Whenever I read comments justifying the removal of English from Math and science, often than not, the Japanese and Germans are mentioned.

Thus I would like to inform the public about several interesting facts about Japanese and Germans.

In Germany, english is a compulsory class for science students at university. Thus by the time most science students have graduated from university they can converse and write in English at a technical level. By the post-graduate level, nearly all German scientist are bilingual. At the post-doc level, they have a good command of English. The Marx Planck institute uses English, allowing foreign scientist to work at/visit their institutes.

In Japan, over 200,000 books and papers are translated every year. Dewan Bahasa in contrast only translates several hundred books a year. While it is mostly privately learned, at the international level, the average Japanese scientist can speak english.

If Malaysia want to use only BM as the language of instruction at school, and look to either the German or Japanese as an example, then we must copy their system in its entirety. Germans learn English at University, becoming bilingual by the time they are post-docs. Japanese actively translates hundreds of thousands of book and journals and privately learn english so they can attend international conferences.

It would do well to remember that patent law can differ from country to country, and that it is a tricky business. Some things have been invented, perhaps say by Japan, but a copycat in China may still register it as a patent solely because China does not recognize foreign patents.

In the real world, away from the Nobel laureates and prize winners, there is the daily grind of employment.

Please don't take it the wrong way, but assuming that Rhan was educated in the Malaysian education system (and so was I), the grammatical errors in the postings above (intentional or otherwise) would frankly make me look at the next CV if Rhan was a candidate for employment.

I work in a multi-national company, with multi-national billion dollar customers, in a very competitive marketplace. Call it what you like, but customers impressions are formed in the first 10 minutes of meeting you, and if don't come across well with the customer, you will always be fighting an uphill battle no matter how good you are technically.

No offence is intended, and I apologise in advance for using Rhan as a rather harsh example, but this is how it is in the real world.

Last point - isn't the way to be good in a particular language to practice it? The Unesco studies referenced, whilst valid, seem to focus on nations/locations of relatively high levels of poverty - is Malaysia really in the same boat?

I believe other studies have been done that state that children, if taught from a young age can sufficiently master up to 7 languages. Maybe 7 is pushing it, but the majority of Germans I have ever met (that have been referenced by the author) speak good English.

As another example, my cousin was born in Geneva to Anglo-Swiss parents - French is her 'mother tongue', and she also speaks excellent English. She is also able to converse in Swiss-German, Italian and has a proficient level of Spanish now that she is living in Madrid.

And before you write her off as a one-off/freak of nature, I can assure you she is by no means unique. Many Europeans are multi-lingual, and to great effect in terms of their capability and prosperity here in the real world.

Mike,

The solution is to improve the English standard in secondary and university level, cultivate a culture that emphasizes English among the government and private sector. Don’t touch the primary level yet until English become a commonly accepted language among our society.

Of course for those who never agree that English is the ultimate aspect to succeed like me, we can choose to enroll CIS.

Walk before you run.

>>If the writer is really interested in promoting the use of the national
language, then let's agree that all UPSR students of vernacular schools must sit
for the same BM and English papers as their national schools'

There must be a reason why we have a different stream of school in the primary level, why make noise on UPSR? Don’t we go through the same exam in the secondary level?

>>I have met many scholars from
the Philippines who are excellent in Math, Physics, Programming and Geography,
but not in English.

Meaning to says you don’t need good English to be excellent in Math, Physics, Programming and Geography,

>>But how about Intel, AMD, Cisco, 3Com, HP/EDS, HSBC, Citi Group, Nvidia, Microsoft, The Mozilla Foundation, Google, McGraw-Hill, Apple, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, IBM,
Creative, The National University of Singapore, INSEAD, Berkshire Hathaway, and
Nanyang University of Technology?

Look at all the name, not many of them is from UK, another English speaking country, so what is the point? Citi have a lower value compare to some bank from Malaysia and HSBC need capital injection. My opinion is that language may not be the deciding factors to become a technology strong country.

>>Furthermore, most Singaporeans do not use English as their Mother Tongue Language.

No? I even see many urban Chinese and Indian in Malaysia could speak only English.

>>How about the boys behind Pendrive?

This boy can’t speak proper English. He could never achieve the same if he is back to Malaysia. Taiwan and Mainland could provide both the technology and cheap labour.

>>Yes. According to Japan, they invented curry.

What is wrong? Don’t the American used to copy technology from Europe?

You have discussed the controversial issue from many angles and rationally conclude that PPSMI is a serious mistake that the Ministry of Education has committed for the last 6 years, resulting in great disadvantage and poor teaching and learning among the majority of children in early schooling age.

Those urban and wealthy parents, especially the English speaking ones, need not worry so much about the plight of the rural Malays , but for those political leaders and ministers who adopt this irresponsible attitude and policy, they deserve to be punished in the next general election before more serious street demonstrations or even social unrest happen. The time for intellectual dialog, discourse,round table conference, research and memorandum is over.The political complacency and coceit that have been around for decades should end now."The process of history is combustion." (Novalis).

