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

[Picolo]

tamarind:

dimsum:

Minister Ng said, “I agree with everything you said. There is no difference between what you want and what MOE wants.” During the conversation, he said that “MOE has no intention of diluting the importance of MTL” and he emphasised that “the importance of MTL will be maintained”. He also confirmed that a press conference will be held this coming Tuesday to further explain this matter.

MOE gave us this statement to distribute and announce after the meeting: “Minister gave his assurance that the Ministry has no intention whatsoever of reducing the importance of mother tongue languages at PSLE. He emphasised that bilingualism has served Singapore well and will continue to be a cornerstone of our education system. PM and Minister will be meeting the media next Tuesday to speak further on this.”

This sounds to me that he regretted making the statement about reducing the weighting of mother tongue I bet he did not expect so much complains from the public.

The message in Chinese is much clearer:

http://www.zaobao.com/wencui/2010/05/zaobao100509.shtml

黄永宏保证 教育部无意降低母语在小六会考中重要性

（新加坡）联合早报 (2010-05-09)



● 何惜薇
　　教育部长黄永宏医生保证教育部无意降低母语在小六会考中的重要性，也强调双语政策在新加坡起了很大作用，将继续是我国教育制度的基石。

　　前电台主持人、现任义安理工学院人文学院中文系媒体讲师杨君伟，昨晚在博客中贴了教育部的文告。文告说：“教育部长保证教育部无意降低母语在小六会考的重要性。他强调双语政策在新加坡起了很大作用，将继续是我国教育制度的基石。李显龙总理和部长将在来临的星期二与媒体会面，届时将提供更多详情。”

　　杨君伟也透露昨天早上受邀到教育部总部与黄永宏和四位官员会面，进行了有关母语教育课题的对谈。

　　据了解，除了杨君伟之外，同黄永宏等人进行一个多小时对谈者还包括戏剧团体戏剧盒艺术总监郭庆亮和广告界名人、推广华语理事会主席林少芬。

　　杨君伟在博客中说，他们在对话中传达了民间对有关“教育部考虑降低母语教育在小学会考的分数比重”这个课题的关心与担忧。

　　他说：“如果教育部接下来的决策是降低母语教育在小学会考的分数比重，那我们深深感到担忧，不表赞同。如果教育部决定不会降低母语教育在小学会考的分数比重，那我们希望教育部能为大家说明未来的母语教育方向。”

　　他也说：“部长多次在会谈中保证，教育部确定小学母语教育的重要性。他也正面证实，来临的星期二他将陪同李显龙总理一起召开记者会，针对整个事件阐明教育部的方针。”

　　对于黄永宏的表态，杨君伟说他“感到欣慰”。

　　黄永宏医生不久前接受本报和《海峡时报》专访时透露，政府正在探讨减低母语在小六会考总分中的比重。专访见报后引起各方舆论，不少公众投函到报章或者在网上论坛发表意见，还有人通过网上签名请愿表达看法。

　　芳林公园今天傍晚5时至7时也将有一场配合母亲节的庆祝活动，呼吁民众联署请愿，要求保留母语目前在小六会考中的比重。 相关活动的邀约信息通过电邮、网络及手机简讯广泛传播，一些邀约以“一群文化界的名人，如郭庆亮、林少芬、杨君伟等”名义发出。不过，三人前天受询时都表示，并不是活动的主办者，而是支持者。

　　杨君伟说，他们也向黄永宏表明，今天的聚会纯粹是让大家表达意愿与关注的活动，目的在于向教育部传达他们对母语教育的关心，他也说：“部长的回复是，大家的声音他听到了，并且表示愿意继续聆听我们的心声。”

　　林少芬昨晚受询时证实昨天与黄永宏等人会谈，同样表示希望传达民间对双语政策的关注以及他们的声音。她也说，在会谈时强调，芳林公园活动背后是很多关心母语教育的人。

　　芳林公园的活动今天下午依旧进行。

----

Did you guys receive the free copy of 联合早报 today? My whole block did. Maybe the Govt is afraid that Hong Lim Park gets too crowded. Haha.

