There is a solution to the current problems in our public education system. We just have to take political considerations out of the equation. Our real woes are how to strengthen the public education system, not having more subjects being taught in either language A or B.
I understand the position of teaching science and technology (S&T) in English, but from an educational and pedagogical standpoint, it would be a stumbling block towards greater knowledge acquisition and dissemination.
The real changes that we have to commit to is in making national and vernacular schools equally attractive for parents. This cannot be achieved by lowering the quality of education in either and this absolutely does not imply that the vernacular system is better.
We must acknowledge the fact that mother-tongue education at the primary level is to prepare the student to pick up a second language (Bahasa Malaysia) so that they will be able to join mainstream schooling without a handicap.
Mother-tongue education does not mean the right to be taught in your mother tongue up to tertiary levels. That's heresy.
The central position of Bahasa Malaysia should not victimise the minority languages, but at the same time, BM must not be weakened in such a way that it will hamper its development as a language of knowledge.
The effort to teach S&T in English actually kills Bahasa Malaysia's development as a language for science and technology. Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka's role should be improved and enhanced - not absolved.
There should also be no racial profiling for public schooling and communal sentiments do not supercede the importance of a quality education. While there is no question to the constitutional special position of the Malays and the bumiputera, we have to stop interfering in ways that may ruin the public education system of the country.
While the Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara and the Mara Junior Science Colleges are sufficient measures to cater for the education of Malays and the bumiputera alone, public universities on the other hand should be freed from having political considerations affecting their road to global excellence.
Moral Education should be dropped. Let all Malaysian children go through Civic Education classes instead through which they will understand each other better. We are all Malaysians and we share more common values than uncommon ones.
Spending on public education should be increased and the syllabus content streamlined for quality. Take control of the schools, weed out poor teachers from the system and retrain them if necessary.
Make teaching a more attractive position and have efficient school administrative policies to let teachers enjoy their freedom to educate rather than to teach for exams. Our children have great potential and a huge appetite for success, so let us feed them right.
The road towards a quality public education system would require huge political and economic commitment from the government, the people and the private sector. The system should not be communal, it should not be exclusive and it certainly should not be preferential.
All is not lost but we must do what we can to make our public education system better and stop romanticising the 'good, old colonial days'.
In those days, only the rich and the elite could afford a full education. Today, we can, and must, create a quality education system for all.