Visionary Templates

Off and on, the Sun provides some really thought-provoking pieces such as this latest nugget from Halimah Mohd Said on reviving the Vision School concept.

 

Among others, she said: “We are too far gone into vernacular education to realise after more than half a century that it has not served national unity and integration well.”   

Halimah (Datin?) is worried over growing divisiveness of a national education system trying to accommodate three different streams replete with their very own linguistic and cultural exclusiveness.

(Digressing a bit but perhaps she should also include a fourth stream which has come out strongly over the last few years in the form of the sekolah pondok type of schools, some of which feature integrated syllabus, and offering far more exclusivity than even the vernacular schools can profess to offer.)

I echo Halimah’s thoughts in the urgent need to bring the diverging schools system together and for the time being, it does look that the Vision School concept is the most viable solution we have.

It is important for the children to be allowed to open up and learn the hotch potch in race, religion and culture “real time” rather than what they could theoretically gain from books.

In book form, such differences can come out very cold and technical. Boring is an apt phrase to be used.

Worse still, things come out all black and white with no grayscale allowed perpetuating an “Us and Them” mentality right from the start.

You’d have to wonder why the concept never did gain the kind of wide acceptance and strong political support it should rightly garner given the national unity objective that it carries.

I would venture that the main problem lie with our inability to do away with the racial distinctions of being Chinese, Ibans, Indians, Malays, Muruts, Sikhs etc etc etc instead of identifying ourselves first and foremost as Malaysians.

50 plus years of independence and we still identify our schools on the basis of their purported main language of use: Malay, Chinese and Tamil.

Throw into the mix with the newer streams in Sekolah Tahfiz – with its predominant Islamic-based syllabus – and the elitist community based International schools – predominant English speaking - and we have a potent divisive foundation on racial, linguistic and class lines all set up for the future.

Is this the kind of future we are offering our kids?

It is time that the education reformists take the Vision School concept a step further than the mere sharing of grounds, facilities and resources.

No: the Vision School should be a sharing of ideals and principles.

Not “You”, not “Me”, but “We” as in “We” are in this together.

And the government should not be put off by the wholly Malaysians’ Malaysia philosophy behind this.

For God’s sakes, can we chuck racial politics out the window for once?

God knows the haste in the need to set up the correct foundation before we all go down six feet under and leaving our legacy of a divisive education system for decades to come.

Parting Gift

PTPTN has apparently frozen all loans to students’ of Selangor’s Unisel.

Apparently, the move is courtesy of Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin as confirmed to Utusan Malaysia.

Of late, PTPTN has come under the limelight of sorts with calls from the Pakatan Rakyat for it to be abolished and for the Federal government to introduce free higher education.

The issue was debated quite extensively by the dynamic of Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin and PJKR’s Rafizi Ramli and I don’t believe that any “correct” conclusion was reached despite the heavily partisanship stance on the matter.

Now, rather than leave things on an intellectual banter level between two foes, along came Khaled Nordin upping the ante with a decision with actual impact.

Come on la En Minister…

I might not agree with the whole abolish PTPTN argument, but this is clearly a discriminatory and spiteful move of a political score.

Who do you think the students will blame for the frozen loans? Pakatan?

I don’t think so. Not when there are already moves to provide interest free loans to students from Selangor.

I mean, even PMNTR did not pilih bulu when he distributed the much maligned BR1M cash handouts, correct?

Elligible Selangorians, Penangites, Kedahans and Kelantanese all got their dues.

In terms of political brownie points, such a move just gives Pakatan the extra ammo - already quite substantial in stock thanks to the NFC, the PKFZ and numerous other public procurement debacles - for their campaigns against Barisan.

Abolishing PTPTN is first and foremost a political talk; the reality is that it is not something QED what’s with the multitude on side issues to tackle.

A roundtable discourse on how best to approach the appreciably noble objective of free – or partially free – higher education would have been the better choice as regards the nation’s best interest.

