Mahathir is at it again, calling for science and mathematics to be taught again in English in the schools.
His passion for the cause seems to be strong.
Admirable?
We wonder what he had been doing in his 22 long years as the Pm, when he wielded all the powers and everyone was practically pooing in their pants at the mere sight of the great man's shadow.
If he was that intense then, he could have easily seen to it by making it into law that the two subjects be taught in English.
Insisting now for the subjects to be taught again in English when he no longer holds the shots and any remaining cachet as an ex premier he still possesses is fast fading, is not ingenious.
The Umno and Najib led government is unlikely to heed his call. Not that Malaysians generally don't agree with Mahathir on the subject of teaching science and mathematics in English.
Most of us concerned souls, including the enlightened Malay parents, want the two subjects to be taught in English.
They believe that the two subjects being taught in English will help the students in their further studies, as most scientific reference materials, research papers and books are written in English, and also help them later on in their work and be more competitive in an increasingly globalised world.
At the same time, the teaching of the two subjects in English will also help in improving the students' current lamentable mastery of the English language.
In fact, since the change from English medium schools to the Malay medium schools, our students' command of the English language has become a standing joke.
Our graduates find difficulty in securing jobs in the private sector where their poor command of English is a handicap. So, most of them either have to find a job as a civil servant, in an already bloated civil service, or they languish in unemployment for months.
The more enterprising and daring among them may find their way to start a small business or enterprise. But these are the exceptions.
Will the Najib administration revert to the teaching of science and mathematics in English?
This seems hardly likely.
The official sound bites don't seem encouraging, because there aren't any to speak of, in the first place, that give any hope of a reversion to English as the medium of instruction for the two subjects.
And it is not hard to fathom why positive sound bites aren't forthcoming.
Vested interests dictate that you don't throw away the tools that have all along helped you to stay in power by playing the racial card.
You make yourselves the ostentatious champions of language and race, even if the sum result is that by doing so, you might destroy the nation or its prospects.
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