The Teaching of Maths and Science in English

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Dr M slams Education Blueprint for ignoring him on the teaching of Maths and Science

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today reiterated his earlier stand that schools must teach Science and Mathematics in English.

He was commenting on the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025, which was unveiled last month by Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Dr Mahathir went on the offensive today, claiming that he had given a lot of input for the blueprint and yet, very little of what he said was used by the Government.

"The Government is focusing too much on Bahasa Malaysia. The Malays, however, are not experts in science and technology. This kind of knowledge comes from the West and the information is mostly in English," he added.

Noting that the Government had instead followed the advice of National Laureate Datuk A. Samad Said by reverting to teaching both subjects in the national language, Dr Mahathir said this would only hamper the country's development.

"He (Samad) only knows about Bahasa Malaysia. He is not a Science man. I am a Science man and I can still speak in Malay," he pointed out, adding, "This is why I keep talking about it."

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir joked that he would like to be the prime minister again, after being told that he was recently voted the most popular Umno leader.

Malaysia's prime minister of 22 years scored 79% satisfaction level among 600 Umno supporters in a survey which was conducted last month by the Merdeka Centre.

"I financed them," he quipped at a press conference today, causing the room to erupt in laughter.

Even though he resigned as prime minister 10 years ago this month, Dr Mahathir fared better than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who scored 69%, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (58%) and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (54%). - October 1, 2013. - Source

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I agree with teaching Maths & Science subjects in English. It is the correct thing to do. Unfortunately, it faced a lot of objections from various quarters including teachers. I noticed that parents, in general, are quite supportive of it, in urban areas anyway. Not too sure about the rural folks. But the most vocal group are the educator themselves.

I suspect it is due to the language barrier, or rather the lack of English language proficiency of the people in the ministry & schools. Teachers in national & vernacular schools struggled with this policy. The question is, when the government decided to abolish it, was it done in the interest of the students or the adults.

Why does the government like to do things on an ad-hoc basis? It's always firefighting. Everytime a policy is changed, it involves not just huge amounts of funds, it also affects the students, parents & country. It proves that the Ministry of Education & Education Department is inefficient.

Obviously, the teachers of these 2 subjects must possess a certain level of English proficiency. Those who are lacking in this department should be retrained. Else, find a suitable candidates.

The overall standard of English must be raised. It has a direct bearing on the country's competitiveness and human capital.

I wish, for once, they would stop political meddling in education.

I'll end this post with a piece of good news regarding education.

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Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan arrive in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

RM100mil boon for Xiamen University Malaysia campus 

KUALA LUMPUR: Xiamen University – China’s first university to be set up outside that country – received a boon with a RM100mil donation by local tycoon Tan Sri Robert Kuok for its campus in Malaysia.

Kuok, based in Hong Kong, gave the money to build a university library, which will be part of the main building.

This was announced by Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting, the Prime Minister’s special envoy to China, during a luncheon attended by President Xi Jinping here yesterday.

Tan Sri Robert Kuok

Present were Kuok, businessmen and representatives from non-governmental organisations.

The Malaysian campus of the Chinese university will be built in Salak Tinggi, about 16km from the KL International Airport in Sepang.

It is expected to be operational in September 2015.

“While Chinese education is well protected here in Malaysia, the Chinese community here mingle with other races and live in harmony,” said Ong.

Xi, in his speech, said the Chinese diaspora in most countries were successful.

He joked that some China nationals thought that Malaysian singer Fish Leong was from China.

“We have 40 years in strong diplomatic ties with Malaysia and I hope this will last,” he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Ong said Xi told him that he and his wife Peng Liyuan tried durians on Thursday night and enjoyed it.

Ong said this was Xi’s second visit to Malaysia after visiting Sibu, Sarawak, 20 years ago. - source

MCA - The knives are out!

Dr Chua Soi Lek - pix source

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — The storm in a teacup that is MCA’s dismissal of veteran politician Datuk Lee Hwa Beng is an indictment of how little its affairs still mattered to those outside the party, according to two political analysts. Saying the ripples of the unexpected intrigue will not resonate beyond the walls of Wisma MCA, they brushed off the move as just another by president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek to consolidate his power in a party struggling to reconnect with the Chinese community it professes to represent. “It has come to a point where we are just looking at how low MCA can go... a political party that does not win elections is not a political party,” political analyst Khoo Kay Peng told The Malay Mail Online when contacted. .....

