| Lately, the call to close down vernacular schools as the way to foster national unity has gained traction again. In the most recent, the majority of non-Bumiputera respondents were reported to be against having single-stream education, while 58 percent of Bumiputera supported the move. Sixty-six percent among those who supported single-stream education believed that it is ‘key to unity of all races.
In other words, the great majority of our secondary students has studied in the national schools. Many would have had the opportunity to study with classmates from other ethnic groups. More than 50 years after, numerous survey findings worldwide could only confirm that a positive attitude toward an outgroup is frequently found to be associated with the extent of interaction or friendship link with members of the outgroup.
Some commentators blame it on the lack of experience in inter-ethnic interaction of these youth, but a couple of surveys found that youth respondents did not indicate any great unease in relating to someone outside their ethnic groups. In other words, even if these students from English medium schools might feel much at ease with inter-ethnic interaction due to frequent contact, their anxiety for their future social mobility prospects appear to have overshadowed any possible reduction of prejudices against their ethnic outgroup.