Elite SPG: If China students can do it,

No mention that the PRC students are a couple of years older than Sg kids in the same class. No mention of the even larger no. of PRC who struggle with 2 languages. No mention that the parents of these PRC students leeplaced Sporns and are given freebies at the same time, and hence can afford tuition for their kids. Yet another piece of crap from Wee Shoot Min bitch wannabe!

Apr 26, 2010

If China students can do it, why can't we?

<!-- by line --><!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --><!-- story content : start -->
THE debate on whether to cut mother tongue weighting in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) has gone on for some time.
I was lucky to be brought up in a Chinese-educated family and I had no problems coping with Chinese and Higher Chinese in the PSLE and O and A levels. I did, however, have problems with English. But with hard work, I managed to do well and went to a Special Assistance Plan secondary school.
In my school, there were many scholarship holders from China. These students, who had never studied English before, had to cope with an unfamiliar language, which was also used in the teaching of other subjects. Yet, with hard work, most scored A1 or A2 in that subject.
Thus I do not understand why there is a need to review mother tongue weighting in the PSLE because some pupils cannot cope.
Using the same reasoning, pupils from Mandarin-speaking homes can argue that English is difficult and its PSLE weighting should be cut as well.
Yap Xiao Jun (Miss)

<TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" class=Post cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>To answer the letter writer, there is a perfectly simple and rational reason why those Chinese students studying locally are able to learn English given their relatively short exposure:

1. These are specially picked students - they have to be exceptionally bright to be picked for the Singapore programme. China have billions of students to choose from and it would be OVERGENERALISING a bit too much to assume that all China Chinese students including those in China are all equally adapt at learning English or a foreign language. A swallow does not a summer make. We are looking at a statistically INSIGNIFICANT and unrepresentative sample of China Chinese students. It is invalid and seriously flawed to extrapolate from the performance of these to all China Chinese. Can we say that those Singapore students who do very well in reputable overseas universities are representative or typical of all local students? Obviously not since those who qualify to study overseas have to satisfy the admission requirements/standards of the institutions concerned.

2. These Chinese students are immersed in a largely English speaking environment and milieu in Singapore which obviously expedite and facilitate them in their learning of English. Similarly there are anecdotal accounts of foreigners picking up mandarin quickly when they lived/worked in China for a period. Related to this is the constant misapprehension of locals about how well China Chinese students do in local schools, forgetting that these are handpicked students from a based far exceeding perhaps even Singapore's entire population and it is therefore far from rational to compare them against the general local student body.

3. Born and bred in China they have a headstart in Chinese, learning English here, a linguistically easier language to learn and master, is not too difficult a challenge. They are comparable to local Chinese from a mandarin-speaking background who similarly have less difficulty picking up English in school where the medium of instruction is English.

4. It is simplistic and lacking in empathy to choose to ignore such facts on the ground.

Also, be real, the local Chinese educated population had never been a big one. This is partly thanks to the tacit policy of the govt to reduce the political influence of the Chinese educated because they were the ones spearheading challenges against the govt over various issues. Have we forgotten that the Chinese educated were once synonymous with being Red Chinese? This was inaccurate and misguided but which suit govt's agenda at that time.

Finally, a very simple question may be put to the govt regarding its sincerity towards mother tongue:

1. If the learning of 'mother tongue' is so important, what were the reasons for dismantling 'vernacular' schools where the medium of instruction were Mandarin, Malay and Tamil?
If it is really concerned about root and heritage of our multi-racial society, nowhere may this be
nurtured and ensured than developing them in the young in school?
</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: commentator_sc at Mon Apr 26 12:20:00 SGT 2010
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" class=AlternatePost cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Arshavin68, I agree with you. I read an article in one of the newspapers in China which did a survey on where Chinese students would like to study abroad, Singapore wasn't even in the list. It was probably under "others". The countries listed were USA, parts of Europe, Australia, and even Japan. That probably shows that Singapore isn't even in their top 10 choices. Those who come here were approached directly by schools, who give them scholarships or bursaries so that they can study here.
</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: am3thy5t at Mon Apr 26 11:35:16 SGT 2010
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>