Saddened and shocked

by Francis Chan, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on September 30, 2011, Friday

WHAT’S INSIDE?: The English language workbook for Form 2 students which contains the passage on abortion. MISLEADING: The passage on abortion in the workbook.

KUCHING: Passage in English workbook suggests abortion harmless.

A reader forwarded to The Borneo Post a passage in an English workbook for Form 2 students which used abortion as a topic for sample writing which was emailed to him by a friend.

The said email highlighted two sentences in the passage; “Her dad took her to the clinic the next day to have her abortion done” and
“The abortion went like clockwork and without any difficulties and Mary came out of the clinic as healthy as before”.

The email further added that the passages were an obvious attempt to ‘desensitise young people, in this case Form 2 students as young as 14 years old, to the horrors of abortion’.

Saddened and shocked, the reader noted that the first sentence seemed to treat the tragedy of teenage pregnancy callously sending a message to the youth that the consequences of promiscuity could be easily dealt with.

It also suggested that the family should seek the easy way out of this predicament by bringing the girl for abortion.

The second sentence was a lie because no one especially a young girl could come out of an abortion as ‘healthy as before’ physically or emotionally, the reader said.

It was meant to allay fears of abortions and promote abortions among young girls, he added.

The reader was not able to ascertain the authenticity of the passage and asked if we could find out if there was indeed such a workbook being sold to students.

A quick check at our local bookstores revealed that this workbook is easily available and the vendors oblivious of the offending passage.

This book raises many questions on the control of materials used for students’ workbook and of the awareness among educational authorities on attempts to sow negative values among our young people through the choice of topics for the exercises.

The Borneo Post called up the publisher in Peninsular Malaysia to find out more about the book and its author and was told he was not a staff of the company.

A search in the Internet showed the profile of the author in LinkedIn, a professional network, as a lecturer with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and that he holds a Masters degree in the English language.

(sumber: http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/09/30/saddened-and-shocked/)