... Lee has set tongues wagging since Thursday, after he posted a series of tweets claiming that he was sacked from the party for apparently inviting DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang to the launch of his book, “PKFZ: A Nation’s Trust Betrayed”, last year. Lee, once Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairman, later alleged that his sacking was aimed at stopping an “Anything but Chua Soi Lek”, or ABC, movement that he professed to have started in a few states. The boot also came just a week after Lee was elected as a central delegate for MCA’s Kelana Jaya division. ...

.... Chin was equally dismissive of the consequence Lee’s expulsion would have on the party, noting that he was not a party warlord, a power broker in the party or a leader with a strong support base. ....

.... “Chua Soi Lek is in control. There is no suggestion that he is not in control at the moment. No other leader is able to challenge his control of the party and they have not pulled themselves together.” Khoo noted that the EGM was a calculated move by Dr Chua, since little support among party delegates was going Liow’s way ― even key leaders formerly in ex-president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s camp were now seen as aligned to Dr Chua, despite the two’s bitter rivalry over the presidency previously. “We don’t see many lining up behind Liow and some key people who were with the Ong Tee Keat camp are now aligned to Chua... he is a very smart politician,” Khoo said, referring to Dr Chua. ....

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/lees-sacking-just-another-hole-in-sinking-mca-ship-analysts-say#sthash.FnJF6Kam.dpuf

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Lee Hwa Beng - pix source

Looks like the campaign ( “Anything but Chua Soi Lek”, or ABC) against Dr Chua has claimed it's first victim, Lee Hwa Beng (ex-State Assemblyman for Subang Jaya). MCA just loves to fight don't they. It must be a Chinese cultural thing. Fight, fight, fight.

Anyway, Lee Hwa Beng will not be missed. Especially not in Subang Jaya where they have found a new Christian leader who trounced Gan Meng Foo of MCA last election & Lee Hwa Beng before that. When a 3-term state assemblyman (Lee) can be defeated by a first-timer with no experience, what does that say about the incumbent & his party?

If the reports are correct, that Chua Soi Lek indeed commands the the majority of grassroot support, then I don't see any reason to force him to resign. They have got to stop mucking around with the grassroots. If this ends up with another "peace plan" arrangement like the the previous ones, they might as well dig in at MCA's assets and call it a day.

And the Chinese can go suck on an egg, figuratively speaking of course :)

National Service Programme

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All in the name of racial integration. All these ideas, efforts and programmes are implemented with the excuse of promoting racial integration... using our kids.

My question is, is it the kids' fault for racial polarisation in the first place. No? Then why are we blaming them & using them?

Isn't it the adults who are the cause for racial & religious problems? If so, should it be the adults who should attend these camps, starting with the politicians first?

What is wrong with people these days. Some defend this NS programme with silly reasons. Some oppose it for a myriad of reasons as well.

To me, logic prevails. I do not agree with this NS programme. Most parents do not agree.

But yet, despite strong and vocal opposition, it was forced upon us, all in the name of racial integration. Since 2003, it's been 10 years now. Did it achieve the desired results? I highly doubt so. What it managed to achieve is to make parents hate the government more, especially those whose kids suffered injury, and death.

It's always easy to prescribe solutions for symptoms. The real cure is too difficult, if not impossible, to carry out. They target schools, vernacular schools, force non-Malay kids to mix with Malays. They set up camps to force non-Malay kids to mix with Malay kids. When you force people to do things against their will, do you expect them to respect and like you? Will it create more animosity or less, towards the government?

More importantly, why muck around with people's life & kids?

If you must insist on carrying on with this silly programme, make it voluntary instead of compulsory.

Read more here

Rupert Sheldrake - The Science Delusion

This is an interesting video which I would like to share. 

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 80 scientific papers and ten books. A former Research Fellow of the Royal Society, he studied natural sciences at Cambridge University, where he was a Scholar of Clare College, took a double first class honours degree and was awarded the University Botany Prize. Apparently, he was once based in the Botany Department of the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, from 1968 to 1969,  where he studied rain forest plants. Read more here

Anyway, back to his talk about scientific dogmas, debunking what is believed as constants. He speaks about the speed of light, which experiments have shown, does not travel at a constant speed. And gravity as well. Towards the end, he briefly mentioned the human mind.

People should be able to question and enquire. People should learn to investigate instead of believing blindly. Find the truth. Kids are born to be curious. It is nature's way to help them learn. Unfortunately, it's the adults who suppress and impose conformity upon them. The kids then grow up losing that ability to think. Such a pity.