Not this over-the-top, clearly Partisan’s move.

What bloody shame.

Dandelion Dreams

Cool winds buffeted her as she ran the length of the field
Silk ribbons trailing, her hair, free, flowing
Carefree, she tiptoes over dandelion patches
Patches of whitish yellow pastiches in a canvas green

Clouds, intermittent, pockmarked a bright, bright day
A swirling kaleidoscope of a shadow light show
Rustling leaves hushed tones a bare din of vocal delights
The high notes - laughter, cheery and spontaneous

A tree older than the day’s age stood solitary
Casting a shade oval in shape a comforting cape
Of when the sun is too hot and the wind to cold
To kinder a simmer in play, a slowing of pace and wonder

Lying atop a carpet of grassy snatch untrimmed
She imagines – no, dreams – of butterflies flitting
Jostling and hustling, a whirly merry flight
Flower to flower, stem to stem in touches so slight

She closes her eyes and wishes the day would stay
For second to crawl, minutes to stretch, hours unending
Dawn to noon, to sunset to night as the sun and moon
Exchanges roles, forever saying hello and bidding goodbye

A voice, familiar, a touch recognized so tender
“Time to awake, daughter to shower, to pray
To don your uniform, all crisps and proper
Lest we miss the chime of the first bell ring

There was no field, a duvet the cool, cool grass
A dream? Alas, a sweet passing too soon
“But dad, isn’t today a Saturday, a day to stay
With you, mom, and siblings; to work and play?

Yes, dear, it was but for the decree
Of added hours, a burden heaped on shoulders barely able
The world is in a rush, you see, already behind we lag
You have to cover thus for the years we slacked

She sighs slowly
Her steps ginger
(but) the towel is smooth
(thus) the dream lingers…

Asgradian Thoughts

Unlike the yesteryears, drivers in the morning commute no longer need to endure banal chats and rants of radio deejays with info-focused radio stations around, namely Radio Ikim (for the spiritually inclined) and BFM (for the business orientated).

This morning, for example, I learnt the following from BFM’s much recommended Breakfast Grill:
In Norway, 73 percent of its populace is with tertiary qualifications and their primary schoolers do not undergo graded examination.

Instead the examinations are geared towards assessing if the teaching force (schools, teachers) are doing enough and equipped for the task and responsibility.

For the children, grading starts in their secondary schooling years.

Primary school goers still do homework, learn Norwegian English (hmm, what does this mean?), Math and Science amongst others.

My immediate thoughts were: how carefree – and reminisce that things were not that much different for Malaysian kids all those years ago when the only exam to worry about was the Penilaian Darjah 5 (yep, that’s how old I am).

Even then, not scoring there is not that big a deal although doing so would help get you a shot in one of the, admittedly not many, boarding schools.

Unlike today, tuitions for primary schools weren’t a norm. Schooling days consist of cycling/walking/bus-sing(?) to class in the morning and back in the afternoon, homework or play or both, then off to mengaji Quran in the evenings.

Perhaps I am talking only of my own experience, but my memories of how it was with friends seemed to place this as quite widespread a phenomena.

Thus with this in mind, I am rethinking if indeed the move to scupper the UPSR is a good one. Get rid of any unnecessary stress – and tension – creating item on the children’s part out of the way in the way of building their educational foundation.

Test the teachers and the schools instead by way of the non-graded assessment.

Can we do this, I wonder? What are the pitfalls of doing so?

Do we EVEN need to rock the boat?

Yes, we do. A young nation in a rocketingly competitive world, our children just cannot afford a dysfunctional education system lacking clear direction.

Our University international standing seems indicative of this. University Malaya, arguably the country top tertiary institution, have never been able to replicate its 89th THES (formerly The Times' Higher Education Supplement) ranking of 2004 and is at 207th placing this year.

So, how?

