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PPSMI: Lepas ini kita ajar Perdagangan dalam bahasa Cina ya

Posted on by Helen Ang

Pada 2010, Zhongguo (China) mengalahkan Jepun untuk menduduki tempat kedua di dunia mengikut ukuran saiz ekonomi negara. Berdasarkan harga pasaran semasa, ekonomi nombor satu dunia setakat ini masih Amerika Syarikat.

Namun The Economist dalam lidah pengarangnya bertajuk ‘Becoming number one‘ (24 Sept 2011) menjangka Zhongguo akan berjaya mengatasi prestasi AS menjelang 2016 memandangkan tahap ekonomi tanah besar Cina sekarangpun menjangkau AS.

Malah ada sesetengah yang menganggap gelaran ekonomi terbesar dunia kini sudah menjadi milik Zhongguo.

Dari The Economist (klik)

Pakar-pakar ekonomi telah membuat unjuran Zhongguo akan mencapai 23% GDP dunia kelak (lihat carta, ramalan tahun 2030) atas nilai kesetaraan kuasa beli (purchasing-power parity). Dibandingkan pada waktu itu AS dijangka akan menyumbangkan 12% Gross Domestic Product dunia.

“The global economy will remain unipolar, dominated by a ‘G1’, Mr Subramanian [of the Peterson Institute for International Economics] argues. It’s just that the one will be China…”

ruj. ‘The celestial economy‘ (The Economist, 10 Sept 2011)

Kiraan Arvind Subramanian mendapati bahawa ekonomi dunia masa depan akan dikuasai oleh hanya satu superpower, yakni dominasi (“unipolar”) yang berpaksikan Zhongguo.

Justeru itu, kita tidak hairan melihat terdapatnya negara-negara Eropah berpaling kepada Zhongguo untuk menyelamatkan matawang Euro yang tergugat ekoran Yunani dan beberapa ahli EU lain hampir muflis. — ruj. ‘The euro-zone crisis: China to the rescue?‘, Associated Press (29 Okt 2011)

Orang kita yang memuja BI

Pendokong-pendokong PPSMI mahu matapelajaran Sains dan Matematik diajar dalam bahasa Inggeris kerana mereka kata Inggeris merupakan bahasa pengantar kertas-kertas kajian sains dan teknologi.

Berlandaskan rentak hujah PPSMI ini serta tanggapan umum bahawa orang Cina pandai berniaga, maka matapelajaran Perdagangan harus diajar dalam bahasa Cina.

Perhatikan bagaimana orang Amerika dan orang putih yang lain sedang berlumba-lumba untuk mengambil kursus Mandarin kerana Zhongguo kian mendominasi bidang peniagaan antarabangsa.

Para ibubapa yang taksub kepada PPSMI hari ini akan mendesak di kemudian hari agar sekolah-sekolah kita menyediakan pilihan bahasa Cina untuk anak mereka mempelajari subjek Perdagangan.

Bahasa kebangsaan dan resam dunia

Pada 2008, Hadiah Nobel untuk Fizik dimenangi tiga saintis keturunan Jepun (dua orang warga Jepun dan seorang Jepun-Amerika) kerana menjumpai mekanisme “spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics” bersangkut-paut dengan kewujuduan sekurang-kurangnya “three families of quarks”.

Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi dan Toshihide Maskawa yang dianugerahkan Nobel Fizik memperolehi izajah sarjana mereka dari Universiti Nagoya dan Universiti Tokyo. Diketahui seantero bagaimana masyarakat Jepun begitu membanggakan bahasa ibunda serta betapa berteraburnya remaja Jepun ketika bercakap Inggeris.

Adakah anda ingat bahawa profesor-profesor Nambu, Kobayashi dan Maskawa dididik dalam BI sewaktu di sekolah dulu?

Siapa di rantau ini yang pandai bahasa Inggeris? Jawapannya orang Filipina.

BI diuar-uarkan kaum Bangsar Malaysia sebagai azimat tetapi apa mujarabnya bila rakyat Filipina yang fasih bertutur Inggeris terpaksa pula bekerja sebagai pembantu rumah di negeri orang?

