[PSLE MT] PSLE less weightage in Chinese / Mother Tongue
-
[quote]I used to be stupidly proud of my Chinese 'roots', until I had first-hand experiences with the real mainland Chinese. They half-coned, half-frightened me into parting with a $10 note and still had the cheek to ask,\"这么少啊？\" I was flabbergasted and disillusioned about how ugly 'real' Chinese were.
[/quote]Agree with you on this point here, rains.
Guess the Chinese in Singapore will be different from Chinese in China or the Chinese in America. The environment we live in plays a part in shaping the behaviours of people.
Our external appearance may look the same to outsiders but we are worlds apart internally.
I 'think' and 'dream' in English though I am proficient in both languages. -
[quote]And when that angmoh started talking Chinese to you and asking you something about Chinese culture or history, you respond by \"I don't speak Chinese and know nothing about the Tang dynasty or Confucius, b/c I'm SBC\" with your head up, I wonder what the angmoh is going to think.
[/quote]Ha...you'll be surprised to know some of these 'angmohs' may not even know the history of Britain or Europe as much as some of us who have studied it during our school days... :lol: Some Americans don't even know who their first President was?
and I'm not bothered by what 'angmohs' think anyway.
-
minnie2004:
Like what csc said, would you fault an American born Chinese or a Cambodian born Chinese for not knowing the Tang dynasty or Confucius?
We can't deny our roots just b/c of a few bad apples. We can talk, eat, behave like an angmoh, but we'll ALWAYS be Chinese in front of an angmoh, disregard where we were born. That's our root. And when that angmoh started talking Chinese to you and asking you something about Chinese culture or history, you respond by \"I don't speak Chinese and know nothing about the Tang dynasty or Confucius, b/c I'm SBC\" with your head up, I wonder what the angmoh is going to think.
Yes, Singapore has been successful thanks to its proficiency in English. That's b/c US & UK were the dominant economic powers in the last century. However, past cannot predict future. Remember Spanish and French were the dominant languages at one point? Although Eng will always be important, in a world where the west is declining and China is on the rise, where our \"edge\" is going to come from in the next 10 years or even century when we can master only Eng?
I think to assume that those who master Chinese are rooted in their roots or culture is kinda idealistic. I get all the highest possible distinctions for my Chinese, but I'm no expert in Tang dynasty or Confucius, even though I did learn about Tang dynasty in my A level history, which was conducted in English. And I've thrown it all back to my Indian History teacher. I learnt about Confucius when I took Confucius Studies as my Religious Knowledge back in secondary school, but at most it's only 皮毛。I won't dare to tell others that I know about Tang dynasty or Confucius bcos what I know is very superficial. Am I rooted in the culture? I won't say I am.
Like I mentioned, the majority of my secondary schoolmates spoke Mandarin, not becos they were rooted in Chinese culture, but only becos their English was lousy (and so was mine). The only 'cultural' thing they know about Chinese was probably 老夫子and小叮当。The moment you use a proverb - 'Wah! Cheem ah! Cheem ah!'
What roots?
Don't be mistaken. I love Chinese and am passionate about it, but I don't think it's necessary to force it down the throat of those who are not apt at it. Not everyone is linguistically inclined, just like not everyone can do Maths and Science becos of the ability to handle two languages. I don't want to generalise, but from my own very personal observation, it seems to me that the majority of those who excel in Maths and Science do not cope with two languages well. Of course, I've seen those who do well in everything you throw at them.
Singapore owes her survival and success to the mastery of English. She's jumping on the Chinese bandwagon and that's why Chinese has become important. I never deny the importance of Chinese, even if there's no bandwagon to jump on.
The issue about lowering the MT weightage is not the inability to speak Mandarin, but not being able to excel in it.
I first joined in this discussion to clarify that the support for the lowering of weightage of MT is not purely result-oriented, but I find myself clarifying more and more.
-
Can't help posting this letter here .... another who thinks so highly of her kids, just like Grandma Chong did .... sigh ...
Extracted from Staits Times Online - 6 May 2010
My children's woes
AS A retired English teacher and the mother of two young professionals, both managers, I wish Dr Ng Eng Hen had been Education Minister in their school years. Coming from an English-speaking home, their mother tongue was and remains English. Period.