Storied Instructions

“Three countries that outperform us — Singapore, South Korea, Finland — don’t let anyone teach who doesn’t come from the top third of their graduating class. And in South Korea, they refer to their teachers as ‘nation builders.”

The “us” above is the US of A, but it could very well refer to any other country including Malaysia.

There are several good points in the column, including (I think) the following: “There are three basic skills that students need if they want to thrive in a knowledge economy: the ability to do critical thinking and problem-solving; the ability to communicate effectively; and the ability to collaborate.”

Tough call? Perhaps if the rut in the education system is way too deep and too entrenched to rectify and revamp.

Immediately I am thinking of the move to make history a compulsory-pass subject. Will it allow the three elements above come into play?

Much depends, probably, on the way the subjects are being taught in school. I’ve heard of teachers who go beyond their syllabus to make learning enjoyable - dare I say - again…

These are the cream of the crop, and contrary to the view above, I don’t think high grades are the sole criteria for such lofty ambitions. Passion is just important as teachers, too, learn while they teach, don’t they?

I’m wishing, though, that I know how exactly to instill these traits into my own daughter.

Just this weekend, she and her cousins joined their auntie for a jaunt at KL Pavilion, with the Times book store one of the outlets visited.

Clearly in a generous mood, their auntie had acceded to financing their purchases so off they went to the children section.

There weren’t that many books, but still enough to whet any bookworms’ appetite*, but in the end, my daughter exactly what her favorite year-older cousin chose. A diary. One of those lockable types which I know will end up being a doddling book.

Sigh...

She’s always seemed so reluctant to make her own decisions.**

Her younger sister is the exact opposite. Didn’t care what her elder “sisters” were browsing for, saw what she wanted, queried her auntie if the price is within the range permissible and got them. A magazine and an activity book.

She five, going six, but I know the magazine will be read from cover to cover.

Critical thinking and problem solving, communicating and collaborating, eh?

I wonder now if these are skills taught…

* PS: Found a copy of Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess “Instructions”. So beautiful yet so expensive. Tried to be sneaky in getting the girls interested but no such luck.

Ah Well…

** PSS: Perhaps I am being too hasty in my assumptions. Could it be her cousin was the follower instead? I sure wish so...

Capricious Caprice

Suhaimy Kamaruddin has some good ideas of “How Lotus F1 can win the Malaysian Grand Prix”.

He is missing one more, I think: Have politicians drive the two racecars.

I have no doubt there will be ample candidates; hell, the more the merrier and they can take turns if ever they decide who gets to go first, second, third and on.

(This might a bummer of a long while though, something like the effort to revamp the ISA…)

And it doesn’t even matter from which faction they are, as all you need is the good old self-interests-preservation-at-all-cost mindset. They are pretty much good to go from this point.

Speaking of preservations, it certainly looks like some people in this good old land of truly Asians have caught too much of this human rights bug thingy preserved for the land of the Mat Sallehs.

How can they (I assume to be parents) go around speaking about things which the Cabinet had already decided as being for the good of the country’s future?

The Cabinet, mind you: not just by a Minister whose words can be forever misinterpreted, misconstrued, misquoted, and a list of other misses by our reporters/journalists/bloggers/twitters.

Shame on them. Shock! Aghast!

What WERE they thinking about raising frivolous matters like the u-turn in the teaching of Math and Science in English during PTA meetings?

Err.. What are exactly PTA meetings for, really?

Been to one where a whole lot of parents raised matters which they think important for the wellbeing of their and their children’s friends and schoolmates. Things like that.

Parents insisting in raising these macro un-manageable-except-by-politicians (aren’t they ever the versatile chameleon?) issues like the Teaching of Maths and Science in English should really realize their place.

Something along the lines of an alleged statement by a former minister: “Stand for Elections” (or something to that effect).

Let’s just leave the bigger picture managing of the country to those worthy, shall we not?

Capiche?