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Disyorkan baca surat kepada pengarang (Nov 14) oleh Feizrul Nor Nurbi yang berpesan supaya kita tidak mengambil jalan pintas dengan membelakangkan bahasa kebangsaan. BI bukannya lampu Aladdin memberikan penyelesaian mudah. 

Akan bersambung … Menyangkal dakwaan Dr M yang mudah lupa

Anda mungkin juga meminati:

Apa kurangnya BM?

Maths and science: The case for BM

Pakatan ‘agree to disagree’ (again?) this time on PPSMI

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27 thoughts on “PPSMI: Lepas ini kita ajar Perdagangan dalam bahasa Cina ya”

  1. Ini ada satu lagi pandangan dari orang bukan Melayu:
    http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/why-english-ah/

    There have been some calls that the reason why Malaysians don’t speak Bahasa Malaysia well stems from our frustration with racial politics. It’s our sneaky way of fighting back Malay imperialism, you see, even though it disenfranchises us even further.

    I’m familiar with this argument because it has been the excuse I have used for years.

    However, after working with rural communities of all races, I have realised that Bahasa Malaysia is what unites us all, especially from different economic segments of society.

    Sebenarnya salah satu sebab ini semua terjadi adalah kesalahan Mahathir juga.
    ___________________________________________________________________________

    Yup, Dr M memperjuangkan PPSMI bagai tikus membaiki labu. — Helen

  2. Helen,

    Sebenarnya ada pendapat di kalangan orang UMNO yang pejuang bahasa ini tak mahu anak-anak diaorang pandai cakap orang Putih. Mereka kata kita dengki. Ini pemikiran mereka selalunya semuanya sebab dengki.

    Saya nak tanya juga la, Mahathir yang belajar perubatan ada tulis buku yang berkualiti pasal perubatankah? Adakah mana-mana anak Bangsar elit yang menjadi saintis yang menyumbang kepada negara secara umumnya. Saya tak nampak ada, kalau ada yang berjaya dan menyumbang saya minta maaf.

    Tapi umum tahu sumbangan yang dimainkan oleh Maktab Perguruan Sultan Idris ke arah kemerdekaan.
    _______________________________________________________________________________________

    Kamal,

    Kata Profesor DiRaja Ungku Aziz:     “Apa bahasa matematik? Bahasa simbolik, angka, semua simbol. Matematik ini bahasa simbolik. Kalau guna bahasa Inggeris untuk belajar Matematik, pilih bahasa Inggeris untuk belajar Matematik, (itu tindakan) gila.”

    “Kalau hendak belajar bahasa Inggeris dengan bahasa matematik, bagaimana boleh belajar?” katanya di hadapan 150 pendidik sekitar Selangor. Baca sini.

    Takkan ada orang nak tuduh pula Prof Ungku Aziz dengki ataupun beliau tidak mahu anak Melayu menjadi pandai.

    Yang lain-lain cendekiawan yang membantah PPSMI pun bukan calang-calang orang. Mereka fasih Inggeris juga.

    Saya rasa Republik Bangsar yang menuntut diteruskan PPSMI supaya mereka boleh membuat persiapan awal bagi kerjaya universiti memang tidak berhasrat pulang ke tanahair kelak. Cuba baca komen-komen di alam siber. Kan semua asyik bercakap tentang hujan emas di negeri orang? — Helen

    1. Sekarang ini pun negara-negara barat termasuk Amerika sendiri menghadapi krisis ekonomi. Mereka sendiri minta tolong daripada negara China. Ketua IMF sendiri minta negara-negara Asia membantu negara bermasalah di Eropah.
      Memang tidak rahsia lagi, negara Asia akan memegang kuasa ekonomi. Sekarang hampir semua barangan teknologi dan bukan teknologi dibuat di negara-negara Asia kerana kos yang murah.
      Lagi pun kalau Mahathir menggalakkan dasar pandang ke Timur kenapa tidak belajar bahasa Cina dan Jepun?