:celebrate:

[MMM]

Picolo:

Did you guys receive the free copy of 联合早报 today? My whole block did. Maybe the Govt is afraid that Hong Lim Park gets too crowded. Haha.


:celebrate:

I am sure they also don't want to do this to cost them seats in the parliament just like 1991.

[tamarind]

picolo,

Thanks for posting the article in Chinese. Mr Ng probably is one of those who does not think that language equals identity, most likely grew up in an English speaking family and struggled with Chinese himself. But it is good to know that he does listen to other people’s opinions. We will see whether he goes in the right direction, that is, respect the fact that the majority of us do not want the weighting of mother tongue to be reduced.

[nan.014182nan]

jedamum:

http://forum.thescubasite.com/happy/happy0159.gif\">

I see: forum(dot)thescubasite(dot)com

Thanks !

[verykiasu2010]

tamarind:

picolo,

Thanks for posting the article in Chinese. Mr Ng probably is one of those who does not think that language equals identity, most likely grew up in an English speaking family and struggled with Chinese himself. But it is good to know that he does listen to other people's opinions. We will see whether he goes in the right direction, that is, respect the fact that the majority of us do not want the weighting of mother tongue to be reduced.

A few weeks back, I was told by a principal, that MOE has tasked them to do the program on Bicultural Excellence thingy, to develop a group of people well versed in western and oriental culture and languages ..... then the MOE bombshell by Minister Ng on reducing the MT weightage : this is totally illogical in the sequence of events.

What is MOE trying to say ?

[nan.014182nan]

3Boys:

Consider this, hardly 20 years ago, most Hong-Kongers could barely speak mandarin, were they less Chinese then? How about the migrants to the Chinatowns of Vancouver, Melbourne, who took their dialects with them and barely had an incentive to learn mandarin? How about the very elderly in our midst who do not speak mandarin and often do not read the text as well? Are they less Chinese as well? Is Tang poetry part of the cultural scene in Tibet or Manchuria? The use of the fluency in the language as a benchmark of ethnicity is clearly nonsense. So what motivates this type of name calling then? Probably several things, but I can't help but feel that special interests are at play. Just so that I am clear, I am not suggesting this of people who are passionate about the language and wish to propagate its use and fluency. I send my boys to enrichment schools run by such people, but there is none of this 'cultural' baggage.

Hi,

You wrote a long article. But I want to quickly address the above quoted paragraph, which I felt that you have confused Chinese language (written) and Mandarin (spoken).

Before I go on, I must say that I am not a Chinese language specialist, and I am also learning. I get my sources from the Internet. If need by, I shall call upon some real experts from other forum to come in.

The Chinese Language (华语) in this PSLE debate comprise of both written 华文 and spoken 华语.

In Singapore, the written 华文 is 华文. In China, I think they call more commonly as 中文, in Hong Kong I think they call it 国语（and say that in Cantonese). But what ever it is called, it is THE only one language for all Chinese in the is world.

((Note: certain usage of words has local meaning specific to particular country or region, but that is just variation and happens in British English and US English too. Example: in Singapore computer is called 电脑 but in China they call it 计算机. I am not dwelling into this details.))

Your example in that quoted paragraph ask Hong Kongers don't speak Mandarin, are they less Chinese. By asking this question, I immediately understand where you go wrong. Hong Kongers use Chinese, the same 中文，华文 or 国语. Their newspaper is printed using the same characters ((although even the characters has the traditional version 繁体 and simplified version 简体, and I am also not dwelling into this))

Hong Kongers speak Cantanese 广东话 and not 普通话.

What you missed out is the differentiation of 普通话 - which is what we in Singapore call the spoken 华语 !

Lets try to learn this. There is 华文作文 Chinese composition but no 华语作文. There is 华文老师 but no 华语老师 unless that teacher specifically only teach spoken 华语.

Lets look into why migrants to the Chinatowns of Vancouver, Melbourne, who took their dialects with them and not Mandarin ? Because, according to this http://baike.baidu.com/view/4591.htm?fr=topic, 普通话 only became the official Chinese spoken language after the New China was established (after 1949).