Disjunctive Cognisance

The “non-political” decision of relieving students from having to learn Maths and Science in a single language (English) has thrown another interesting challenge to the Ministry concerned.

Where the hell do we squeeze the additional plus+plus minutes to “enhance English proficiency”?

Proposed: to reduce the time for the teaching of Music, Science and Physical Education.

Great stuff, this.

Music and PE does nothing to enhance any school’s academic standing, so let’s just slash them away.

Never mind that some students find these periods as comforting breaks.

Or that music enlightens the soul and exercise strengthens the physical.

Science in the pack is a bit of a mystery.

Isn’t this very subject that started all this six years ago? Something about terms being in English causing our students to lag when it comes to mastering Sciences?

Was this a typo? This should be a no-can-go-there territory.

And God forbid anyone from mentioning reducing time for Arabic or Bahasa Malaysia or Pendidikan Islam.

Looks like we can kiss goodbye to Music and PE.

Sorry kids, can’t do much about that.

You have English Lit and Grammar to learn and master, and musical notes and limbering up would not help increase English proficiency.

Obviously in the euphoria of doing away with the six-year old policy, someone had forgotten the needs of the target group: the students, thus the juggling act.

What were they thinking, really?

Manek Urai, perhaps?

Snap elections, maybe?

After all, those wanting the policy to continue are probably urbanites, and many of these are already opposition heartlands anyway.

Makes total sense then why the decision was for mother tongues rather than Bahasa Malaysia. So much for unity in language, eh?

Wonder if Gapena is truly rejoicing this one.

Dear Tan Sri

My humble thoughts are that there is no need to make a pass in English compulsory to obtain the SPM certificate.

Not because English is not important. Far from it, really.

In an age where the children are forever drilled that it is the outcome that matters and not the journey itself, a “must pass” condition seems at odds with this reality and disconcertingly political (with much apologies) in its connotations.

You are already talking about limiting subjects: well and good as it would make learning not a race of how many 1As and 2As instead of the actual gathering of knowledge.

(I would however propose that the limit is set only on what is counted in aggregate for the Certification and NOT in the actual subjects which students can opt to take.

Many – especially those in the secondary levels – are expose to a diverse range of interest and might just want to learn about something other than the core subjects.

Why stop them from doing so if the resources are available for these subjects to be taught?)

Back to the suggestion of making a pass in English compulsory: my thoughts would be that if something likewise is imposed, you shouldn’t stop at a mere pass.

Make it instead at a certain level of competency reflective in the number of years that went into learning the language.

Say, a C. (For competency?)

After all, if one does not even get a pass after learning the language for a good 11 years of their young lives, it is a sign that they have been going through the motions of learning, without getting anything out of the hours of being in the classroom.

Unless the standards are at such high levels, getting a Pass is the least a learning student should obtain.

An argument is that these students might be interested in something else than English.

Well and true, but how one can sit through the hours of classes and not gain anything is a sure sign of a failure in the system.

Perhaps, the “Must Pass” should be on our Education System instead.

I sincerely believe that the learning and teaching of languages (any language, for that matter – even mother tongues) is something of a passion.

Those who have it often go on to become the artisans of the society, adding flair to the hum drum of daily living.

Teaching these students must be a delightful exercise if my former teachers (including informal ones at home, workplace and elsewhere) are of any examples.

They display a willingness to indulge in Q&A’s that could sometimes verge on the nonsensical on the whys and hows and what nots in language usage.

Anyway, with the teaching of Science and Mathematics being in English, passing the actual English language papers must surely be scientifically mathematical.

You can’t learn them without some competency in the language they are being taught in, isn't it?.

Why is there a need for a “Must Pass” then?

Alas, these are only my humble opinions.

There might be other considerations that my myopic mind could not discern, but I do hope these are for the best of our future generations and nothing else.

Best regards,
A Keen Parent

Nuggets on classes from Bill Watterson

Eyes Shut Open

And here we go again.

