[PSLE MT] PSLE less weightage in Chinese / Mother Tongue

[tankee]

auntieM:

Few years back when this group of 'students' came in, schools were thrilled to have them to 'raise' their sports and MT standards.. ..

From debate to badminton, and many other activities, our kiddos have to make way for these people.. .

foreign talent !

[MMM]

auntieM:

Few years back when this group of 'students' came in, schools were thrilled to have them to 'raise' their sports and MT standards.. ..

From debate to badminton, and many other activities, our kiddos have to make way for these people.. .

But on the other hand, being great in MT is not good enough for them to excel. Being good in everything is the key to top scorer. Personally, I sort of salute these kids. Eg. some only started english later but they put in alot of effort, discipline and practise to master it thereby making their learning curve very steep. I think their learning attitude is worth commending compared to our kiddos. Who are probably in comfort zone.

I am not just thinking about our kids. But also in the working environment, it's undeniably that with the drive for success of these people and the growing economy that will eventually be on par with US, the world is indeed getting interconnected. If the kiddos can't even compete with these people in local schools, don't even talk about working environment.

[JonC]

Aiya, debate what!!!


Isn’t it now that some student can completely drop Chinese and their T-Scores are calculate by 3 subjects? This already is 1 group.

So now simple mah, from the students who take MT, split them into 2 groups,

- 1 group who take higher Chinese (or pass higher Chinese) at P6, their normal Chinese will be calculated with current weightage.

- 1 group who didn’t take higher Chinese, their Chnese will be the new reduced weightage.

Like that those good at Chinese will be happy, those no good in Chinese will also be happy.

Please do not shoot me, its just my 1 cents worth, not "1 million" (:evil: you know what I mean) worth.

Currently, my opinion is, even seeing my DS HCL, I feel Singapore HCL is also of low standard compare to the older days even the CL2. So it is really going down the drain generation after generation where one fine day we be like ang mo and become rootless!!!

[auntieM]

I have no doubt these FT kids worked very hard to achieve what they wanted to

I just feel for those kids that have been school rep for CCA and then got 'kicked' out when these overage FT comes in.. ...quite upsetting for the kiddo
involved.

[Pen88n]

Learning languages should be a positive experience for kids to love and appreciate the language. Based on Singapore’s Chinese standard, it is not that high and by lowering it further, I dread to think what will the Chinese learning in Singapore education becomes.


If it is just because Chinese is not a compulsory in points computation in secondary as mentioned in the papers, shouldn’t the same apply to Maths and Science? No subject is compulsory in secondary points except English, I think. Why the biasness towards Chinese only? Just because some kids and parents complain about Chinese being difficult to learn? what about Maths - didn’t enough parents and kids complain about the high maths standard in PSLE and is MOE doing anything about it?

[Poonie]

For many years we have seen top students who are China student. These are not just the 1 or 2 per year. There are many of such students around who were not given media attention. Don’t be surpised that those that rank below the nos 1 are also China students. Why I said so? Sometime back I went on line to look for Math tutor for my kids. I didn’t mind those waiting for A level results. I indicated that i only wanted A* students. The system sifted out so many tutors with China-sounding names with straight As. Some of them have been offered a place at local U but awaiting response from Oxford, Cambridge and a few Ivy-league Us. Their priority is to go overseas!


I don’t deny that these foreign kids have put in alot of hardwork to learn English in order to get such stellar results. Our kids are definitely disadvantaged not just in MT but other subjects too coz these China kids were already ahead in other subjects before they came over. Age aside…their syllabus cover much more difficult stuff compared to the same level here. So this means that as they mastered English, every other subjects would follow.

Many of our kids have been putting in alot of effort in MT but they just don’t come close. They are just not in the right environment to study Chinese unlike if one were in China. Take a good look at ourselves…we have studied MT under the old system with equal weightage in writing and reading/speaking but can many of us conduct a meeting in Chinese or read Chinese contracts let alone appreciate Chinese history. There are just too many factors from books, TV programmes, subtitles etc etc. No point going into all these cos they will fall on deaf ears and they have fallen on deaf ears! Don’t think learning Chinese in a different way or giving less weightage will make us lose our roots. My MT is lousy…can only read 60% of LHZB! But I appreciate all things chinese from food, films, drama to Chinese history. On the latter two, I would even read the English version just to find out how our ancestors used to live in the old ancient days and how it makes us who we are today.

Sorry to all dissenters…don’t shoot me but I really applaud this move and hope it will materialise and benefit my kids. I’ll not stop their MT tuition and all…still want them to be as Chinese as they are now.

[MMM]

Pen88n:

Learning languages should be a positive experience for kids to love and appreciate the language. Based on Singapore's Chinese standard, it is not that high and by lowering it further, I dread to think what will the Chinese learning in Singapore education becomes.


If it is just because Chinese is not a compulsory in points computation in secondary as mentioned in the papers, shouldn't the same apply to Maths and Science? No subject is compulsory in secondary points except English, I think. Why the biasness towards Chinese only? Just because some kids and parents complain about Chinese being difficult to learn? what about Maths - didn't enough parents and kids complain about the high maths standard in PSLE and is MOE doing anything about it?

:goodpost: Thought someone posted on Finland? education and my impression is there is no exams.... maybe we should move to that to be fair to all subjects. There is no end to it. Personally, I am still pro-CL learning. Have a daughter who loves CL but a son who dislikes it though he don't hate it as I am still trying to brain wash him on the importance of it. But I feel that as a Chinese and seeing how we benefit being bilingual, we should not lower the standard. This competitive advantage of ours will be eroded soon with the mainland chinese being bilingual just like us.

[corneyAmber]

There's a discussion here too :


http://forums.asiaone.com/showthread.php?t=29294

[daisyt]

I don't agree with lowering down the weightage of Chinese. It is unfair for Chinese as a subject itself. Kids are still kids. They would not put in effort if it is of lower weightage or no exam because they would feel, it is not important. Its very sad, to see our mother tongue loosing its ground.


Lets say, we are in the opposite scenario, many kids in Singapore find English difficult to learn, no interest in learning, do we also lower down the weightage of English?

English is important, why not Chinese? Even if its not for some economic reasons due to China, it is still important because its our roots.

If the China kids can put in effort and interest to learn English and excel in it, why can't our Singaporean, so called Chinese but English speaking kids do the same in learning Chinese? :?

[Blobbi]

Sorry I’m not very with it - the ST put the Chinese weighting at 25%. Is this correct? I thought it was higher, like English.