Friday, July 10, 2009

Scrapping of PPSMI - What say you?

The scrapping of PPSMI - teaching of Science and Mathematics in English has sparked off another round of public discourse. It's a contentious issue from Day 1 and there are contrast opinions on this subject. Language activists irrespective of Chinese and Tamil mother tongue education groups or the nationalist Bahasa Malaysia "defender" hailed the decision as a moral victory as they have launched massive opposition to the policy in the last few years.

However, many urban parents seemed dissapointed with this flip-flop policy as they preferred the current method of using English in both subjects. DAP's position on this issue has always been clear. We opposed it, not that we are against the mastery of English but we do not believe that this approach is workable. We must strive to return to the standard of our English in the 70s, no doubt about that. But if even the teachers who teach Maths and Science can't master English, can we expect any success in such policy?

The other option is to let some selected schools which are well-prepared to continue the current method and give the parents a choice.

Well, we would like to hear your views on this issue.

33 comments:

P130 voter said...

To get better in running is just to run more, you won't get better in running by swimming or doing aerobics or yoga.

To get better in English is just to study English as English, not using some surrogate subjects to improve the language. It is like putting the cart before the horse.

I too was a product of BM medium of instruction during my formative years at primary and secondary school. My exposure to the English language took off only when I took the Cambridge "A" Levels program after SPM.

I guess it is still not too late to switch from BM to English during the pre-uni course.

P130 voter

Very Disappointed Parent and Rakyat said...

As Chinsese I am digusted with Anwar Ibrahim as well as DAP for the support of scrapping PPMSI , solely for political expediency at the expense of pure Rakyat aspiration.


You all are no better than UMNO, MCA MIC!!

Generally, the English command of student from Chinese primary school is horrendous. When Maths and Science was also taught in English in chinese primary school, as a parent we are very glad, as this definitely improve the concentration in English and later would further enhance when they reach secondary school.

With the abolishment, the chinese student will be "killed" and further killed in secondary school when both these Maths and Science will be taught in Bahasa.

Nevermind, we all know better of politician, be ruling party or opposition, all with self interest!!!

I know how to teach you a lesson by our vote, come 13th General Election.

Anonymous said...

Hot News !!!!!!!!

Sugumaran Periasamy, Political Secretary to M.Kulasegaran also the well known and upcoming political icon in Perak DAP is planning to convert into islam due to family crisis. He made the decission after the family members of his ex-wife refuse to allow him to visit his 8 years old boy and 3 years old daughter. Sugumaran started to voice out his visiting rights over his kids to many of his family members but everything went against him. Source told, the crisis get worst after many of his close friends get involved into his personal matter. After struggling for 2 months, Sugumaran decided to convert immediately to islam because he wanted to have pure and truthful life with his kids. He finds that only Islam can help him and give the priority to his demands.

Will DAP support Sugumaran on this matter?

P130 voter said...

Sugumaran Periasamy is a legal adult. If he chooses to embrace Islam, it is his personal choice. What has DAP got to do with his personal conviction?

P130 voter

Lee Wee Tak said...

If Sugumaran wants to convert into islam or any other faith it is his problem but the cabinet has already decided that single parent conversion to Islam will not automatically render their children muslim.

religion is a private matter. does UMNO or MCA tell you to choose which religion?

DAP has no business, and no need to interfere in his private matter. This is a trick question and that's why the person who ask it remain anom. If DAP says no then the anom will have a field day telling people DAP is anti-islam. DAP is as anti-christian, anti-buddha and anti-panda bear as anti-islam, i believe; i.e. NOT ANTI-ISLAM at all lah.

Another menangguk dalam air keroh?

Back to the teaching....

If the problem is poor English then teacher English lah!

Why take a gun and shoot the chicken when the mischief is the Fox. The Doctor got the medicine wrong and I believe the true value of PPSMI is the contracts for the book suppliers.

To improve English, teach properly. Good teacher, right teaching methods, good supplies of books etc. Get the foundation right. Start teaching English standard 1 rather than standard 4 like my time in school.

Anonymous said...

Dear YB Loke:
I am 38 years old and have two school going children ages 8 and 10, studying in a school in Seremban.
My two daughters are coping very well and I don't see why there is a need to revert back to BM.
To me, this recent decision to revert to the old system is purely a political decision.
I am utterly disappointed by all the political parties and the so call educationists.
If there is a public poll on this matter today, I believe most parents will go against this latest decision!

Bangsa Cina Malaysia said...