It’s that time of the year when the supposed crème of our exam oriented educational systems fill the mainstream and non mainstream with stories on the failure of meritocracy in the PSD sponsorship program me.

Fair enough, the system is flawed.

I’ve heard of tales and instances of already listed student ALLEGEDLY delisted just because a big name made a call to insert another.

With emphasis on the word ALLEGEDLY, of course.

So many others have spoken on it that it would be a waste to harp on something which only a total revamp could correct.

Instead I drawing attention to the story gleaned from my better half on her friend.

R was her Law course mate at University Malaya, and one of the better ones too.

Her real passion however was elsewhere, and she apparently took the course to appease her parents’ wishes.

The deal (as the hearsay story goes) was that she was free to do her subject of choice after succeeding in obtaining an Honours degree.

That was exactly what she did, and with the hurdle crossed, R then took a divergent route into the artistic world of showbiz.

Last I read, she is still going strong.

R is one of the luckier ones in realizing her forte early on, something that cannot be said for so many others.

Our choking emphasis on examinations and the number of 1As (it used to be A1s in my time), I sincerely believe, has led to some bright sparks to fall sway just because they can’t hack it, for one reason or another.

Many are now concerned more with the destination instead of the journey that the latter is seen as a burden instead of the joy it's meant to be.

Education is supposed to be about acquiring knowledge and skills.

It seems to me that our children are now being rushed to complete syllabuses instead.

Understanding and appreciating nuances in the knowledge: Secondary.

Admittedly, an emphasis on understanding against pure rote learning could see classes bogged down.

Fast forward, not much of these inputs would be used by the aged children anyway.

Sigh....

Like sleeping the whole train journey across Europe.

Untitled piece by Korean-born artist Amy Sol

Yet we all bled the same

DC Comics Mr Freeze

Rocky’s “1 Sekolah Untuk Semua” had me clicking the link to sign the petition on something I truly believed in.

My enthusiasm however froze soild as soon as I read the opening remark in Bahasa Malaysia on the whole thrust of the petition and I closed the link with some disgust and sadness.

The whole bit of “us and them” was none too subtle and far too brutish for a petition that is supposed to unite the children (sons and daughters) of Malaysia.

It is somewhat racists to be putting the blame (all and sundry) on the vernacular schools for the listed ills.

The presumptions made here are far too generalized to be correct, and smacks instead of a certain vindictive feelings and emotions rather than sound, factual judgment.

I do wonder as to why the English write-up is far gentler in its language.

Perhaps that bit should hold more prominence for something so noble in principle.

Yes, we do need a single, unified, schooling system and, like many others, I sincerely do not believe the current one is good for the country’s future.

Talks of creating an English mainstream worry me more as it would only create yet another strata in the educational hierarchy of our children.

We need these like we need a tumor in our brain cells.

For the national schools to fulfill what its moniker conveys, it has to be able to draw every parent to think: “my children will benefit from going to so and so school”.

Right now, rightly or wrongly, there is the perception that some (not all, okay) vernacular schools are better at producing high scoring students while national schools (again, not all) suffer from the (some not so ill-conceived) notion that they are essentialy Malay/Islamic centric establishments.

Nothing wrong with the second percept except for the much sullied reputation of the religion courtesy of the many deviants in its followers.

Gone is the thrust that Islam propagates the intense gathering of knowledge, replaced instead with presumptions of backwardness and whatevernot else.

If we can turn national schools into the epicenter of excellence (in all sense of the word – studies, arts, sports ), then there is no real reason for some parents to feel as though they are sending their children on the road to failure by enrolling them at national schools.

In the meantime and until it discards such racist presumptions, count me out from “1 Sekolah Untuk Semua”.

(Read:
"I don't make way for gorillas."
"Ah, yes, but I do." )

Sugary Sweet

Finally, it has come down to seven options.

“It” being the teaching and learning of Maths and Science in English in schools.