  3. Hi Helen,

    PPSMI bukan utk kita berdagang. Tapi bahasa ilmu. Kalau one day nanti, China lebih byk byk create ilmu2 baru. Then, apa salahnya untuk belajar?

    1. Hi R0,

      Takkanlah bebudak sekolah tidak mampu menimba ilmu melalui BM? Dulu sebelum dilancarkan PPSMI pada 2003, cam mana pula? Pasti pelajar-pelajar disalurkan ilmu pengetahuan juga walau tanpa PPSMI.

      Yang berumur 9 tahun tu perlu baca terbitan berkala MIT dan Stanford dalam BI ke?

      M & Sc berkisarkan pemahaman konsep, simbol dan banyak latihan angka. Yang penting cikgu berupaya menyampaikan isi kandungan. (Nanti saya bincangkan dengan lebih lanjut topik ini.)

      Saya membuat perbandingan dengan matapelajaran Perdagangan sebab mengikut logik PPSMI, BI wajib kerana semua bahan rujukan dalam bahasa tu. Jadi kalau ‘semua’ (sebahagian besar) urusan peniagaan dalam BC, kita ikut sahaja formula tadi — BC akan lebih ‘useful’ (manfaatnya) dalam matapelajaran Perdagangan sepertimana peranan BI dalam M & Sc.

      Salam

      PS: Jentera carian bahasa Cina ‘Baidu’ adalah terletak pada tangga ke-6 ranking dunia mengikut susunan Alexa. No.1 ialah Google, No.4 Yahoo & No.5 Wikipedia. Banyak ilmu online terkandung dalam bahasa Cina.

      1. Sekarang ini ada Google Translate dan walaupun tidak sempurna, masih boleh memahami sedikit sebanyak laman web dalam bahasa lain.
        Memang dijangkakan penduduk Asia akan bertambah ramai dan kekuatan mereka dari segi jumlah dan ekonomi akan bertambah.
        Saya teringat hujah Karim Raslan yang Indonesia akan menjadi kuasa besar ekonomi dan secara ironinya bahasa Melayu akan menjadi penting kerana digunakan oleh Indonesia juga.
        Mungkin kita patut baca tulisan Mansor Puter mengenai teori yang sama.
        http://mansorbinputeh.blogspot.com/2011/11/ppsmi-rip-and-curious-case-of-noor.html

    2. Berkenaan ilmu baru, baca sini (enjoy). Tak tahulah budak-budak sekolah ada minat atau tidak or what possible use this new knowledge has on their lives, hahaha.

  4. no no no.
    u got it right helen, in emphasising the point of PPSMI supporter that all they wanted is to ensure the kids are getting the knowledge in english. fast and easier than waiting for translation and all. this is totally true because now the language of knowledge is english. all of us got to accept that
    and yes, u are true again helen on the point the chinese people are good in business
    i am sorry they are not the business powers in the world. of course they got loads of cash and doing business is just snap snap done.
    but are the language of the business now in chinese language?

    u have got to be kidding me if u say YES

    come on.
    this PPSMI thing is easy but it was politicized to the maximum.
    it is showing another true colour of some malaysians and startling reminder for all of us in malaysia, that WE ARE NOT THAT MATURE as we think we are

    i abide the decision by the government to remove PPSMI, but will i follow what the government says?
    In this matter, i am sorry. i have to decide what best for my kids.

    we three of us, our parents did our family version PPSMI upon us some 30 years ago. started with all of us reading english newspapers (we followed NST until today since 30-40 years ago) then we got to read some light literatures and from there build up the english. i still remember during school holidays, we were asked to fill 10 new words EVERYDAY in that buku 555 dad gave each of us. we built on english from there and alhamdulillah although our english arent top notch, we can understand everything written in english
    and now we are reaping the benefits now due to what our parents did some 30 years ago. we are all doing our doctorate which of course in fields that most of the great references are in english language.

    this PPSMI thing worked before. the latins got some arabic books and learn arabics before developing their own knowledge. the arabic learnt english or romans or whatever lingua it was before, then only they developed their own thing.
    why the fuss now?
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    drMpower,

    I agree that a lot of knowledge is in English. Heck, even my own statistical references above to Economist are articles in English. I also agree that we should master English to acquire knowledge, especially at advanced levels, and not only in M & Sc but for its usefulness in all fields.

