WE WANT SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS IN ENGLISH!

“PPSMI issue closed!” This is the headline in most of our dailies today. As a parent and a lecturer I am truly saddened by the outcome but I believe the final outcome is yet final, after seeing what happen in the middle east, I am confident that the people power will speak for itself, if not now, very soon.
I have two daughters that will be affected by this decision and many millions of “Anak Malaysia” will be affected. The very first instinct as a mother is to stand up and do something. As an academician myself I believe I can do something for my children, I can give extra classes to them, converse with them in English, buy them English materials and equip them to my best ability. To the more financially sound group they can send their children to International School and eventually overseas…..……….but to many million parents out there, they are simply helpless.
Whether those who are in support of PPSMI is of the minority group or not, this simple philosophy of using English to teach both Mathematics and Science should not be debated in the very first place and I find it quite ironic that we parents have to put up so much fact and come up with petitions in order to plead our policy makers/education ministry to please give us an option, yes an option ONLY…. I find this quite pathetic.
The new schooling year is less than 2 months away, yet no concrete information is being shared with the parents. I just heard from a friend who is teaching in a SJKC that for primary school students, Science and Mathematics will only be taught in Chinese for those who are going into Standard 4 (my elder daughter’s group). Can one imagine our education system (Standard 1-3, bilingual, Standard 4-6, Chinese, Secondary 1 – 5, Bahasa and in English thereafter). Yesterday I made a trip to a local bookstore, I could hardly find Science and Mathematics books (for year 4) in bilingual and worst still no more Science and Mathematics in English for Standard 1-3 at all.
Well, if we have to fight, we have to fight… for our children and for our nation. This battle is not against individuals but unseen forces that are at work. Never have I seen such a unity among strangers , strangers who fight for a common cause, the battle is not over but in fact it is just the beginning. No one can ever doubt the extend and influence of people power of a nation. Fellow Malaysians, it is time we wake up from our slumber , be concern of what’s happening, clear our eyes and ears and ACT in whatever capacity we could.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Heard over the radio that Apple Ex-Founder and CEO passed away yesterday. I'm not a technology savvy person but being a lecturer I used quite a lot of references and examples in my lectures and Apple was one of the most mentioned company and I always relate the company and the founder, Mr. Steve Jobs as a leader in innovation. I stumbled upon this video and found that there are life lessons that we could all learned out of his speech. Again it reminds all of us that life is fragile, lets live to the fullness. Let's pray for the family as they dealt with the loss. As far as situation allows, I will continue to quote this company and its legendary founder.

Beh "Tahan liao"

This morning I snapped at college, really "beh tahan" liao, besides delivering my usual class lecture, I decided it's time I deliver a "personal how to behave like a student" lecture. I spelled out my expectation to the students clearly as below:

1) Be punctual to class
2) Keep their h/phones all super silent and no "SMS" during lecture, very disrespectful
3) Do all activities required, stop giving lame excuses
4) Show me a little initiative... so far they are very dissapointng
5) I told them if they are just killing time attending college, then.. it's so sad
6) Finally their dress code and posture in class, one even sits with her both feet on the chair (just imagine!!!)

Well, welcome to the world of lecturing eh... let's hope I still keep my job after the lecture session.... teachers/lecturers nowadays need to clean up a lot of attitude problem and really have to involve in character building, I mean real basic character and manners education. I'm hoping to start a blog on education, I'm sure a lot of teachers out there got a lot to share and burst about...