LOS TEROPONG

This may not be a new story, but it is amazing that it is still going on. Remember in my last posting that my father was not well, bad enough for us to call back our siblings from KL. So yesterday morning (25 May) I went from Kepala Batas (I spent the night at my father's house) to the Bayan Lepas Airport to fetch my younger brother and younger sister (lecturer in UiTM, Shah Alam). In the car we got talking about our children and my brother mentioned that he is pulling his second daughter out of a 'boarding school' in Putrajaya to come back home and enrol in a nearby school. He related that the school ran a very tight schedule and all his daughter did upon returning home over the weekend was SLEEP. After 'recuperating' on Sunday, it was time to go back to school. He is of the opinion that they were trying to cramp too much in any time avalable and belief too that that is not the 'right' way to do it. My hats off to him for making a decisive decision. We should know, we all came from Sekolah 'Kampung' and we are Surgeon, Professor and Lecturer.

And another thing, the one that is still going on, and I am not sure if the teachers know about this. The daughter also related that the ENGLISH speaking students, that is the students who spoke English in the school were shunned by other students. Depa tu cakap 'speaking'. Huh .. ??

My first daughter had the same problem when she was in Pusat Matrikulasi. The other students kept away from her because she spoke English (very well and fast too, very fast, I assure you). At home, we speak more English than Malay, and there is nothing wrong with my KEMELAYUAN, or my ability to speak and write in Malay. So don't bull me about mempertahankan BM and all that crap. Can someone tell me what is going on here. Here we are talking about being competitive and yet we cannot shake this 'kolot' attitude. Whichever way you look at it, a language, any language is knowledge. Knowledge is POWER, especially the lingua franca.

One of the weaknesses cited for our graduates is their inability to converse in English, well. If we are really going for a progressive Malaysia, I am surprised we think excluding English is one of the ways. Aiyaa, tak tau lah ...