English not spoken here

I am responding to Mr. Dady Wijaya's letter The importance of English (Aug. 4).

Mr. Wijaya, I would join you in deploring the decision to stop teaching English were it not my unfortunate experience to have learned this may be the lesser of two evils. Two of my children have been through the educational system here. The oldest one has attended Ora et Labora and is currently at Trisakti. The younger one has been to two BPK Penabur schools and Pembangunan Jaya.

In the case of both of my children, I have been forced to engage in a fairly fierce battle to excuse them from their English classes, or in protesting materials and tests which are grammatically incorrect or worded so abstrusely that they are impossible to understand. I have gone head to head with the English teachers, most of whom are anything but competent in English.

I understand why those Indonesian teachers who have excellent skills in the language aren't teaching. It is an economic problem. Frankly, if I were Indonesian, with my level of English, the last thing I would consider is teaching at the salary levels offered.

Teachers are ill-prepared because they are too busy dealing with private students after working hours. They have to do this to make ends meet. But this is no excuse for the blind leading the blind. I would rather deal with a zero beginner than a false beginner any day.

I am currently employed in a pre-departure program for government sponsored students. All of them are S-1's (university graduates). They are the end product of English language instruction through junior and senior high school, as well as university.

I wish they had never seen the language before they came to us. You are sorely missed, I am sure. I wish competent people could afford to teach!

G. MORGAN CHAMBERLIN

Jakarta