I refer to the letter headlined 'Mother-tongue teaching good for students' by Cathy Mak (South China Morning Post, February 4) in which she agreed mother-tongue teaching was good for students. I don't think her assertion is completely correct. For one thing, if the mother tongue is used as a teaching medium, textbooks written in English and used in school lessons will have to be translated into Chinese accordingly. It is difficult to imagine that the jargon used in some subjects like science and history can be translated successfully into Chinese. Although it might be successful, students would have to spend more time memorising terms in complicated Chinese form. Is this worthwhile for students? Does it really help students learn more effectively? Besides, the crux of the problem actually does not lie in teaching the language. In fact, it is the methods that some teachers use that are the real problem, although this is not to say that the qualifications teachers have are worthless. However, many students and parents are losing their confidence in the school education system. Grasping this valuable opportunity, many business-minded operations opened tutorial centres with up-to-date teaching methods and equipment to help students understand what they are taught. It is a much clearer and more systematic way of learning. Also, I do not believe that all the problems facing the education system can be solved overnight simply by throwing billions of dollars at it. But any system to monitor teacher discipline needs to be reformed to make lazy and incompetent teachers more vigorous and energetic. The next generation must be well equipped to meet the unpredictable challenges of a more competitive era they will encounter. NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED
