After reading Casey Lim's letter (' Chinese groups wrong in opposing language switch '), I feel compelled to reply. I have a slightly different opinion about teaching science and mathematics in English. While I don't see the harm in it, I certainly won't go so far as to equate it with a country's successes in science and mathematics.

The way I see it, the reason why a country is advanced in science and mathematics has nothing to do with the medium of instruction. Take a look at countries like China (recently put a man in space), Japan, Korea (successfully cloned a human embryo), Germany, Russia (first to put man in space), Sweden, France, Italy. Ask them whether they teach science and math in English. I doubt any of them do, yet they have produced many scholars and Nobel Price winners in various fields.

The reason why they are advanced has everything to do with the tremendous amount of money and resources they pour into cutting-edge research, buying and maintaining the requisite equipments, and most of all hiring top-notch talents to do the work without interference from bureaucrats. Another important reason in my opinion is their education system that encourages independent thinking. They put a premium on creative and innovative approaches. Conformity has no currency in doing research.

There is no correlation between English and successes in science and math, but there is a definite correlation between money spent (wisely) and the rate of success.

Compared with Malaysia, the difference is glaring. The overall societal environment is not conducive to creating innovators, but rather yes-men, followers, servile subordinates and mindless drones. The stifling, restrictive, conformative, patronising, condescending atmosphere permeates the whole society and academia. In contrast, although China is a one-party country and the communist rule with an iron fist, at least their universities are relatively free. At least they don't have to contend with inane laws like the Universities and University Colleges Act.

The original rational of introducing teaching of science and math in English was to boost the standard of English, science and math. While this may seem to be a clever move to kill two birds with one stone; but with the track record of our Education Ministry, there is a distinct possibility that we will end up with neither bird nor stone in our hands.

There is no short-cuts to successes in English or any subject for that matter. Train or hire the most qualified teachers in the respective subjects and raise the standard of tests. A good English teacher who is bad in science and math will not be able to achieve the goals of raising the level of competency in either subjects. Similarly, a good science and math teacher who is bad in English will not fare better.

The current crop of teachers is the product of the previous discredited education system, pray tell, how are we going to raise the standard of the current batch of students with ill-prepared teachers? Don't we need to educate the teachers first before educating the students? The haphazard manner in which the latest education venture is implemented will almost certainly end in dismal failure. By tweaking one part of the problem and hoping that it will be the magic pill that will miraculously solve all our problems, without being mindful of the general malaise plaguing our country, is to say the least, naive.

I graduated from a Chinese primary school. I was fortunate to have an excellent English teacher. I reap the benefits from his teachings ever since. I am now finishing my Phd in the US, I have absolutely no problem conversing with my advisors and fellow students in English. Being able to speak four languages fluently is always an accomplishment that I am proud of and my fellow students envy. While my Mandarin is no worse than fellow Chinese students (from mainland China), my English is generally far better than theirs. Yet, they are far better prepared for research than I am. My English is better, does that make me better in science and math?

Chinese primary schools have done a lot in providing valuable education to me and countless other Malaysians. It would be sad to close them down because of some half-baked ideas dreamt up by grandiose-seeking politicians who treat education as a pawn in politics.

To reverse the downward spiral of our flip-flopping education policies has wrought, we need to keep politics out of schools and universities and let educators do the work without interference from politicians.