I wonder what would be going through the minds of our Cabinet Ministers when the matter comes to a head and needs resolving.

Hopefully no one is thinking about scoring any political brownie points, despite the obvious popularity of such a move.

On my part as a parent whose eldest daughter would be amongst the ten of thousands of children making their first step into formal education, I fail to see the benefit of taking a retrogressive step by going back to the mother tongue in both subjects.

The way forward is always fraught with the need to push and step up in efforts.

It’s really no different here.

While it may be true that the usage of English seems to give an undue advantage to the urban and suburban students over those in the rural areas, this is a matter that could be resolved with the appropriate human resources policing.

(I say seems because personal experience shows that the so-called advantaged group has equally atrocious grasps of the language. Perhaps a different set, then..)

A particular advantage in pushing for the continued teaching in English for the two subjects is – in my mind, at least – that it would “force” students into practical usage of the globally accepted language.

Students (except for some select few) generally do not put too much stock into learning a language, as it seems to be something learnable at home and elsewhere.

In other words: they are taken simply for granted.

It’s the same for any language, be it English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin or Tamil.

Perhaps it is this deterioration that is prompting champions of the mother tongue to push the discontinuation of English as the teaching medium.

Could it be that the case of a fear that the language would eventually die a natural death for a lack of impetus in their continued use as a commercial language?

Like I said, there’s a good deal of brownie points to be made.

My hope is that current sweet needs are tampered with the realization that too much would lead to the future risk of diabetes.

Ten for a moment..

Terminal Tunnel Vision Patients

Jeffrey Archer’s A Quiver Full of Arrows has this short story entitled “Chunnel Vision” which tells of a man transfixed with HIS own fixations that he failed to see anything else.

If my recollections are correct, the tale has it that he had gone on and on about a possible book he would be writing to an author friend at a hotel whilst his (soon-to-be former) girlfriend indulges in some extravagant dining exercise.

At HIS expense, of course.

Hence the title, a cheeky attribute to the medical condition in the loss of peripheral vision. You can read the story here .

My mind drifted back to (Sir) Archer’s story upon reading this particular comment from NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng:

“When you are taught a subject in a certain language for six years, you should improve in the language. There should definitely be progress; otherwise it means the teachers are not doing their jobs. We need to analyse the different groups of children's achievements. For example, how many students got Es in the subjects?”

This comment was made in the heels of a reported 4.4 per cent increase of A scorers in English and a 4.8 percent increase in overall competency (A,B and C), a 46.6 per cent of pupils (or 238,153 in figures) choosing to answer Mathematics in English and 31.1 per cent (159,234) for Science.

These figures are astounding especially compared to last year: 0.2 and 0.3 per cent respectively.

NUTP had sometime back voiced its opposition to continuing the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English in one of the mainstream newspaper, so the reaction was perhaps understandable.

Shouldn’t however the fact that more children are finding English to be something neither foreign nor incomprehensible rejoiced?

I find the NUTP’s wanting to still finding flaws in the face of such positives bewildering.

In any education system, there will be failures. Most of the time, it's the result of multiple diverse causes and not necessarily the education systems or the language used in its delivery.

Unless all those who tackled Maths and Science in English had actually scored badly, what would be a cogent reason for backtracking a policy that helped increased significantly our students’ confidence in the language?

Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was spot on when he was cited as saying:
“…it answered the emotional outbursts following the implementation of the policy, as if it will jeopardise the future of our children.”

There was nonetheless still a proviso:

"This does not mean that the policy was right. It also does not mean that we will not make changes.”

Can’t blame the Minister as he is, after all, a politician, and a good one always gives face.

I just hope the Minister and the Cabinet members would put in their minds the faces of these children with their newfound confidence before deciding on the issue.

(Perhaps I am the one afflicted by this ailment? After all there were some reductions in the number of A's in both subjects...)