The opposition of the Malays to PPSMI has to do with the fact that Chinese Primary Schools are allowed to teach in Mandarin and English. Textbooks in Mandarin are used side by side with English textbooks. Not surprisingly Mandarin is given priority by Chinese Primary Schools here. However all SKs and SMKs must teach in English when it comes to PPSMI. One wonders why the government does not extend the same 'privilege' to the SKs and SMKs.

For most Chinese pareants with kids in Chinese Schools the PPSMI thing is a non-issue. This is not to say that the Chinese are not passionate about Mandarin. The issue here is how trhe government have manage to placate the Chinese community over the PPSMI.

Ms. Ang, I do not get your "beef", so to speak. Aren't you glad with pride you write such an article using English. I admit English is not an easy language to the uninitiated. It has never been about the ideals but rather the weak and corrupted implementation of the goals - how can we progress when the teachers, who are charged with the responsibility of imparting linguistic skills are themselves not qualified and resent the English language? You can provide the best arguments coupled with impressive charts and tables of doom, I still do not get your "beef". Every time the teaching profession screams, "we can't cope", they get a reprieve and the politicians get on the bandwagon to score points for political mileage. It is a dangerous game they play, especially so, when political sentiments are designed towards one particular race. Please do not highlight the problems only, every one of us can do that. We need solutions!

1. "With English, a small segment that might later pursue tertiary studies requiring Math and Science expertise will have an easier path. But English impedes a greater number of youngsters who find the language barrier hampering their fundamental understanding and interest in Math and Science."

So in other words, are you implying that to be fair to those rural poor who cannot keep up and have never put in the effort to polish their English, those who have the ability be denied their education? That these who can hold the future of our country in their hands, the elite who put their hardwork into life, should be dampened and impeded artificially, denied improvements in the educational system, and asked to tone down to make it 'fair' for those in the rural areas?

2. "Since 1982, all first degree courses have generally been taught in Malay at our public universities. For close to three decades, these tertiary institutions have been producing graduands who obtained their qualifications in Malay."

And pray tell, for more than 25 years after that, how many Nobel laureates, world distinguished graduates and peer-reviewed journal articles have we generated from these public universities? You can no longer argue that the medium of instruction was not in mother tongue, correct? So how many years should we wait for a nobel laureate from these universities? How long should we wait until we decide that our current system that teaches in a scientifically and mathematically impaired and primitive language is not working for us? When will we learn from our southern neighbours?

Why is it that I get this terrible feeling that the writer's main objective is actually to fight for the use of Mandarin for the teaching of Science and Maths by using BM as a camouflage? If indeed she is fighting for the use of BM, then will she agree to drop the national-type schools, all in the spirit of Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa?

Let's have only national schools then. As the way I see it, having 4 types of primary schools is the main reason why we have polarisation in our society.
But that's another topic for another day.
Talking about 'jaguh kampung', will the writer also agree that all students, regardless of whether from vernacular or national type schools should sit for the same BM and English papers for UPSR? As it is today, vernacular schools students have the great advantage of sitting for much simpler versions BM and English papers in UPSR. Their 7As are actually meaningless when it comes to the BM and English papers, which are watered-down versions of the BM and English papers for the national school. If the writer is really interested in promoting the use of the national language, then let's agree that all UPSR students of vernacular schools must sit for the same BM and English papers as their national schools' counterparts.
Otherwise, all this 'cock and bull' stories about fighting for the national language and Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa, meritocracy, etc will be just that, 'cock and bull'.

The backward and lazy people of the rural areas who believe that the Malay language is a sacred pig just need to start learning how to sing a new tune. Get with the times and jive, dudes. But its fine with me if they wanna remain backward and live in caves or on trees (I totally understand how them Aussies got this idea, although it was totally racist).

While I agree with your argument that "Registered patents are one indicator of technology advancement, i.e. which countries are inventing new things.", I urge caution:

It would do well to remember that patent law can differ from country to country, and that it is a tricky business. Some things have been invented, perhaps say by Japan, but a copycat in China may still register it as a patent solely because China does not recognize foreign patents. Cross border disputes on intellectual property are common place nowadays, and we must remember that many things cannot be patented. For example, Malaysia did not patent the concept of keris fighting. We must also remember that some patents are just plain ridiculous. The simplest example would be Japan's patent of curry. Yes. According to Japan, they invented curry.

But for the patents countries hold, please do remember that the commercially important and marketable patents are mainly in the hands of America, which is, may I remind you:
1. English educated.
2. Ethnically diverse.
3. Economically ruined.
4. Has an education system that many other countries emulate.
5. Has employed many of the world's best and most expensive talent, including Einstein who outdid Heisenberg.

So, shall we redo the whole PPSMI debate again with these revelations in mind?

1. "On the other hand, Filipinos are fine in English. Do you ever hear that the Philippines is tops in Math and Science? "

I have yet to meet a Filipino who is 'fine' in English. I wonder what 'fine' means to you. This includes the university lecturers I met, who were at UM for a conference, and had trouble asking for directions to Chinatown. I have met many scholars from the Philippines who are excellent in Math, Physics, Programming and Geography, but not in English.