I highlight this:
新中国成立后，1955年10月召开的“全国文字改革会议”和“现代汉语规范问题学术会议”期间，汉民族共同语的正式名称正式定为“普通话”，并同时确定了它的定义，即“以北京语音为标准音，以北京话为基础方言”。

After the New China was established, in Oct 1955....the common language of the Han people is officially defined as 普通话...and using the official pronunciation of 北京话。

That is why, before 1949, your grandfather and great grandfather don't speak the so-call \"Mandarin\" because it wasn't defined !

So, do you realised that because you don't have this history perspective of how the spoken Mandarin came about, and you mistaken that because your grandfather don't speak Mandarin (but dialects of Chinese) and IS STILL consider 100% Chinese ?

So, today, after China (well, it has to be them, who else has the authority to do so ?) defined the official spoken language of Chinese, both the written 中文/华文 and the spoken 华语/普通话 is therefore the only official language of Chinese people (people live born in PRC, people live born in Taiwan, you and me in Singapore, those in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia...) and the decendents of the migrants in Canada, Australia would eventually learn the same too.

You said you are sending your children to enrichment centers. That is good. Please let them learn the only official language of the Chinese people well. That would perfect their Chinese-ness. And like I said, when you see your children can do better than you, you win, you must be proud of yourself to enable them to do so !

I am a Hokkien. My spoken Hokkien is only 20% of my father's. My children is less than 5% of mine (that means less than 1% of my father's)
They went totally bewildered (jaws open wide) when they heard my father talking to my cousins/uncles in China over the phone. Ask me:\"what in the world is ah-gong saying ?\".

However, if I pick up a Zaobao, my daughter better be able to read the headline aloud in the same way I would read it and understand what it says like my father. If my uncle in China read the same page, he would understand precisely the same.

I hope I open up a new perspective for you. But again, what I wrote above could be put in better way by someone who knows more than me. I only learn Chinese up to GEC \"O\" level. I am still learning.

[3Boys]

nan.nan:

I hope I open up a new perspective for you. But again, what I wrote above could be put in better way by someone who knows more than me. I only learn Chinese up to GEC \"O\" level. I am still learning.

I understand you perfectly. Does it not seem strange to you that something that supposedly has such deep roots is defined by a political act in 1955? And I don't even like the communists...... :lol:

[3Boys]

Let me elaborate further to nan.nan


Does it not seems farcical to you that whether someone qualifies to be a Chinese is on account of a political act of the communist party of China in 1955? The 4000 year old history of the country does not count then? What if the KMT had won the war in the 1940s? Would Hokkien be the official lingo of Chinese then? Actually I think Tang poetry would sound really nice in Teochew, its got a beautiful sing-song quality to it (and at least I could speak it)

[gnoikj]

3Boys:

Let me elaborate further to nan.nan


Does it not seems farcical to you that whether someone qualifies to be a Chinese is on account of a political act of the communist party of China in 1955? The 4000 year old history of the country does not count then? What if the KMT had won the war in the 1940s? Would Hokkien be the official lingo of Chinese then? Actually I think Tang poetry would sound really nice in Teochew, its got a beautiful sing-song quality to it (and at least I could speak it)

What if the Brits never left Singapore, and we have no need for this MT education? What if World War 2 was won by the Axis and Singapore remained as Syonan-To? What if your ancestors never migrated to Singapore? What if...? You get the picture...

Everything is defined by some event in the past. It is useless to argue based on what ifs and what should have beens....We have to deal with the realities here. We are what we are because of a certain MT policy set up eons ago...To be frank, it is virtually impossible to disassociate one from his ethnicity based on the argument that we rae a migrant nation. Ask the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans who migrated to the States...3 generations down, some semblance of the ethnic identity remains. Language itself is one of those which holds this shared sense of identity. And no, blaming it on the communists is too cliche an argumentative strategy.

[verykiasu2010]

what if the Brits / Japanese / Portuguese never left Singapore ? We will still be learning mandarin, and probably more chinese schools would have remained …


Possible scenario :

Japs stayed : we will be learning Japs and Mandarin

Brits stayed : we will still be learning English and Mandarin