ON June 21, Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan, at a function organised by the Port Dickson Municipal Council, took a swipe at the local authorities for not keeping the town and its famous beaches clean when PD District Officer Jolani Hassan read out a pantun (a short poem) describing how blue the sea around Port Dickson was, and how clean the beaches were.
"What I notice is that the water is almost brown," Mohamad told some 200 guests comprising members of the public and municipal employees at the council auditorium.

Malay Mail sent its senior journalist, MASAMI MUSTAZA, to the beaches and the back lanes of the once popular sea resort for the real picture. This is her report:
AN UNNATURAL SHADE OF BLUE-GREY
Perhaps it will surprise you to know that in Port Dickson, the water that flows out from the drains and into the sea is an unnatural shade of bluegrey. It also has the smell of rotten fish.

We took a walk along the beaches, supposed to have been beautiful once upon a time, and were appalled at the sight of big pipes channelling raw sewage from hotels and resorts straight into the sea. We also traversed along a main drain, which we understand is connected to the various drain pipes connecting to all parts of Port Dickson town, that is filled with rubbish floating in stagnant blue-grey water.

Quite unexpectedly we found plenty of mudskippers, as big as our palms, swimming happily in this polluted water. If you wanted to see these hardy creatures, they're in that big drain behind Port Dickson Walk and the Oceanic Shopping Mall.

FROM KITCHEN SINK TO SEA
We also went to Tanjung Kemuning where we found big pipes channelling water from the nearby kitchens into the sea. We initially thought it wouldn't be as disgusting as having raw sewage channelled to the sea but once we took a peek into the drain trap, we changed our minds. It was a big concrete encasement that held three big pipes covered at the openings with metal grilles to prevent larger debris from flowing out.


Parking: a dilapidated boat along a beach in Port Dickson
"MAKES YOU FEEL SICK"
Zakaria Abdullah, 64, a retiree who has lived there all his life, said the beaches are jijik (revolting) and despite
being privileged to live near the beach, he said he is too muak (sick) to even care about taking a stroll along the sandy shores.

"And that is why fewer Mat Sallehs come now because they've complained and yet nothing has been done.

I see council workers cleaning up the beaches but they aren’t even enthusiastic about doing their work,” he said.

Local fisherman J. Kunaraja Naidu, 41, who has been catching fish in the waters off Port Dickson the past 15 years, said the amount of rubbish thrown into the sea has got to the point that it’s interfering with the fishermen’s livelihood.

ONCE UPON A TIME
Meanwhile, a resident, who wished to remain anonymous, lamented that the days when small sharks were visible in the formerly clear waters of Port Dickson were long gone.

“When I was small, we could see small sharks swimming up close to the shoreline. Now all I see is rubbish,” he said.

The resident also complained that in Port Dickson town, where the Benteng Malam hawker area is located,
the locals are forced to put up with the coal dust wafting from the nearby jetty used by ferries to unload coal.

“It’s not healthy to be inhaling all the dust.”

WHAT IS TO BE DONE


Filth: A river of trash in Port Dickson
The problem lies mostly with your municipal council.

When the department and the Port Dickson Municipal Council conducted a joint enforcement operation on March 12, they found that close to 75 per cent of the premises they checked were in violation of some regulation or other.

If something isn’t done about this — and quickly — Port Dickson will continue to deteriorate and become a shadow of its once beautiful past.

SEREMBAN IS EVEN WORST

Anonymous said...

How to stay alive whilst in govt premises for dummies?

Say you are needed by certain govt agency to cooperate in an ongoing
investigation what should you do?

You should:

i) Scream & shout and assume you are being attacked by Mat Rempits.

i) Do not cooperate at all, do not follow them voluntarily.

iii) This way they must arrest you which then you are allowed legal
counsel which is good because you are being accompany by a third party
which is good because the third party will try to prevent you should
you suddenly wishes to commit suicide by jumping off the window after
lying on a couch, especially if you are suppose to get married the
next day. Don't laugh, I have heard getting married is like being given the life sentence in certain cases.


iv) Bring along a witness, better still, a camera or any recording
material and record the interrogation... err... I mean questioning
time. Then Youtube it for posterity. You will probably be famous,
because the opposition party will want you as their next candidate in
the next GE.

v) If all else fail, make sure you have your will properly drawn up;
inform your family how you want your funeral be done. And make peace with God.

RIP Mr Teoh.

P130 voter said...

YB Loke,

Since MACC cannot guarantee the physical safety of its detainee, I think it is best if DAP stop cooperating with them.

If they want info, ask them to apply for court order.

Let's get tough with them, by being passive disobedient. Hartal!

