English not a must pass for SPM?
By KAREN CHAPMAN
KUALA LUMPUR:
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is surprised to learn
that English is not a must pass subject for SPM and wants public
feedback on the matter.
The Education Minister said it was a revelation to him as he had always
thought that it was a prerequisite since students had to learn English in
school.
He was also shocked to learn that national schools no longer taught
English grammar.
I dont know how you can learn English without knowing grammar, he told
newsmen after launching the Kirkby
College alumni
association.
Muhyiddin said students were now merely learning communicative
English.
This means they are picking up the language for communication purposes only,he
said, adding that almost 70% of students who take English pass the subject.
The minister said he would seek public view on the matter.
We may deliberate on it at the ministry level but as Education Minister, I
want to give the public a chance to share their views, he said.
(A pass in English has never been compulsory for SPM. Since 2000, a pass in
Bahasa Malaysia
was sufficient to get the SPM certificate. Previously, a credit was a must.)
Muhyiddin said he wondered if rural students would be at the losing end if a
pass in English was required in SPM.
He also said he did not know if not having to pass English meant the
standard of the language had gone down.
When announcing the SPM results in March, Education director-general Tan Sri
Alimuddin Mohd Dom said 89% of 178,751 candidates had opted to answer the
Additional Mathematics Paper 1 fully in English.
Other subjects which students preferred to answer fully in English included
Additional Mathematics Paper 2 at 86%, Biology Paper 3 (81.5%) and Chemistry
Paper 3 (76.8%).
A retired lecturer and teacher trainer said the teaching of grammar was
integrated into four main language skills - listening, speaking, reading and
writing in English lessons for students.
Check out the bolded parts, tell me if it is funny or downright pathetic?
No, I am not refering to Pak Muhyiddin being surprised or in the dark over the
SPM requirements for English or the teaching method. It is kinda funny yes,
that he didnt aware of things happening right under his portfolio, but hes new
to the ministry so I shall give him the benefit of doubt.
Nevermind, he was surprised over many things and I have no problem with that
for the reason I mentioned above, but I shitted in my pant reading this part:
He also said he did not know if not having to pass English meant the
standard of the language had gone down.
Of course lah, you moron! Being not required to pass English, it
means students can either work less harder or totally forget about the subject
and tell me if that does not contribute to the falling standard of the
language?
Oh shit, we have an idiot as our Education Minister! But, hey
nothing to worry as it is a norm in Malaysia to have idiots holding
important positions. It is not that the previous Education Minister was not an
idiot anyway. Nothing new. Life goes on. It is not even funny anymore to make
joke about them.
Now what I think is funny is how our education system has consistently being
reduced to a worthless paper certificate churning factory with its lowering
standards.
1. English is not a must pass subject
Yes, it A pass in English has never been compulsory for SPM but it would be
good for it to be implemented. To get a pass in a subject for SPM, I believe
you should get marks of 30 and above. If I remember correctly, back in my days
the grading system was something like this:
A1= 85 and above; A2= 70- 84; C3= 60-69; C4=50-59; C5=45-49; C6=40-44; P7=
35-39; P8=30-34; F9= 29 and below.
To get 30 out of 100, I do not think it is really a feat to achieve.
2. Communicative English, forget the grammar
I do not really see how a person is going to learn about a language without
learning its grammar. Do you it is okay to have students putting up sentences
like are happy today because yesterday my boyfriend buy me 4 plate of mee
goreng?I don t really know how they teach communicative English, Cibol did
mention to me something about as long as the student can string up a sentence
and the meaning is there then it is okay. Full mark. Oh, Cibol did a stint as a
teacher last time in Bintulu and he was shocked when he told me that. I was
like Huh? How to learn English properly without learning the grammar?
Does it mean students nowadays can forget about learning English chapters
for present tense, past tense and all the tenses? How about the verbs? How can
you teach something half-baked and not in its pure, original sense? If in
English we have tenses, verbs and in Bahasa Melayu we have tatabahasa.
