the service of other learning", might have been taken as a base when the idea of teaching maths and science was first mooted by the concerned educational icons in the Ministry of Education. It goes without saying that in this case, while the children are learning maths and science, they are at the same time learning authentic English at the same time.
Actually, it has always been generally said that the best way to learn a language is to learn the language as it is authentically used for a purpose … to learn maths and science … and not to merely learn English for the purpose of learning English … learning about the language… or to learn English out of context. If it is used in the service of other learning, in the learning of maths and science, then it is Communicative language learning (CLL) in action.
This line of thinking is very much compromised if the Malaysian Educational Authorities surrendered to the political pride of teaching Maths and Science in the National Language in Schools. There were limitations and Malaysian Scientists would never feel comfortable in sharing any segments of their scientific concerns outside Malaysia. They would not be able to captain a Malaysia Space Craft if and when one was launch at the end of the next mellinium.
The Minister concerned with the advancement of Science should come out in support of the teaching of Maths & Science in English.
Malaysian democracy is extra-ordinarily democratic in that even the formulation of educational policies are also thrown to a cross-section of the society for debates and discussions and the outcome of which would then be administratively shaped into some nice sounding policies foregoing and discarding any purportedly researched previously learning and teaching ease, e.g. …a language is best taught in the service of other learnings. The learning points of the new and interesting subjects, Maths and Science, are better hinged through the communicative learning memories and experiences of ELL.
Sure, there was also a world-aclaimed maxim that the learning of a new concept was better done in the L1. It should be wieghed acurately the pros and cons governing each subject materials. Whar would GMT be in BM?
When the children have learnt English, when they have learnt reading with comprehension, they will be able to continue learning maths and science on their own. They can read English books, they can surf the internet and learnt more. It has been said that the ability to read, and in this case, to read in English, is the gateway to further unlimited self-tutoring experiences through the virtual miracles of the internets.
If the results of the 2008 SPM were taken as some yardsticks, then all pointers were flashing signals to the continuation of the teaching of Maths and Science in English in future.
Who would want to set the hands of the National Educational Clock back in time? Far-sighted people, the like of Madius, are for Maths and Science in English. Congratulations! People with a close-shop mentality, the like of some aged sasterawans, could not really see clearly where they were heading to. Our new Prime Minister had some words of advice in one of his speeches during the UMNO's AGM for such great pretenders. Isn't it beautiful for one to be multilingual?
