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

[HyperKiasu]

dimsum:

tree nymph:

[quote=\"dimsum\"]
Ya, for Mr Ng to make that comment, Mr Lee should have already endorsed it. So, I don't think he's not in agreement with Mr Ng. To me, it's more like Mr Lee, with his SAP school background and being bilingual now wants to step in to lend support to this policy change. Mr Ng is not in a good position now to provide further justifications after netizens exposed the 1999 interview he and his son did with zaobao.

So, I am not feeling too optimistic

what is this 1999 interview? can share here?

Sure!
http://politicssg.blogspot.com/2010/04/truth-of-why-moe-is-reducing-weightage.html[/quote]Thanks Dimsum for providing the background information

[Joy]

HyperKiasu:

木已成舟 liao....

:lol:

[HyperKiasu]

Joy:

HyperKiasu:

木已成舟 liao....

:lol:

never mind, 谁笑到最后谁才笑得最好....

[minnie2004]

dimsum:

tree nymph, unfortunately, MM Lee's stance had changed:

He said in Nov last year that his insistence on bilingual policy was a mistake. “Successive generations of students paid a heavy price, because of my ignorance, by my insistence on bilingualism.”
The policy, he acknowledged with a laugh, is still 'not completely right but I will get it right if I live long enough'

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1018826/1/.html
http://www.pmo.gov.sg/News/Transcripts/Minister+Mentor/MM+Lee+wants+learning+of+Chinese+to+be+fun.htm

So probably Mr Ng is trying to \"get it right\".

Thanks dimsum for pulling this out. I was looking for it as I had the impression this was the root of the whole \"lowering MT weighting\" saga. Everytime MM Lee says something, even jokingly, some follow-up policies will miraculously come out

I was hoping they'll change the syllabus to make learning chinese more fun after this (i.e. more speech and drama, more interesting text books etc) but instead they chose the easy way out .

[outsider]

tamarind:

dimsum,

Thanks for posting this news. This is the front page news on the Zao Bao newspaper today. The Chinese news mentioned that many parents have sent in their feedback. My feeling is that Mr Lee is not in agreement with Mr Ng ?

Sorry tamarind.. I have to disagree with you....
他们都是穿着白色制服的。。他们很团结的。。。所接触的大多数是英语顶呱呱，华语讲不出的精英份子。 精英的后代也会有一天成为是精英， 国家注重的是他们。。。。。。。。

[Altum]

dimsum:

Mr Lee said he knows many Singaporeans are concerned about this and will be meeting the media soon with Dr Ng to address this.


- CNA/al

This is the key phrase. The meeting is to address the parents \"concerns\" (read unfounded ) , not to change the stance, which MM Lee will get right as long as he lives.

[Way2GO]

Altum:

dimsum:

Mr Lee said he knows many Singaporeans are concerned about this and will be meeting the media soon with Dr Ng to address this.


- CNA/al

This is the key phrase. The meeting is to address the parents \"concerns\" (read unfounded ) , not to change the stance, which MM Lee will get right as long as he lives.

Yesterday's ST reported that the Chinese Clans
are mobilizing to petition the gahmen.
MT is not just Mandarin,
what about Malay and Tamil?
These groups don't care or is it a case of
que sera sera?

[Altum]

AFAIK, petitions regarding issues like these are in vain.

The die is cast, just like the decision with casinoes, where
all religious groups and others are against it.

[rains]

tree nymph:

To the people who say YES to lowering the weightage of MT


Have you ever wondered - if MOE really lowers the weightage of MT in PSLE exams, do you really think that your kid will do better in PSLE and hence able to get into a better/good secondary school?

The general trend is that most kids are 'English educated', therefore most of them are probably not as good in Chinese language but better in the other subjects. Now if the chinese weightage is lowered, your kid should do better in the PSLE, so WILL (in general) the other kids! That means the entry level for the good secondary schools will also go up and the competition will still be there.

so if you think that by lowering the weightage of Chinese in the PSLE exams will increase the chances of your kid getting into a better/good secondary school, I say, THINK again.

Hi treenymph,

I think most people who support the lowering of weightage of MT at PSLE are not looking at getting better score. There are many, like me, who simply wish to remove the immense pressure to excel in Chinese.

When I look at my kid's textbooks, they are clearly of a much higher level than when I was in primary school. I liken the artificial increase of standard to 揠苗助长 - remember the story about the boy who forcefully pulled the plants up to help them grow? Many who are in the yester-era started with terribly simple textbooks and we turn out more than fine. Sometimes I wonder if I had been born in this era, would I have excelled in Chinese?

What they are learning at P4 is similar to what I had learnt in P6, if I remember correctly. I don't understand why there's a need to make the learning of Chinese so advanced. Is it to match the standard of the PRCs, or at least not look so bad when they come in?

For someone who was even repulsed to Chinese cartoons when she was 6 becos of the inability to understand the language, I'm honestly very glad that she's able to write a compo of a decent length after 4 years, albeit with some wrong words. I feel dismayed to receive her Chinese teacher's calls a few times a week to tell me how my kid's Chinese REALLY needs improvement. She's only 10. The last thing I want is for her to feel inadequate in the face of Chinese language. She's starting to pick up Chinese storybooks and putting in effort to look up words she doesn't understand. I'm really happy at the progress thus far, altho she won't excel in the language this year. But apparently, it's not enough for the Chinese teacher.

Lowering the weightage of MT will at least relieve me and her some pressure when I teach her Chinese. I find that I don't feel so uptight the moment I read the news about the lowering of weightage of MT, altho I still hope that she can do well in the subject nonetheless.

I really feel that Chinese is a language worthy to dwell a lifetime on, not just for PSLE. But if kids feel like a failure just becos of a one-time exam, I'm afraid it'll turn them off the language for a lifetime. I myself know of several parents whose kids felt that Chinese left a 'black mark' on their report cards and decided to give up on the language altogether after PSLE. They just managed a pass for their Chinese in secondary schools, and were thoroughly thrilled to give it up totally at A level, and for the rest of their lives. I thought that's such a waste. We've lost many kids due to the current common weightage at PSLE, so why don't we try another method to at least maintain their interest in Chinese?

[Joy]

:celebrate:


its been a long long time since I SEE CHINESE...something so familar, esp I took this as my A level subject.

HyperKiasu:

Joy:

[quote=\"HyperKiasu\"]木已成舟 liao....

:lol:

never mind, 谁笑到最后谁才笑得最好.... :D[/quote]