2. "Furthermore, Math and Science teachers who are themselves deficient in English will not help improve their pupils’ language command. In fact, a likely scenario given the reality of Malaysia is that kids will pick up English grammar mistakes from Cikgu during Math and Science periods."

This is essentially the root of our problem. The problem is not that teaching math and science in English is detrimental towards our children. The problem is not that the rural children are unfamiliar with English. It is that their teachers should be fired and better talent employed for this hallowed task of teaching. There is no point having the blind lead the blind. Teachers, well versed in English, with the necessary qualifications and know their field of study well, should be teaching. Not those who are there because they cannot land a different job or because other jobs require "a good command of English". The exception would of course be for language teachers.

3. "The poor are unfamiliar with English, period. And education is the means of upward social mobility for the poor – their lifeline."

One basic aim of our education system even before the introduction of the PPSMI is to make them familiar with English, unless I am very much mistaken. What you are saying can imply that we should not teach the rural and the poor anything in English except for the language, because they are unfamiliar with it. Then why bother teaching English in the first place? Of course, I am of the opinion that our current system of teaching any language is quite flawed and archaic. while I agree that education is the means of upward social mobility, my observations seem to show that many of the rural poor do not show interest in their children's education. Demographically, some ethnic groups tend to place more emphasis on education than others. How could the majority of Malaysians that speak Malay (which our government claims to be an economic minority) fail to be competitive after so many years of the old system without PPSMI? If we are to help them, why not try something other than the old system? If there was no need to use English for any other period except English, I think there would be no incentive to learn English. English itself is often neglected and badly taught in Malaysia. This is a problem that should be solved before implementing PPSMI, but I think PPSMI does have its merits.

4. "Two countries usually considered technological powerhouses are Germany and Japan. Imagine if German and Japanese children were to be taught Math and Science in English in order to improve their English as well as performance in both subjects."

But how about Intel, AMD, Cisco, 3Com, HP/EDS, HSBC, Citi Group, Nvidia, Microsoft, The Mozilla Foundation, Google, McGraw-Hill, Apple, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, IBM, Creative, The National University of Singapore, INSEAD, Berkshire Hathaway, and Nanyang University of Technology? Together, the above mentioned organizations from English educated regions hold much of the world's technology, finance, education and intellectual properties.

Furthermore, most Singaporeans do not use English as their Mother Tongue Language. I can agree if you say that English IS the mother tongue of UK and US, but what about the many diverse ethnicity of these two countries? Are you going to show me conclusive prove that China or Japan or Germany are going to out do Intel or AMD and replace the world's computers with their technology? I see no such thing over the horizon. Are you going to show me that either of these three countries have a replacement for Microsoft that in 3-5 years time would make Windows obsolete, or reduce it to less than 50% of overall market share? I still see no such thing over the horizon. How about a majority of the world's computer sound chips originating from Creative's patents and early technology? How do you reconcile these proofs against Malaysia? All these countries are just as diverse, or even more diverse in terms of race and ethnicity than Malaysia.

5. "Well, Malaysia produced an SPM student who scored 21As and a clutch of others with almost as many distinctions. What’s the value of Malaysia-calibrated stratospheric achievements? It’s only jaguh kampung, akin to ‘Wira Angkasawan’ but ‘Malaysian space tourist’ to the rest of the world."

And what about the ASEAN scholars in Singapore who frequently impress even the most strict of teachers? How about the Oxford/Cambridge graduates including Tony Pua? How about the boys behind Pendrive? So now these are just jaguh kampung? You mean it was easy to juggle more than 10 subjects at a time? Please, I dare you to say this to the face of the "jaguh kampung" who scored 21As at SPM and prove you can do better.

When we look at Malaysia, we must observe that few, if any Malaysian school teachers encourage head-to-head competition in terms of academics. We were never asked to hone our skills and participate in international olympiads at the secondary level. We were not selected or given chances to be trained or highly primed for a higher level of achievement. Worst still, the over-achievers are always required to slow down so others can catch up. How can be expect education with or without PPSMI to be successful in Malaysia?

However, I still believe that PPSMI is a positive step forward. It is better than deluding ourselves into thinking that as long as our Science and Math are taught in Vernacular languages, students would be able to do better and be more competitive than those in other countries. While I do think that the research in other countries by UNESCO have merit, I think it does not apply well to Malaysia. At least not until we are flexible enough to teach some algebra and calculus in primary school. At least not until we are ready to teach the sciences more accurately in secondary school. At least not until we are ready to encourage the use of the internet to search for references and to make lessons more interesting and motivating for students. At least not until our students start embracing the culture of studying topics of interest such as Physics, Literature, Biology, Philosophy, Critical thinking and Logical Theory on their own initiative, and are willing to search for the necessary resources. And at least, not until we stop using other "successful" non-English countries as an excuse for stagnating. And finally, at least not until we stop thinking that teaching 2 more subjects in English can solve a problem that has been coming at us for decades, or that we think the root of the problem is the medium of instruction, when the instructors and students have serious attitude problems and quality defects.