These few weeks Malaysian people are talking about making English subject to be mandatory pass in SPM. 99% of the people that I know do agree it should be compulsory pass, because English is important according to them.

I guess I am the minor 1% people who object this decision, most people object this because they are not comfortable with English, which is not my reason here. Previously I strongly agree to make Science and Math subject to use English language, but on the other hand, I do not agree turning it into a mandatory pass subject in SPM.

SPM initial purpose was to test the general ability of the student, see what they are strong at and what the are weak at. Using this result, it work as a guideline telling the student which direction they should go, if you are good in art subject, maybe you should take art course in the university; if you are good in accounting subject, maybe you should take finance related course in the university.

SPM suppose to act like a general examination, in a general examination, it is extremely ridiculous to set which subject must be pass. Because everyone's ability is different and unique in this world, does someone weak in a language subject mean he/she does not deserve to further study in university? How about someone who is very good in art, but very weak in language subject, should the art course in the university reject this student because he/she does not pass the mandatory subject?

Maybe you will say: "Who will possibly fail English? It is so easy!"

Perhaps you have forgotten many scientists and famous people in this world (such as: Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Napoleon Bonaparte, Tom Cruise ... ) are borned with Learning Disorder, especially dyslexia (reading disorder). These people mostly having the same or even better intelligent with normal people, but they will have difficulties to to read and write, some even cannot differentiate the the alphabet such as 'p' and 'q', 'b' and 'd'. The bad things is ... learning disorder is not something rare among human race.

Few days ago I have read magazine that a Master student with dyslexia, he can only write about 25 words each day to finish his thesis. At the end he did it though and pass. But come back to SPM, do you think someone who is talented and suffer from dyslexia able to finish an English essay for SPM in given time?

The main purpose of Education is to find out the strength and weakness of the student and guide his path based on his/her interest. Making any subject to be MANDATORY in a general examination is no different than killing the child's real potential.

Many parents will feel that English is important around the world so their children must learn English. By forcing education to be a job hunting tool, do you think children will love what they are doing? How about next few years Chinese language become popular? These parents going to drop all English subject and change again? And nobody asking what their children like or interest in? These actually explain why so many youngsters start to feel schooling is useless, the more you study, the more you just become a mindless robot, and this is what happen to our university graduates.

My point is: stop implant our never-become-true dream into our children, you die to be a doctor doesn't mean your children are!

more reading:
a. Many object to making English a ‘must pass’ SPM subject
b. Make English a compulsory pass subject for SPM, STPM and matriculation to end and reverse the unchecked decline of English standard in the country in the past three decades
c. Time not right for SPM English pass