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Should Maltese be a requisite for entry to University?
Year in, year out, lower pass rates in MATSEC examinations send the pundits into a muddled frenzy calling for the head of the subjects which our poor students do not excel in. The English and Maltese languages are the likely victims, and the state is called on to be a bigger nanny, and save its citizens from the perils of an ordinary level test of their proficiency in the languages they most frequently use.
Rather than shy away from the challenge by advocating a scenario where these two languages are no longer an entry requirement for University, one should rather investigate the general state of our educational system, a colonial hang-up which has never come of age as a national structure that caters for its people’s needs, aspirations and identity, and which mutates steadily into a controversial patchwork of whimsical add-ons, dictated by politics, personal whims, or superficial impressions of what economy dictates. From the Mintoffian numerus clausus to the still faint (but for how longer?) smart (sic) and hi-tech echoes prompted by the appointment of a rector-manager, our educational system has been continuously missing the wood for the trees, as do many uninformed opinion-makers who taint their delivery with a personal agenda that reeks of class, privilege, and unresolved private dilemmas.
The entry requirements for University (from ordinary level to intermediate and advanced) can be viewed as the sample necessary to prove that the freshmen possesses the minimum skills and aptitudes required to follow a course in advanced education. A basic knowledge of the national languages, a foreign language, and a general idea of fields of knowledge ranging from the humanities to science and economics. These certificates prove not only intellectual capability, but even citizenry and nationhood, being Maltese while at the same time a global citizen with the tools to face the challenges of superior knowledge. Any attempt at dumbing down the intellectual obstacles students must face is a denigration of the University institution, intellectual tradition, and the individual. Notorious cases like the year when Maltese was removed as a requirement for the law course, but reinstated the next year, are a clear example of a prevalence of personal agendas over a wish for real educational change.
Similarly, the year in year out doubts on the need of Maltese (and English, as surprisingly proposed by a columnist extolling the merits of the patois she was raised to speak) are equally absurd and motivated by a dangerous lack of knowledge. The question proposed by the newspaper should never be asked in a modern society and a normal country, confident and at peace with its own past and identity, and looking forward with determination to the future. As symbols of our nationhood and identity, Maltese and English deserve the greatest institutional respect, beyond immediate economic concerns but for their value-added (which has now also become an economic buzzword).
The vicissitudes our two languages have gone through should be a matter of the past, when one considers the advantages bestowed to us by English being an official, widely spoken and understood language, and Maltese, our only beacon of identity which has finally found its rightful place as an official language of the European Union.
Mark Vella is a translator for the Maltese unit at the European Commission, Luxembourg
Instead of celebrating this fact we are still dividing ourselves by language. Anyone who suggests, as I have done, that either Maltese or English could be used as language passes to enter university is deemed as somehow less of a patriot. In fact when I wrote about this subject recently, most of the letters written to the editors of The Malta Independent were against allowing this, but most of the private emails I received were overwhelmingly in favour. People in twenty-first century Malta are literally afraid to let their opinion be known publicly on this issue which is a shame.
The fact is that the Maltese MATSEC is, or has become incredibly tough and tedious. This year the pass rate was abysmal. Children with one foreign parent in Malta find it almost impossible to pass this exam, or they spend a lifetime in private lessons to cope. This is only good for those who give private lessons! This is a subject for another article, but the fact that so many kids go to private lessons in all subjects is a national disgrace. It doesn’t show our kids are dumb. It shows the exams are ridiculously tough. It is our one badge of shame in our education system where plenty of excellent things have happened, and are happening, that private lessons are today the norm, and not the exception.
Meanwhile foreigners can enter University without a pass in Maltese. Those minority Maltese parents who are well off enough are simply sending their children abroad to study. Most of us cannot do this and perhaps do not even want to. I recently met a student who is going to study astrophysics abroad, is a brilliant student overall, but because of spending time abroad and having one foreign parent had not learnt Maltese. It seems amazing that a straight A science student would be denied entry to our University because she cannot pass her Maltese MATSEC while the foreigner can enter? Our loss don’t you think?
Essentially the two-language policy of this country has failed. The majority cannot, and do not write and speak both languages well. Until this is addressed we should not deny our kids the opportunity to have a University education. Menglish is everywhere!
I think we should be proud of our whole Malteseness. Some of us speak a language from our Arab colonisers. Others from our English ones. Both are our languages today and we should try to improve the standards of both, while acknowledging that those brought up speaking one or the other will, quite naturally, be more proficient in one or the other. Both sides are Maltese though, and not “ghar-rimi”!
No, I don’t believe anyone should be denied a University education because they can’t reach a high standard in both our languages. Surely we should allow our students to enter University with a pass in either Maltese or English? We also need to make ALL our MATSC exams far less heavy, as they mainly only test the ability to regurgitate mounds of often never to be used again information.
I hope sense prevails and nationalism does not take precedence over fairness and common sense.
Marisa Micallef is the chairperson of the Housing Authority and a newspaper columnist
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