Because of the bilingual policy and a hefty weighting of mother tongue, we enrolled them in PCF kindergartens hoping to expose them to a Mandarin-speaking environment. At the same time, at dinner time, we watched a Mandarin serial called Coffee Shop together, again to give them more exposure.
Both attended mission schools. Both struggled with Chinese, although my daughter was slightly better. As they ploughed through the subject, they spent more time on it than on reading books they loved. I discovered how my son hated the subject only when I picked up a handwritten note on the floor of his room one day. It read: 'I hate Chinese tuition because it makes me feel so stupid.'
Because of the mother tongue requirement for university entry, my daughter focused on her Chinese paper, sacrificing her time for other subjects. As a result, she scored poorly for her pet subject. Instead of obtaining a distinction she got an E.
Although invited to apply for joint admission to the universities, she was eventually rejected. We had to send her overseas where she excelled in her studies. She consistently scored distinctions and higher distinctions. Her professor even arranged a work attachment for her and a permanent job after that. Singapore would have lost a young professional had my husband not persuaded her to return.
My son learnt from his sister's experience. After scoring the bare minimum for entry requirements, he focused on his other subjects and made it to the university.
Why do we still insist our children need to be proficient in both languages? After all, how many will really have to do business with China?
Julia Sng (Mrs) -
25hourmaid:
:x Obviously grandma Chong is living in a old era. If we think like her, then there is no future.Can't help posting this letter here .... another who thinks so highly of her kids, just like Grandma Chong did .... sigh ...
Extracted from Staits Times Online - 6 May 2010
Why do we still insist our children need to be proficient in both languages? After all, how many will really have to do business with China?
Julia Sng (Mrs) -
MMM:
Sorry... should be Mrs Julia Sng....
:x Obviously grandma Chong is living in a old era. If we think like her, then there is no future.25hourmaid:
Can't help posting this letter here .... another who thinks so highly of her kids, just like Grandma Chong did .... sigh ...
Extracted from Staits Times Online - 6 May 2010
Why do we still insist our children need to be proficient in both languages? After all, how many will really have to do business with China?
Julia Sng (Mrs)
Maid, Who is grandma chong? -
MMM:
There were so many parts in her letter that I felt like giving her a piece of my mind, she had better thank her lucky stars that it was a letter to the ST Online Forum and not posted here, otherwise, I am sure the replies would be fast and furious! :lol:
:x Obviously grandma Chong is living in a old era. If we think like her, then there is no future.25hourmaid:
Can't help posting this letter here .... another who thinks so highly of her kids, just like Grandma Chong did .... sigh ...
Extracted from Staits Times Online - 6 May 2010
Why do we still insist our children need to be proficient in both languages? After all, how many will really have to do business with China?
Julia Sng (Mrs) -
Altum:
how many languages are offered by MOE ? just checked MOE website : chinese, tamil,malay, french, german, japanese, thai, arabic, hindi, urdu, gujarati, panjabi, bengali
I think the whole idea is as more and more people from otherverykiasu2010:
he does not correct it. there is nothing wrong that needs correction
he adjusts it to suit some people, that's all
countries flood Singapore, MT must be switched to 2nd Lang.
It is hard to be consistent across board for all 2nd languages.
Neither can they make new citizens to adapt to the limited
languages offered as MT.
whether is classified as mother tongue is immaterial -
MMM, Grandma Chong was the grandma who wrote to the ST at the beginning of this lowering of MT weightage discussion, boasting about how good her grandkids are etc, if not for the fact that they were no good in Chinese, about missed opportunities etc. Believe there is a copy of her letter somewhere in this thread too.
-
25hourmaid:
Seriously, if her kids were born today and in this era of ours. They would have a major problem. How many people need to do biz with China???? Auntie... wake up!!! China companies have bought over Volvo!!!. The china we know is no longer the backward country. One day, alot of our kids have to work there and probably settle down in China.
There were so many parts in her letter that I felt like giving her a piece of my mind, she had better thank her lucky stars that it was a letter to the ST Online Forum and not posted here, otherwise, I am sure the replies would be fast and furious! :lol:
Just can't believe it. I've australian colleagues who learn CL here. I've a Japan colleague who request to be posted to CHina and he told me he is learning the language. I also have another UK colleague who is learning CL as he has a China girlfriend. We are so blessed as we are bilingual and CL being part of the cirriculm is compulsory for us. At least we can read and speak the language. Even those who struggled, I am sure they can understand.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login