P130 voter

Anonymous said...

ok lah,

say now you have a japanese guy infront of you giving lectures/course on how to make cars. what happen is, he speaks japanese. the audience are malay, chinese indian and other malaysian natives. hallo, you think they will understand and get the message ?. of course not. you don't get the message, end of the day, you don't get anything. that japanese guy needs to teach in language that the audience understand.

same as teaching english, give more infrastructures for the betterment and process of learning the language. teach intensive/solid english. when your english is damn good, then you can easily read books in any subject.i grew up in 70', did not learn science and maths in english, but I took initiative to master english, coz that is very important these days.

ok lah, thank you.

konek said...
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vesewe said...
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miya said...
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coolooc said...
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fargowin said...
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P130 voter said...

I have a feeling the last few racist post are from same person. His writing style, his/her emotion is similar. I suspect he/her is here just to troll for fun.

P130 voter

Anonymous said...

"I have a feeling the last few racist post are from same person. His writing style, his/her emotion is similar. I suspect he/her is here just to troll for fun."

you are right. let him/her talk.

Bangsa Cina Malaysia said...

ASALAMUALAIKUM,(MAY PEACE BE UPON YOU)

WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE MALAYS THE DAP WOULD STILL NOW BE IN THE OPPOSITION.

SERIOUSLY WOULD THE DAP WIN 10 STATE ASSEMBLY IN NEGERI SEMBILAN WITHOUT THE MALAY VOTES.

THE DAP SHOULD GO ALL OUT TO THANK THE MALAYS IF NOT COME GE 13 THE DAP WOULD BE BACK TO WHAT THEY DO BEST
THAT IS BEING THE OPPOSITION SUPPORTING THE PIG FARMERS IN POLLUTING THE RIVER AND THE COUNTRY.

AMEEN.

Anonymous said...

Dear Moderator ,

how could u allow such "comments" in YB Loke's blog ?

regards
annoymous

Lee Wee Tak said...

I think the stupid racist remarks should stay - if you don't like it, say so.

We Malaysians are largely peace loving and want no trouble

Problem is with these loud minorities. Walk around town do you see crazy racist spewing venom around?

Even Che Det, for all his venomous racist outpouring in his blog, still bear a sweet smile when he is with Vincent Tan, Tan Pik Khing, Lee Kim Yew plus non-Malays when photographers are around.

Shame and curse on those hate mongers. We only dislike someone because they are ill mannered/rude/exhibit ill intend/attempt to harm you etc; and not by their skin colour.

These remarks are put here by cybertroopers intending to paint DAP leaders as racist (since they allow the posts to stay)

As responsible Malaysians who also respect freedom of speech, the way to go is to denounce them with reason, logic and argument. By comparing the 2 remarks, we know who is right and who is wrong.

Budak Rasah said...

Dear YB,

I have two comments, one of which is uncalled for.

First, the uncalled for comment:

I know that being an MP and party leader requires you to give attention to your constituency and your party, however, the fact that you have set up this blog requires you to also be responsible for its upkeep.

Hence, please do try to administer the comments posted on this blog better. It should be a forum where we can discuss and share views, not where we throw around racist, unruly remarks, lest you really want this blog to be taken seriously.

As for the issue at hand, and to which you have solicited views from readers such as myself, I humbly share with you my views:

I among the not-so-few who supported the use of English in teaching Maths and Science based on the logic (given by the government) behind the whole idea, i.e. to improve our children's command of English.

I'm also among the not-so-few who rejoiced at the turn-around decision made by the same government. In a round-about way, the government has admitted that they have failed in their attempt to improve language proficiency by way teaching Maths and Science in English, hence not jeopardising the future of our children by continuing with this language policy.

To be sure,(I hope) what the government is also trying to say, in a round-about way, is: we are not (and should not be) retreating (in our cause to improve the English proficiency among Malaysians), but advancing in another direction.

Simply put it, teach English to our kids if you want them to master the language.

Anonymous said...

bila education dipolitikkan untuk kepentingan individu-individu tertent.

PARPUKARI said...

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR WORDPRESS BLOG? WHY YOU DELETE IT?

Lin said...
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Anonymous said...

You call you self an MP and talk about PPSMI. You dont even know the objective of PPSMI, a yet talk about PPSMI not improve English.

Aiyyoo.

PPSMI has got nothing to do with improving English la YB. It is about learning Science and Math.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
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King-Fx said...
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Rizwan said...

Loke,

On your remark to a certain Mr. Ridhuan Tee is so provocative.

I fear the worst that even an apology will not mended what you have said before.

Its a big mistake for you to do it, i hope you will regret it for the rest of your life.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

woii .. berani jgn delete la
tengok lu brani duduk kamunting ke
cina gampang

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

hey babi h1n1, kau terlebih dahulu janagan menghina islam kau memang anti islam dan melayu, ciu na ma pu talok la, fuck pigs