    I only disagree that we should subject kids in school to being taught in English by teachers who themselves can’t cope with the language. And even then, mine is not opposition to English medium per se but in view of our limitations (logistical) as well as the class divide between the haves and the have-nots.

    The onus on imparting English, I feel, should fall on the urban parents (i.e. to prepare their kids at age 16-17 for the transition to tertiary education in the sciences) rather than risk victimising young rural/poor kids who may end up lost in all three subjects (Math & Sc in addition to English).

    Helen

    1. Bahasa jiwa bangsa. Mereka yang mengagung-agungkan bahasa Inggeris tidak sedar bahawa hampir 70 peratus daripada ahli sains dan matematik terhebat di dunia bukan berbahasa Inggeris. Saintis hebat sebelum Eropah maju ialah daripada bangsa Arab.
      Untuk menguasai sains dan matematik perlu kepada otak yang cerdas. Sesiapa yang otaknya cerdas mudah menguasai apa-apa ilmu dan bahasa. Ramai tokoh yang memperjuangkan PPSMI langsung tidak faham bagaimana enjin kereta berfungsi atau bagaimana lampu di rumah mereka mewujudkan cahaya. Saya tidak pernah menggalakkan anak saya menguasai bahasa Inggeris kerana dia lebih mencintai bahasa Melayu dan penguasaannya cukup baik. Namun dia dengan mudah menguasai bahasa Inggeris apabila perlu belajar sains di peringkat universiti. Puncanya? Otaknya cerdas.
      Kalau Malaysia dapat melahirkan ramai rakyat yang otaknya cerdas, mereka akan jadi pakar dalam pelbagai bidang, dalam pelbagai bahasa. Oleh kerana Malaysia gagal melahirkan ramai rakyat yang otaknya cerdas, termasuk penggiat politik (terutama daripada pembangkang), itulah puncanya dunia politik Malaysia bercelaru. Yang bodoh beria-ia hendak jadi pemimpin manakala yang lagi bodoh, ghairah jadi pengikut.

    2. tq helen. now we both know and agree this policy is perfect.
      nothing wrong with policy of PPSMI
      the only problem is the execution of PPSMI which both of us agree is flawed in a major way

      PPSMI actually has never been about mastering english. it is about mastering the knowledge which happens to be in english. maybe in future the language of the knowledge in mandarin, so we shall be having PPSMM (mandarin). previously when the arabs were learning knowledge in latin, the arabs got their version of PPSMI which i believe if they named it as we do now, to be called PPSML (Latin)

      lolz

      the fact that matter is everyone knows the value of english these days. it simply because the knowledge is presented in english language. thats all.
      we need our people to grab these rapidly happening breakthroughs in science and technology without the slightest delay! and i tell u these breakthroughs are happening as we speak now. somewhere some people might have or are discovering something important

      and they are reaping benefits due to those knowledge are in english.

      1. My position on PPSMI is more nuanced. Same as I don’t think SSUS, broadly, for the purpose of nation-building can be faulted, only I don’t trust the Perkasa-types who are initiating it to carry out the concept without subjugating the minorities.

        In the first place, since I support vernacular education because I’m Chinese, I cannot sit on the moral high horse of BM nationalism although I’m all for memartabatkan bahasa kebangsaan. But please do see my reply to Parcifal about how PSSMI and the mindset of its supporters will have a much wider impact on everything — not just Math and Sc subjects alone.

        The policy is not perfect. It is advantageous for those who can cope with English and excellent for those Malaysians who claim English is their mother tongue (it’s true that some urban or elite Malay/Chinese/Indian families speak English as their first and only home language).

        I won’t pick a fight with the merits of English for science but I believe at primary school level, PPSMI won’t make any difference for the better. In fact Unesco holds that mother tongue is the correct option.

        Parallel to the above is the truism that mastery of English gives a competitive edge. Let’s take the famous equation E=mc². E is energy, M is mass and C is ‘celeritas’ meaning ‘speed’, and for Einstein’s equation, speed of light in a vacuum. So we need to know English and Latin.

