60 - 40 (Part 1)

60 -40 ( Part One)

Malaysian Education Ministry introduced a formula 60 – 40 which means 60 percent of students who pass out from secondary schools in the country must be from science or technical streams.

This policy was introduced based on the relevance of the both streams for national development.

If Indian teachers who are teaching languages (Tamil, English and Malay) and counseling teachers are removed from secondary schools the left over could be hardly ten per cent. Of the ninety per cent teachers, many would advice Indian students not to enroll to science classless but would not do the same for their own children. Why? Are they selfish?

Before I go further on this I would like to write on epistemological transformation taken place in other parts of the world.

Scientific revolution started in Europe in the sixteen century with Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolaus Copernicus: Copernicus (1473-1543) was the first major astronomer to challenge the Ptolemaic universe.

The Scientific Revolution was not marked by any single change. The following new ideas contributed to what is called the Scientific Revolution:
• The replacement of the Earth by the Sun as the center of the universe
• The replacement of the Aristotelian theory that matter was continuous and made up of the elements Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether by rival ideas that matter was atomistic or corpuscular or that its chemical composition was even more complex.
• The replacement of the Aristotelian idea that by their nature, heavy bodies moved straight down toward their natural places; that by their nature, light bodies moved naturally straight up toward their natural place; and that by their nature, aethereal bodies moved in unchanging circular motions by the idea that all bodies are heavy and move according to the same physical laws
• The replacement of the Aristotelian concept that all motions require the continued action of a cause by the inertial concept that motion is a state that, once started, continues indefinitely without further cause.
• The replacement of Galen’s treatment of the venous and arterial systems as two separate systems with William Harvey’s concept that blood circulated from the arteries to the veins "impelled in a circle, and is in a state of ceaseless motion".
In the seventeenth century there was changes European thought which is known as “Seventeenth Century Enlightenment Thought.
So in the spirit of not dating the Enlightenment, we will simply refer to the changes in European thought in the seventeenth century as "Seventeenth Century Enlightenment Thought," with the understanding that our use of the term may invite criticism.

The main components of Enlightenment thought are as follows:
1. The universe is fundamentally rational, that is, it can be understood through the use of reason alone;
2. Truth can be arrived at through empirical observation, the use of reason, and systematic doubt;
3. Human experience is the foundation of human understanding of truth; authority is not to be preferred over experience;
4. All human life, both social and individual, can be understood in the same way the natural world can be understood; once understood, human life, both social and individual, can be manipulated or engineered in the same way the natural world can be manipulated or engineered;
5. Human history is largely a history of progress;
6. Human beings can be improved through education by and the development of their rational facilities to which knowledge of science is vital;
7. Religious doctrines have no place in the understanding of the physical and human worlds.

Even though there were much criticism towards this thought but it has brought much changes. Then, followed by the Industrial revolution in the 18th century. The development of industrial revolution owe much credit to the development of science, mathematics and technology.
The most far-reaching, influential transformation of human culture since the advent of agriculture eight or ten thousand years ago, was the industrial revolution of eighteenth century Europe. The consequences of this revolution would change irrevocably human labor, consumption, family structure, social structure, and even the very soul and thoughts of the individual. This revolution involved more than technology; to be sure, there had been industrial "revolutions" throughout European history and non-European history. In Europe, for instance, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw an explosion of technological knowledge and a consequent change in production and labor. However, the industrial revolution was more than technology—impressive as this technology was. What drove the industrial revolution were profound social changes, as Europe moved from a primarily agricultural and rural economy to a capitalist and urban economy, from a household, family-based economy to an industry-based economy. This required rethinking social obligations and the structure of the family; the abandonment of the family economy, for instance, was the most dramatic change to the structure of the family that Europe had ever undergone.
Similar change was brought to Russia by Peter the Great.
Peter the Great is credited with dragging Russia out of the medieval times to such an extent that by his death in 1725, Russia was considered a leading eastern European state. He centralized government, modernized the army, created a navy and increased the subjugation and subjection of the peasants.
He made Russians learn navigation from Britain, ship building from Holland. He built St Petersburg. He made Russia a military power of Europe. He himself learnt many skills.
He achieved all this by forming an strong foundation of science and mathematics among his people.
This list can be elongated by transformation of Japan to Modern Japan by Meiji and the presently the living example our neighbour Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew who transformed from a small port to developed Island state.