Testing being a student

By RASLAN SHARIF

Are the benefits that can be had from English proficiency strong enough justification to penalise those who fail the English paper by denying them the SPM certificate?

I took my driving test more than 30 years ago, at the age of 17.

Part of the test – parking, braking, you know the drill – was conducted at the test site of the Road Transport Department (JPJ) office in Petaling Jaya, while the road test route was a loop of several kilometres around the area.

I had practised and practised for days, but still, I felt a bit nervous, and I believe so did everyone taking the test there that day.

I don’t know how it’s done now, but back then, even if you could recite all the rules and regulations from memory and flawlessly complete mock test runs during practice sessions blindfolded, you would still not pass if you so much as failed a single section of the actual test.

It did not matter if you hit home runs in other parts of the test – one strike, and you were out.

It seems unfair, but it makes sense. A car, in less than competent hands, is a potentially dangerous weapon. It can hurt or kill not just the driver, but others as well.

Therefore, there exists the need to do as much as possible to minimise the risks of that happening.

If this meant failing you for the sole reason that you had inadvertently brushed the car ever so slightly against a pole during the parking test, then so be it.

The lives of others, and yours, were more important than an ego severely bruised because someone had been branded a failure and sent packing.

I passed the test at the first try, by the way (no bruising of the ego there; perhaps a slight inflation).

This was a few months after I had sat for the SPM examination, where you also risked what could be described as failure if you did not pass the Bahasa Malaysia paper.

If you failed the paper, you would not get the certificate, even if you had aced all the other subjects.

Again, it seems unfair, but I believe that it is reasonable to expect Fifth Form students to at least pass an exam on the national language.

This is not to say that I excel in Bahasa Malaysia. My command of the formal language, written or spoken, is average at best.

In the SPM examinations, I “scored” what was then known as C5 for the Bahasa Malaysia paper. Same with the wife (maybe that’s why we communicate with each other so well).

C5 is exactly half way between A1 and F9. Like I said, average.

My son, who is in primary school, inherited from his parents the genes that control potential proficiency in the national language, if there is such a thing.

He is not doing too badly, but in comparison to his grasp of other subjects in school, he is struggling a bit with Bahasa Malaysia.

No, we do not speak much English at home.

In fact, the family communicates in Bahasa Malaysia almost 90% of the time. And he has good Bahasa Malaysia teachers.

For whatever reason behind his less than stellar performance in the language, my son is getting tuition to help him along. Hopefully, with a bit more effort, things will turn out all right.

When it comes to English, however, the boy is doing much better. His command of the language is advancing rapidly. He finds it easy.

Obviously, so do I.

I think there is a consensus in this country that having a good grasp of English is highly beneficial, if not crucial, at least for economic reasons.

So should a pass in English be compulsory for SPM candidates to be awarded the certificate, as proposed recently by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin?

The reaction to this suggestion has been mixed.

Most of those who support the move probably have a good grasp of English. They have likely benefited in many ways from their proficiency in the language.

But are the benefits that can be had from English proficiency strong enough justification to penalise those who fail the English paper by denying them the SPM certificate?

Not having the certificate can be a considerable disadvantage to school-leavers.

They can literally say goodbye to entrance into public universities and to working in the public sector, as well as to being accepted for a few jobs in the private sector.

Some might argue that the situation is the same for those who do not have an SPM certificate because they did not pass the Bahasa Malaysia paper.

That is true, but I think few would disagree that young Malaysians about to enter the adult world as full-blooded citizens of the country should at least have a passable (in all senses of the word) command of the national language.

For this reason, I will make sure that my children get through, come hell or high water.

Moreover, we have the human resources for the effective teaching and learning of Bahasa Malaysia at the primary and secondary education levels.

It would be both ironic and tragic if Malaysia can’t teach its children Bahasa Malaysia well.

The same cannot be said of English language instruction in our schools. It is way past tragic, as the general level of English proficiency in this country used to be much higher.

For these reasons, let’s leave the English paper as it is, at least until we fix the part on teaching English properly in schools, especially in rural areas.

Let’s not make getting an SPM certificate unjustifiably more difficult for more people.

It would definitely not be like getting a driver’s licence.