Standards must be upheld for educational TV programmes
I REFER to the comment “No need for Queen’s English, just proper English will do” (The Star, Jan 19; https://bit.ly/2ZuvgfH )and all the views expressed so far about our recently-launched DidikTV. There is another important point which I feel needs to be highlighted.
As someone who straddled the transition period between English-medium and Bahasa Malaysia-medium education, when we had teachers who were not just excellent presenters in English but also had high standards, were strict and demanded much from their students, it is sad to see these benchmarks being washed away until we have to justify performance based on “best effort”.
DidikTV is a national effort paid for with taxpayers’ money. Therefore, high standards should be upheld.
The best people or teachers should have been selected so that the lessons could be documented properly and reused for future generations.
Surely there are many teachers who can deliver the lessons properly and clearly in English (there’s no need to have Queen’s English here) and students can follow their lead on how the language should be spoken. Other teachers could also watch the lessons and use them in their daily classes.
If the DidikTV lessons are produced and presented properly, they could also set a new benchmark of excellence in teaching for both educators and students now and in the future.
Were the multi-media presentations used efficiently to promote both understanding of the topic and mastery of the technical language behind it?
Was such usage of communication tools guided by research on the latest approaches to teaching and learning? And what happened to wanting to have good standards in languages for our students and teachers?
I grew up watching Bing and Bong on TV Pendidikan years ago. The programme was in black and white and featured two excellent English speakers who were dressed as clowns.
The fact that I can still remember this decades later shows how effective that programme was.
None of us should be happy or try to be nice about the questionable quality of the lessons or the unfortunate teacher featured in the viral video.
What’s wrong in being told we are not up to standard? My teachers did not hesitate to give me a piece of their mind when my work was not up to standard. We would all be better off if we are pushed to rise to the game.
If we want to strive for excellence, the best presenters should have been selected. Failure to do so shows that the people behind the programme lacked ambition and had no clear focus, plan or purpose for it.
This is the reason why parents like myself have to provide our children with other options because the ones we have just don’t meet the required standards anymore.