Reader's Response Assignment_Final

In an article published in The Guardian (2009), de Lotbinière voiced his opposition to the Malaysian Government’s move on halting the 2003 PPSMI policy. The policy, which aimed to improve Malaysia’s global trade and technology by enhancing English communication, stalled due to the Government’s claims of its under-achieving results. Grades for Mathematics and Science subjects have declined, and the use of Bahasa Malay prevailed despite the policy. In addition, Malaysia also faces a widening gap, between rural schools with less fluency in English and urban schools with a better standing, because of the lack of English teachers. Despite these difficulties, there may be hopes of improvements if Malaysia can persevere in pursuing the English language.

The above results stated by the Malaysian Education Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, are not, in my opinion, unexpected findings. Children of different ethnic groups in Malaysia integrate into schools which conduct curricula in their individual mother tongues. Since language proficiencies require nurturing from a young age, it will be hard to go through a transition from an established education system based on various mother tongues into an English-focused system. Singapore, for example, has made English the primary mode of teaching since early education and mother tongues are taught as second languages. Despite emphasizing English at an early age, many students still find it challenging to do well with the bilingual system. Thus, the abrupt transition from native languages to English could explain the fall in results and the possible difficulty that students face in coping with the subjects.

Moreover, the unfavourable widening gap between urban and rural schools mentioned by the author seemed to have strained further by the resource distribution and interchanging education policies. The disparity in staff distribution is an evident impediment to achieving a uniform academic result since rural schools are likely to be under-staffed – by seeing how the “education authorities outside the major cities failed to find enough staff able to teach in English”. Besides this disparity in English proficiency, the amendments of policies against a unified English education might discourage people to speak a common language. This might affect Malaysia's progress towards a cohesive nation and aggravate the segregation between the majority Malay Muslims and the non-Muslims. Thus, instead of making amendments to existing policies , the Government could have implemented an education system based solely on English to unite their citizens and better anticipate their long-term economic goals.

These situations could have been avoided if only Malaysia had persevered in using English since the British colonial rule. English could have been the unifying factor for the multicultural nation; or could have given them a better foothold in international commerce otherwise. With on-going concerns that an English education system might dilute the Malay-dominant culture, the advancement of the English language as a tool to gain commercial strength, it seems, could be impeded by Malaysia’s persistent struggle to preserve its Malay-nationalist heritage. 

In all, the PPSMI policy is a good initiative to move Malaysia’s education and economy forward, but it could be better if the Government persists in their efforts to emphasise English in early education so that students can benefit from a stronger foundation in the language.

Reader's Response Assignment_Draft 1 (Updated)

In an article published in The Guardian (2009), de Lotbinière voiced his opposition to the Malaysian Government’s move on halting the 2003 PPSMI policy. The policy, which aims to improve Malaysia’s global trade and technology by enhancing English communication, was stalled due to the Government’s claims of its under-achieving results. Grades for Mathematics and Science subjects have been shown to retreat, and the use of Bahasa Malay prevailed despite the policy. In addition, Malaysia also faces a widening gap, between rural schools with less fluency in English and urban schools with a better standing, because of the lack of English-teaching staffs. Despite these difficulties, there may be hopes of improvements if Malaysia can persevere in its pursue of the English language.

The above results mentioned by the Malaysian Education Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, find no surprise. Children of different ethnic groups in Malaysia had has  been known to integrate into school which conduct curriculum in their individual mother tongues. Since language proficiencies require nurturing from young, it will be hard to go through a transition from an established education system based on various mother tongues into an English system. Singapore, for example, has made English the primary mode of teaching since early education, and mother tongues are taught as second languages. Despite emphasizing on English at an early age, many students still find it challenging to do well with the bilingual system. Thus, the abrupt transition from native languages to English could explain the fall in results and the possible difficulty that students face in coping with the subjects.

Moreover, the unfavourable widening gap between urban and rural schools mentioned by the author seemed to have strained further by the resource distribution and interchanging education policies. The disparity in staff distribution is an evident impediment to achieving a uniform academic result since rural schools are likely to be under-staffed subsequently– seeing how the “education authorities outside the major cities failed to find enough staff able to teach in English”. Besides this disparity in English proficiency, the amendments of policies against a unified English education might discourage the emphasis in speaking a common language. This might withdraw citizens into their isolated ethnic groups and drive a subtle agenda in discriminating other ethnicities from the majority native Malay Muslims. Thus, instead of making amendments to existing policies, the Government could have implemented an education system based solely on English to unite their citizens and better anticipate their long-term economic goals.

These situations could have been avoided if only Malaysia had persevered with the English usage since their colonial past. English could have been the unifying factor  for the multicultural nation, if not to give them a better foothold in international commerce by now. With on-going concerns that an English education system might dilute the Malay-dominant culture, the advancement of English language as a tool to gain commercial strength, it seems, could be impeded by Malaysia’s persistent struggle to preserve her  its Malay-nationalist heritage. 

In all, the PPSMI policy is a good initiative to move Malaysia’s education and economy forward, but it could be better if the Government persists in their efforts to emphasise on English in early education so that students can benefit from a stronger foundation in the language.

Reader's Response Assignment

In an article published in The Guardian (2009), de Lotbinière voiced his opposition to the Malaysian Government’s move on halting the 2003 PPSMI policy. The policy, which aims to improve Malaysia’s global trade and technology by enhancing English communication, was stalled due to the Government’s claims of its under-achieving results. Grades for Mathematics and Science subjects have been shown to retreat, and the use of Bahasa Malay prevailed despite the policy. In addition, Malaysia also faces a widening gap, between rural schools with less fluency in English and urban schools with a better standing, because of the lack of English-teaching staffs. Despite these, there may be hopes of improvements if Malaysia can persevere in its pursue of the English language.

The result mentioned finds no surprise as children of different ethnic groups in Malaysia had has  been known to integrate into school which conduct curriculum in their individual mother tongues. Since language proficiencies require nurturing from young, it will be hard to go through a transition from an established education system based on various mother tongues into an English system. Singapore, for example, has made English the primary mode of teaching since early education, and mother tongues are taught as second languages. Despite emphasizing on English at an early age, many students still find it a challenge to do well with the bilingual system. Thus, the abrupt transition from native languages to English could explain the fall in results and the possible difficulty that students face in coping with the subjects.

Moreover, the unfavourable widening gap between urban and rural schools mentioned by the author, seemed to have strained further by the resource distribution and interchanging education policies. The disparity in staff distribution is an evident impediment to achieving a uniform academic result since rural schools are likely to be under-staffed subsequently, seeing how the “education authorities outside the major cities failed to find enough staff able to teach in English”. Besides this disparity in English proficiency, the amendments of policies against a unified English education might discourage the emphasis in speaking a common language. This might withdraw citizens into their isolated ethnic groups and drive a subtle agenda in discriminating other ethnicities from the majority native Malay Muslims. Thus, instead of making amendments to existing policies, the Government could have implemented an education system based solely on English to unite their citizens and better anticipate their long-term goals.

These situations could have been avoided if only Malaysia had persevered with the English usage since their colonial past. English could have been the unifying factor  for the multicultural nation, if not to give them a better foothold in international commerce by now. With on-going concerns that an English education system might dilute the Malay-dominant culture, the advancement of English language as a tool to gain commercial strength, it seems, could be impeded by Malaysia’s persistent struggle to preserve her  its Malay-nationalist heritage. Therefore, although the PPSMI policy is a good initiative to move Malaysia’s education and economy forward, it could be better if the Government persist in their efforts to emphasise on English in early education so that students can benefit from a stronger foundation in the language.