MY daughter came home fuming and I can understand why. According to her, there is a new project for the Additional Mathematics Form 5 paper.
They have to answer a set of questions and finally answer so-called "reflection" questions. The questions are:
WHAT have you learnt while conducting the project?
WHAT moral values did you practise?
EXPRESS your feelings and opinions creatively through symbols, drawings, lyrics of a song or poem.
I like the direction we are taking but I am a little wary of the implementation.
We are told time and again how teachers are incompetent in the English language.
Teachers have fought against the teaching Maths and Science in English because of the inability of students to grasp the language.
But many schools have opted for Maths and Science in English. The administration of these schools are aware of benefits for students, but can we say the same for the Education Ministry?
Mathematics is not a language paper and this has been emphasised many times. Just look at the questions. Moral values used? Express in the form of song lyrics and poem? Artwork based on mathematical symbols?
Are Maths teachers trained to evaluate the lyrics of a song or poem? We want to improve the language but in the process, we want to kill the interest in other subjects.
Even if Maths and Science is done in Bahasa Malaysia, are the teachers trained to evaluate the students' language creativity?
Don't tell me we do not require language skills to write a song or poem.
Please do not let our children become victims of our overzealous ambition to implement ideas.
They have enough stress in school, so let us not add to their misery.
Revamp teacher training. Do not use the teaching profession as a dumping ground for incompetent graduates. Sarala Poobalan, Kuala Lumpur New Straits Times Letters to the Editors 4 June 2014 11:35PM