        At some level, the student is necessarily required to ease into English. But when do we do this transition?

        When is a student taught E=mc²? At what level of scientific exposure can our mind truly understand the E=mc² formula?

        Rather than chanting the mantra “English, English, English”, we should be realistic in putting our finger on when (i.e. at what stage) scientific English is useful and for whom, for how many? It wouldn’t be for someone whose ambition is to become jaguh Akademi Fantasia or to be a celebrity chef.

        I believe the effective bilingualism should be at the pre-uni level with the intermediate preparatory phase when the students are streamed (into Arts, Science, Commerce, Vocational, Technical).

        We already have English as a technical subject (exam paper) for upper secondary. In this issue, I support the approach that the Education Ministry is taking, i.e. abolishing PPSMI but at the same time strengthening the teaching of English. You will find that we allocate more teaching periods (total hours) for English compared to the European countries.

        If we look at the Western European countries, they’re impressively multi-lingual but English remains second or third language, e.g. Germans, Scandinavians, Danes. They’re doing very well by any count but none of them would ever disdain their native tongues (equivalent to national language) the way BM is treated with contempt here by some quarters.

    3. Learning and communicating in English or any languages for that matter, are neither wrong nor bad. What is wrong and bad is the belief that learning math and science in English is superior to learning the same in Bahasa Melayu.

  5. Encik author, apa pekerjaan anda sekarang? anda belajar di sekolah apa? sekolah kebangsaan? atau sekolah agama? atau sekolah swasta . Apakah salahnya kalau pembelajaran dalam BI? atau kamu mahu graduan dari uni tempatan kini berlagak macam kambing di kandang lembu kelak? gunalah akal sikit.

    1. Even my friend who is an Englishman from England shocked when they know that we try to teach our kids match/science in English. His first response was, “how that possible, poor the kids who don’t even understand the language but told to count in a language foreign to them”.

      1. If you have 3 years old kid, try teach him to count in english. You will be surprised how good they are to count in alien language.

        That is the key. Start as early as possible and it will grow naturally.

  8. Helen, again your article shows your misunderstanding to the PPSMI policy. I would suggest you to read more about the policy and try to understand it.

    Before you plan to argue/counter Tun Dr. mahathir statement, go to http://www.chewal.blogspot.com and dig one old article in 2008. That blog has answered the argument by one of the physic proffesor that try to counter Tun Dr. Mahathir article. It is a long read and the blog has answered every single item. To this date, the blogger still waiting the counter argument.
    _____________________________________________________________________________________

    Thanks for the blog ref. Chewal. Since you say it’s a long read, I’ll get to it afterwards though it would be better if you could provide me a more precise url link so that I needn’t look for a needle in the haystack.

    For the meantime, my reply is in Comment #11 of the previous posting — ‘Apa kurangnya BM?‘

  10. masalahnya bukanlah bahasa. tolonglah cerdik sedikit. anda banding saintis jepun pemenang nobel dgn saintis malaysia? masalahnya mcm ni, kalau nak belajar dlm bahasa malaysia, bahan pembelajaran perlu diterjemah dlm bahasa malaysia sampai ke peringkat yg tinggi dan termasuk peringkat kajian saintifik. ada ke benda ni di universiti dan kolej? nan hado? malaysia ni suka buat benda sekerat jalan. buat kat sekolah saja, masuk universiti berterabur pastu nak salahkan bahasa. kalau kita belajar dalam bahasa apa sekalipun, perlu terus ada kesinambungan. kalau sekerat sekarat, mmg bongoklah jadinya. lepas tu berdebat tak henti henti, tak de pun org nak hentam dewan bahasa pustaka yg bodoh tu. haram tak buat apa utk terjemah buku ilmuan ke dalam bahasa malaysia. konon nak patriotik tapi bongok.

