I have been meaning to rant about this but never got around to it. Now, I am too lazy to pick up the news on the media so you have to rely on what I can remember. Few weeks ago, I read that Education Ministry is still eenie-meenie-mini-mo on whether to stick to English in the teachings of Science and Mathematics or to revert back to Bahasa Malaysia. Later on, they are pondering if our primary school children should learn History or Sejarah. Back in my time, I studied Tawarikh and yet I do not know what a hartal is (because history is ‘what the ruling government wants us to know and not what history actually is’). Some days back, they wanted to introduce the social contract study. I do not know what is a social contract. Oh ya, if I am not mistaken, there was also a proposal to teach Muslims children some interfaith subjects to make them better understand other faiths.
I do get the sinister feelings that our politicians are using our kids to wipe their shits. When something feels wrong, they will immediately point out that it is something to do with our kids. Like say for example, there is not semangat muhibbah, they pump in some projects and studies. Like when we failed to measure up globally, they pump in the teachings of English.
It is actually good when our policy makers take a proactive stand in improving and developing our nations. But as a parent, I feel they are not doing it for that purpose but rather, to use it to make right their wrongs. If we rakyats complained the Government is not doing something, they will quickly quickly stuff some fancy proposals to be implemented in our schools.
I think it is time we stop blaming the problems we face on our children and the education system. The children needs only the basic education. The rest is for us parents to rub it on them. So, to do that, just give us better ‘feel good’ feelings about our Government and we will sing the praises into our children. You want history? Give us real facts and not distort it to favour one political party over the other. Want us to be more understanding and accepting other faiths? Stop all those political lies, twisting God to favour their political party. Want us to be more competitive globally? Stop implanting fears to the citizens that knowing English or Mandarin is going to kill off the whole race (nay, like the stupid debate on what language to use for road signs).
Sekian. Terima Kasih. Sila datang lagi.
Each Education Minister came up with their own (ehem) ‘vision’. Satu masuk, tukar itu ini. The next one pun sama. They want to be seen as policymakers kot, ‘buat kerja’ maaa. Sapa yang menanggung semua tu? Rakyat jugak. Kesian kat the kids, teachers and parents.
Hai….i have a 15 months old daughter, i feel so sorry to bring her to this country. I’m not sure what school to send her in future, i’m not sure what food is safe for her, i’m not sure of a lot of things anymore. Can’t we just raise our kids in peace?
too often politics and education are tied hand in hand even in other developed countries. I always wonder what the kids in other countries read in their history books. I dun care if Hang Tua was of chinese origin or Paramisuara was a Mamak. I dun mind true historical facts being slightly distorted for small children as they will know the truth when they grow up. Remember the saying ‘ u cant use paper to wrap the fire’. Just make the history classes fun for kids and have some kind of consistency n stick to your decisions. dun change tis and tht.
what medium to use ? well, when U try to order some food in a cafe underneath the Petronas twin tower in our ‘wonderful’ capital KL in ENGLISH, only for the waitress to turn around and said she did not understand english, You know there is a serious problem somewhere!! does tht answer yr question? minister?
JT´s last blog post..Poor man’s rolex – Seiko chronograph
Lilian,
have you seen this :
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/29/nation/20081029162845&sec=nation
i really cant understand what these monkeys are thinking!!
Karen´s last blog post..Dreams From My Father
Karen – Actually, I just blogged about it on my faith blog. Yes, yoga, to a certain extent is also against the Catholic faith. It is hard to draw a line where Eastern spirituality comes into play, so I believe there is some basis for the fatwa.
http://www.christian-journey.com/of-islam-and-yoga-malaysiakini-and-my-christians-reasonings/
And if I am you, I wouldn’t want to question what Muftis said because it touches on the Islam religion.
Our children become the guinea pigs for whatever policy changes they implement. Yet, these Ministers’ children are sent overseas to ‘escape’ from these experiments…Tiu!
I concur!