Formal Sex

I am curious: How did we learn about “the birds and the bees” before this current situation of information overload?

Is sex still very much a taboo subject when it comes to talking about as a serious educational subject matter?

I chance upon this very informative and relatively detailled article entitled (quite coyly, if I may say so) Private Practices: The Doctor Says , in The Star; which writes at lenghts about sexual practices including a section on DIY (quite imaginative subheading from the good doctor!).

It goes about the subject in a highly “matter-of-fact” manner, unlike the one which got the now defunct Weekend Mail into trouble.

Anyone remember the survey done on Malaysian’s most preferred position? But then again, the WM was already stretching the moral ruling a wee bit with its Campus hotties feature.

With the best of efforts, I remember my first ever source of sex education: a (not so ) cleverly hidden Playboy magazine which showed a very, very young boy some very curvaceaous females in various lusty poses, clad in nothing else but their undies.

It was a very exciting discovery for me, but alas, one not lasting as the thick mgazine – which were also cut out in some pages - was no longer underneath the thick mattress in a room onn the fitrst floor when I went for second round of “reading” it.

Similar chance exposure came off and on, mainly from video tapes brought back by other uncle’s - mostly from horror movies, a genre which back then were filled with sex scenes just right before the victims would meet their gory end.

These were also fleeting moments as all the children would be shooshed away beyond the watching zones.

There were also novels – Mills and Boon, Harold Robbins (1916 – 1997) - about that provide the most vivid portrayals of sexual shennanigans, but they were way too thick and way too texty for a young boy to read, so for most of the time, I’d just skimmed through the pages seeking for THE part.

Formally, though, the first ever introduction to sex education was, of course, none other than the subject of biology during my secondary schooling days.

By that time, many of us pretended to know what it was all about and there were red faces when the topic came up.

I still remember my biology teacher (first name Faridah) who was easily one of two sexiest female teachers in my college then, the other being our English teacher whose name I sadly cannot recall.

Cikgu Faridah – who was also well known for being very stern when she’s angry - normally dresses in tight Kebaya that often showed enough glimpse of her curves to those who dared lift their eyes from the text books while she was teaching.

She would chide us for giggling or being red-faced during the topic of human reproduction system and say somethings along the lines of” “Why should you be ashamed for something that is very normal?”

Perhaps, but by then we do hear of fantastic stories of sexual encounters by some of the ”macho’er” college mates with their girlfriends which might or might not be true, but which nonetheless fired up the fertile, young imaginations.

It was only during my stint in the UK when I found out that the “dirty pictures” I came across all those years ago in the hidden Playboy were among the more decent ones in markets were such magazines were available to the public.

These and some easily accessible blue video (as they were known then) made sex their main subject, but instead of educating, the act was instead commercialised to the extreme end that it become soulless.

Anyone remember this one: a couple married for quite some time but still without any children went to a medical practitioner with their problem. When asked how they made love, the couple - quite forthcoming - said they did exactly what the porn actors and actresses did!

(If you don’t understand the punchline, you have truly led a pious and healthy life.)

We might not be opening ourselves to such a concept of “dirty magazines” for the public eyes, but the borderless world of the Internet meant that there is simply no such need to be in place.

A single click is all it takes to access for really foul sites which make sex the dirty word that it was not meant to be.

Cikgu Faridah may have had a coy smiled on her all those years ago when talking about it, but she was spot on in her remark.

Is it too late for us to re-teach this same notion to the younger generations?

(Do read also Dina Zaman’s “Youth, Sex and Doing Business” for a particularly disturbing look on this matter.)

Paradox of Choice

More choices far better than none

Things are coming to a full circle to some in India from reading International Herald Tribune’s “the paradox of 'choice' in a globalised culture” .

One sentence in the two-paged article reads: “They tell of brigades of young men shattering the windows of shops and restaurants whose signs declare their names only in English, not in the regional language Marathi.”

