We must first make sure the awarding of scholarships is fair

Tuesday January 5, 2010
We must first make sure the awarding of scholarships is fair

I REFER to the article “Khoo defends views on Chinese education system” (The Star, Dec 1). I disagree with the views expressed by Prof Emeritus Dr Khoo Kay Kim.
According to the report, Dr Khoo urged his detractors “to convince him with statistics on how many students from Chinese school have obtained scholarships from the Government.” My point is unless we are sure the awarding of scholarships is transparent and fair, the statistics obtained are misleading.
The report also says that “Dr Khoo pointed out that students who graduated from the Chinese education system lacked creativity due to the rote-learning method.” Is this true? Students from the Chinese education system such as Chung Ling High School, Jit Sin High School, Penang Chinese Girls’ High School, Keat Hwa High School and many others score much better results then average in Maths and Science in the SPM and STPM exams annually.
It is common sense that Maths and Science cannot be successfully mastered through rote-learning methods.
What Dr Khoo pointed out here is not tenable despite the fact that he had been in education for 50 years.
Dr Khoo compared the achievements of Chung Ling with those of English-medium schools such as the Penang Free School, Victoria Institution and St Michael’s Institution during the 1960s.
We must make clear certain facts here for the comparison. While students of these English-medium schools learned all subjects in English from day one in primary schools to the last day in secondary schools, Chung Ling took in students from Chinese primary schools who studied one subject in English and the rest in Chinese.
From junior middle one to three, students in Chung Ling began to study the English language and also General Science in English while the rest of the subjects in Chinese. Only while they were in senior one to three that they studied all subjects in English except for the subject of Chinese language.
Why take the trouble to teach Chinese in primary schools and junior high school and change to English as major from senior one to three? This was firstly to make the students proficient in their mother tongue and then to enable them to continue their higher education in Western universities.
It must be noted that Malaysia had no diplomatic relation with China then and degrees from Taiwan were not recognised during the 1960s.
Dr Khoo urged those who had different views to back their claims with historical data and evidence. Is there anyone interested to dance to his music to win him over? Dr Khoo should make known whether he knows Chinese before the music starts.
KOK KH,
Kuala Lumpur.