  11. @chewal,
    I have not seen any steps towards empowering the Malay language by Dr Mahathir. You know, I don’t want to hear words, I want to see concrete actions and steps to achieve that.
    Few years ago, I attended a talk by Prof Shaharir, he is a mathematician. He said how Dr Mahathir distrusted interpreters even during his dialogues with foreign leaders who doesn’t speak English. In his mind, he wants everyone to speak English because I guess he mistrust middleman (the interpreter). He is after all a politician who does not trust anyone during his political years.
    So I am not surprised he does not believe in the value of translating original works and adapting them to local contents.
    Yes, translating something takes time but so is researching new technologies etc. The road to success is paved with difficulties. If you want fast result you have to spend, you hire more people, you buy the technology etc. But you will forever be left behind if you do not developed your ingenuious technology.
    I have worked with a Malaysian government agency that prides itself as the Malaysian premier R&D organization. But what it does is to hire cheap labor from India, Middle East and Eastern Europe. Mind you, those locals who work there are not people who do not speak English. They graduated overseas and with flying colours but without the right set of mind and attitude, you won’t produce or invent something that can wow the world. Plus, like I said R&D requires money. Unfortunately, the thinking of the government is that what we spend we want the result fast. It is like mee segera and shortcuts all over again.
    Profiency in English without the entrepreneurship spirit will get the nation nowhere. Yes, people will admire that you speak Queen’s English at international seminars to present your papers but that just it.
    _________________________________________________________________________________

    Thanks Kamal. Agree that Dr M sidelines BM and we’re not doing much to empower our national language. What are your thoughts about the future of BM as a language of knowledge delivery (e.g. used in local uni) now with the shift to English? — Helen

    1. The argument by Prof shahrir has been answered by chewal.blogspot in 2008. I’ve provided the link in previous comment.

      Your answer which is based on prof. Shahrir statement is prejudice and assumption while you misunderstood Tun Dr.mahathir intention.

      In chewal.blogspot, you can read how the ppsmi can promote and empower the malay language. If you are as visionary as Tun Dr.mahatjir, you will understand how the policy can help bahasa Malaysia and bangsa Malaysia.

  12. Dear Helen,

    Ive always been an avid reader of your blog, just never thought Id speak up but theres a first time for everything i guess… so here goes….

    I do believe we should teach business in chinese…. even better lets learn all the languages. Why stop at Chinese? or its different dialects, mandarin, hokkien, hey Spanish comes in handy sometimes too, so does french, just to make it interesting why not teach language of other nations as well… Carribean English perhaps…

    I am an English language teacher, and I totally agree with PPSMI, not for the obvious reason. To learn a new language for whatever reason it may be is a good thing.

    By teaching our students to learn more than one language we empower our children to be dynamic. Imagine a table where a chinese boy, indian boy and a malay boy sitting conversing in french, spanish, Malay, Tamil and Chinese.

    It cannot be a bad thing… any kind of positive learning (acquiring a language for example) is a good thing…

    Teach chinese in schools and Tamil and BM, the end-product, we have students who are (adding English) polyglots or multi-lingual. Isnt that what we want for our children? To be better than we are?

    I think the nation needs to rethink PPSMI, because from where Im standing, it seems like we are saying no to PPSMI because its too hard.. and that only means we’re spoiling our children.

    Just a thought.

  14. Why should people be scared of hardship? I am not trying to act ‘sombong’ but I used to live in a Malay kampong. I was brought up in a Malay speaking environment. I went to an English school, had a taste of Mandarin in kindergarten but was not able to continue in Mandarin due to some technical reasons. Btw, Mandarin was and still an alien language for me.

    Took Malay as a second language. I won literary awards in my school and National level for my Malay essays. And I have ‘mastered’ a European language. Well, what does this show? Teach your children that they have to work hard to achieve something, and do not spoil them by saying this is hard, that is not etc. Nothing is easy in this world.

    I am not for using BM for Maths and Sciences because I think that at the end of the day, the Malays will end up to be on the losing side. If what someone says about DBP is true, then I cry for the Malays in M’sia. They will end up being monolingual whereas the Chinese and Indians will be trilingual or at least bilingual. As I see it, the Malays will be the most backward race in Malaysia. Imagine a Uni grad who can’t even string up sentences in proper English. Malu beb!!

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