How about learning Malay language that way too, say for example simply use the
imbuhan awalan - me, men, mem meng, ter, peng, per in front of words like
mengkerja,
termati, pengrogol, memnyanyi? Can?
I suspect it is for grading purpose, to make more students pass the subject.
But, why? Who came up with the idea to teach English this way must be hang,
shot, hang, burned and shot again.
Well, I posted the above news at my Facebook Notes, and received a comment
from a teacher friend:
English teacherss are still teaching the subject properly in school. The
different is, they emphasize more on speaking skill as they try not to be too
exam-oriented.
But, to speak the language you must at least master the grammar and
everything first so you dont sound funny when you communicate no? Whether the
emphasize is on the speaking/verbal communication or exam/written communication,
that is besides the point.
Just for a moment you thought that there are many wise Malaysians out there
with thinking hat and would support if the move to make English a must pass SPM
subject, but no. It is not an official poll or survey and definitely not a
right way to gauge public opinions on this issue but if this piece of news is
to be trusted, I rest my case and weep for this lovely country.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009 09:29
(The Star) PETALING JAYA: Most of the 500 views received by the
Education Ministry as at the end of office hours yesterday are against any move
to make English compulsory in order to obtain the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM)
certificate.
A ministry official said those who contacted the ministry wanted the status quo
to remain.
We started receiving telephone calls from 10am until 5.30pm yesterday,she
said.
>From today, she said people could telephone the ministrys hunting line at
03-7723-7070 with their views from 8am to 5.30pm.
There are 27 lines and we have enough people manning them,she said.
People can also e-mail their views to kp...@... This e-mail address is being
protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or send a fax
to 03-7710-8880.
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had said he was
surprised to learn that English was not a must passsubject for SPM and wanted
public feedback on the matter.
The Education Minister said it was a revelation to him as he had always
thought that it was a prerequisite since students had to learn English in
school.
He said he was also shocked to learn that national schools no longer taught
English grammar.
Muhyiddin said students were now merely learning communicative English.
This means they are picking up the language for communication purposes only,he
said, adding that almost 70% of students who take English passed the subject.
A pass in English has never been compulsory for SPM. Since 2000, a
pass in Bahasa Malaysia
was sufficient to get the SPM certificate. Previously, a credit was a must.
Read the bolded sentences at the last paragraph and tell me if that sounds
right to you? I really dont understand why the fuck, pardon me there -
we are making it easier for students to get their education certificate when in
reality, the outside world is getting tougher for them to compete and live.
So it is no wonder that we have more students getting As and the statistics
showing better results every year compared to the previous years. That probably
explains why are there more complaints by employers about their new, fresh
employees being clueless at their jobs, despite the statistics and results
showing otherwise. Mystery solved.
If this is not going backwards, then I must be walking backwards all this
while when I thought I was moving forward, because obviously my forward and
backward definition are all messed up. Dont geddit? Never mind.
If the Education Ministry is serious about this issue, it should make a
proper referendum. Vijay Murugavell has this to say on the method of getting
public feedback by the Ministry.
I totally disagree with above method of getting public feedback on a
matter of utmost importance to the Malaysias future.
Where is the transparency in 27 hotlines and email feedback ?
No matter what the result it will be disputed. Why not conduct a more
encompassing national referendum ?
In countries in which a referendum must be initiated by parliament it is
sometimes mandatory to hold a binding referendum on certain proposals, such as
constitutional amendments. In countries, such as the United Kingdom, in which
referendums are neither mandatory nor binding there may, nonetheless, exist an
unwritten convention that certain important constitutional changes will be put
to a referendum and that the result will be respected.
By nature of their effects, referendums may be either binding or
non-binding. A non-binding referendum is merely consultative or advisory. It is
left to the government or legislature to interpret the results of a non-binding
referendum and it may even choose to ignore them.
In our case however, I plead that it be a binding referendum, because I
have more faith in the collective wisdom of my fellow citizens than the
government of the day.
Vijay Kumar Murugavell
I could not agree more.
