Tan Sri Muhyidin Yassin Should Stop Boasting That Malaysian Kids Receive A Better Quality Of Education Than United States, Germany And United Kingdom But Admit That Malaysian Education Is In A State Of Crisis That Requires Immediate Rescue If Malaysia Does Not Want To Lose Out To Thailand And Vietnam.
DAP wishes all Christians Happy Easter. Celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives birth of a new life that gives mankind the hope cleansing our sins and enjoying eternal life. To do so, Christians are expected to adopt a life of simplicity, humility, service and sanctity(holiness).
Malaysia should also adopt some of these values to establish an excellent education system that is capable of building talented Malaysians for the future. There is no doubt that availability of human talent is the new oil of the 21st century. However Malaysian education system is not only in a state of crisis but our leaders are in denial that Malaysian educaton system is no longer excellent.
Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin boasted that the World Economic Report’s Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012(Report) showed our children received a better quality of education than the children in the United States, Germany and United Kingdom. How wrong, misleading and out-of-touch Muhydin is has been brought home by the failure of any Malaysian to gain admission into Harvard University, the world’s most prestigious university, for the second year in a row.
The quality of Malaysian applicants to Harvard University had deteriorated so alarmingly that none was even good enough to make it to the interview rounds. A two-year absence from incoming Harvard freshman classes is enough to raise concerns over the quality trends of Malaysian education given that at least one Malaysian had been admitted to Harvard every year from 1985 to 2010.
Malaysia was only fourth among Southeast Asian countries in terms of enrolment in the Ivy League institution. Singapore has the highest number of Harvard undergraduates with 18, followed by Thailand with seven, Vietnam with six, Malaysia with five and Indonesia with two. In other words, instead of boasting that Malaysia’s education system is better than US, UK or Germany, Muhydin should be worrying about being overtaken by Thailand and Vietnam.
Tan Sri Muhyidin should also answer why there is not a single Nobel Prize winner who is a Malaysian and neither is there a single Malaysian university amongst the Top 200 Universities in the world? Or when given the choice, why more Malaysian students want to study in Singapore, US, UK and Germany than in Malaysian universities? Perhaps with the quality of students from Thailand and Vietnam rising, our students may be heading for Thailand and Vietnam in the future.
That Muhyidin is in a state of denial about the crisis of mediocrity engulfing Malaysian education is clear when a closer reading of the Global Competitiveness Report clearly indicates that Maalysian education system has fallen behind in standards. The results is the same for other indexes such as in the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) involving 75 countries, Malaysia was ranked 56th in reading ability, 55th in Mathematics ability and 53 in Science. Our performance in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) has also seen a steady decrease from 1999 to 2007.
Tan Sri Muhyidin Yassin should stop boasting that Malaysian kids receive a better quality of education than United States, Germany and United Kingdom but admit that Malaysian education is in a state of crisis that requires immediate rescue if Malaysia does not want to lose out to Thailand and Vietnam.
Lim Guan Eng
—- Mandarin Version—
民主行动党秘书长兼峇眼区国会议员林冠英于2012年4月8日在吉隆坡发表声明：
丹斯里慕尤丁应该停止吹牛，胡指马来西亚的孩子接受比美国、德国和英国更好的教育，他应该承认马来西亚的教育面临危机，需要及时纠正，要不然我们将会输给泰国和越南。
民主行动党祝全体基督徒复活节快乐。这个节日纪念耶稣基督死而复生，给人类带来希望、一洗我们的罪并赐与生命永恒。因此，基督徒向来提倡生活简朴、谦卑、服务及圣洁。
马来西亚人应该采纳这当中其中一些价值观，以建立卓越的教育系统，为我国的未来栽培人才。毫无疑问，人才是21世纪的新油田。我国的教育系统不只面临危机，而我们的领袖也还抱着鸵鸟心态，不承认我国的教育制度已经不再卓越。
教育部长丹斯里慕尤丁吹牛说，世界经济报告的全球竞争力指数（2011－2012）显示我们的孩子接受比美国、德国、英国更好的教育。慕尤丁大错特错，当事实上已经连续两年没有一名马来西亚人进入全世界最顶尖大学――哈佛大学。
马来西亚的哈佛大学申请者素质低落，甚至没有人符合资格被叫去面试，这种情况令人担忧。我们已经连续两年没有新生入学哈佛，这足以让人担心我国的教育水平，从1985至2010年期间，每年至少有一名马来西亚学生被哈佛录取。
马来西亚的长春藤就学率在东南亚国家排行第四，新加坡在哈佛拥有18名本科生，排名第一，其次是泰国（7）、越南（6）、马来西亚（5）及印尼（2）。换句话说，与其吹牛说马来西亚的教育制度比美国、英国或德国还好，慕尤丁应该担心我们会落后泰国及越南。
丹斯里慕尤丁应该回答，为何至今天我们还栽培不出一名诺贝尔奖得主，也没有一所本地大学跻身世界200所大学？如果有得选择，马来西亚学生宁可前往新加坡、美国、英国、德国，而不是在本地大学求学？或许，随着泰国或越南的学生素质提升，我们的学生以后可能前往泰国和越南求学。
慕尤丁还抱着鸵鸟心态，不愿承认马来西亚的教育已经被困在平庸危机之中，当全球竞争力指数已经清楚指出，我国的教育制度远远落后。在2009年涉及75个国家的国际学生的调查指数中，马来西亚的阅读能力排行第56名，数学能力第55名、科学第53名。1999年至2007年期间，我国在国际数学及科学学习趋势的表现也每况愈下。
丹斯里慕尤丁应该停止吹牛，胡指马来西亚的孩子接受比美国、德国和英国更好的教育，他应该承认马来西亚的教育面临危机，需要及时纠正，要不然我们将会输给泰国和越南。
林冠英