It is disconcerting to note some similarities in the examples quoted in the article with what is happening in our country where job opportunities and mastery (or the very least, being conversant in) the English language are invariably intertwined.

How many of out local graduates loose out when it comes to the real world due to poor command of the globally accepted business and commercial language?

With India being a well known location for outsourcing, being conversant in a language once deemed colonialists is well nigh important and a way out of poverty for many.

The article it very much open-ended and does not draw any particular conclusion, but the author seems to suggest that choice in the cut throat global scenario is not really a choice, but a necessity borne out of a need to survive.

It also spoke of early and late adopters: the former having formed a barrier to the entrant of the latter in a circle of elitist.

Back to here.

Our country had such a strong foundation to build from, where our global commercial capabilities were concerned.

Imagine it: we could have been a nation on multi-linguists. We should have had a nation of hard working populace who could speak English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil, Arabic, Dutch, Japanese and others; given our diverse lineage of races and cultures.

We could have exported our expertise to any corner of the world.

Detractor might say that the United States had a bigger melting pot and yet they did not adopt such a move. To that I say, who cares about others.

It was unfortunate that we did not embark on such a liberalized education systems those days that would have given birth to such a gifted populace much, much earlier.

A sporadic few who are multi-lingual are testament to what could have been.

Instead, more than 50 years after being allowed to decide on our own future, we are still bickering whether or not we should be using English in the teaching of Math and Science when in fact it should be a given choice in order to improve our standing in the global world.

The so-called paradox of choice becomes irrelevant when one is stuck with but a single option, isn’t it?

Bahasa Inggeris

It's the “sounds correct, sounds wrong” method .

Finally someone comes up with a name for the way that I believe many of us learned and mastered (sort of, at least) our English.

Just like any other languages, mastery comes from usage. Practice, after all, makes perfect.

I was fortunate to have been born in a family of school teachers and back in the early 1970’s, it seems that the majority (maybe, all) of the text books were in English and there is no other way to understand all the gooblegegook printed inside than to learn the language.

Developing an early love for books came quite easy for me as my grandparents (who raised me) allowed me a free rein on the many available stocks courtesy of my two aunties and one uncle who were school teachers.

There were certainly a whole lot of wonderful things within the many books, and my favorites are those on geography and history, for the simple reason that they have pictures to accompany the text.

I did not start my lessons in English by learning grammar. That comes later when I attended formal primary and secondary school, but even without it, I managed fine.

Today, our education is yet again at another crossroad: should or should we not continue teaching Math and Science in English.

To borrow a quote from a native English speaker Frank Bruno: “there are pros and cons for, and there are pros and cons against”. This is a no-brainer really, just as it is a no-brainer that if we revert back to status quo, what’s left is only Bahasa Inggeris to learn English.

Learning a subject is never an easy thing: I took of Japanese some time ago but with little in opportunities to practice the language, I’m stuck at Arigato Gozaimashu and Sayonara: just the basics and nothing more.

It would be a brave thing to allow our next generation stuck with a single avenue to use the global language in school.

The argument of rural against urban schools does not hold much water as I have seen the so-called qualities of the urban English and they are just as bad. They do get away with chatter box English though, picking up from here and there, especially the idiot box; something which does not pass muster when it comes to the actual usage in business and work.

Even as the crescendo of arguments for and against becomes louder, along comes a study by UPSI (At least it wasn’t by Universiti Tun Hussein Onn!) which found “the majority of students still find it hard to follow Mathematics and Science lessons in English”.

Probably true, as I found it difficult to learn the two subjects even in Bahasa Melayu (or is it Bahasa Malaysia?).

The truth is that these two subjects are among the toughest notwithstanding any language they are being taught in.

If not the two subjects, which ones then? Geography and history, perhaps? The text heavy based learning required from both subjects would make it an even more unlikely route to adopt.

In the end, Bahasa Inggeris would be “it”.

Back to square one.