Ever since MM commented that he may have made a mistake in the bilingual policy in the education system in SG (he realised that not everyone can grasp more than 1 language properly), there are a lot of views and comments in the media regarding the teaching of Chinese in schools.
There are 2 camps of argument, the English-speaking families (let's call them "jia gang-tan" aka "eat potato") and the Chinese-speaking families (let's call them "jia bui" aka "eat rice"). I will not go into the details about their views, you can read them in the papers and forum. Very interesting and I do encourage you to read them.
What I am going to say here is my view on learning languages, any language. And why I am pissed off with MOE lowering the standard of Chinese in the schools today.
Learning (regardless of language or what not) requires interest. If you are interested in a subject, you tend to spend more time and effort in it. And because you spend time and effort you will improve and you will tend to like the subject more and go in-depth in your learning. This is a cycle and this is why it call learning.
However, in real life, we don't love all subjects, esp school subjects. We tend to like only certain subjects and sometimes hated some. (Come on, don't kid yourself, I don't believe anyone will love all subjects during your school days, if you are, well you are abnormal.) So what do you do when you are not interested in a subject but you still need the knowledge. Well, we grit our teeth and do whatever we can, spend lots of lots of effort and time to pick up the subjects that we don't like so that we can pass the exams. Right? Well I did that.
I came from a Jia Bui family and my English wasn't good. Somehow, I managed to pick up English properly. I can speak and write in English (ok I admit I do make grammar and spelling mistakes now and then, but all word processing software have tools to rectify that). So what makes the Jia gang-tan so special that concession has to made for them so that they can pick up Chinese? I really don't understand.
And why does MOE have to lower the standard of Chinese in schools (the standard is already very low now) so that Jia gang-tan children can do well for their exams? If the standard of Chinese can be lower, what about doing the same for English so that the Jia Bui children can also do well for their exams? There are students who don't do well in English but have outstanding results for Chinese and other subjects, why are these students being penalised and not the Jia gang-tan students. So unfair.
Well ... haiz ... I can only ... haiz (sign). Life is never fair.
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Jia gang-tan: Chinese Language is very difficult. My son will have a problem getting into U because he will not be able to pass the exam.
Jia Bui: What is so difficult about Chinese? It is not difficult, English is harder. Need to know when to use present tense, when to use past tense, spell long words properly.
Jia gang-tan: It's difficult, even MM says the teaching method is wrong for 30 years. I hope MOE will lower the passing standard for Chinese. Better still, scrap away the Chinese from the 'O' level, then my son won't have problem getting into U.
Jia Bui: Whoa ... Chinese language standard in schools standard is already very low, still want to lower somemore? Now they can use hanyu pinyin to replace properly Chinese words during exams and you still want to lower it somemore? U even want MOE to scrap Chinese?
Jia gang-tan: Yeap. His English and other subjects is good just Chinese is not good. If MOE scrap this subject, then he sure can go U. We speak English, MOE sure sayang us and listen to us. All the elites comes from Jia gang-tan, MOE sure will do something to ease the lives of our children.
Jia Bui: If MOE really does that, they are very biased. Biased towards Jia gang-tan. My son English not good, to be fair MOE must also lower the standard of English so that my son can also go to U. His Chinese and other subjects also very good. Can or not? hah??? Can or not????
===========================================================
There are 2 camps of argument, the English-speaking families (let's call them "jia gang-tan" aka "eat potato") and the Chinese-speaking families (let's call them "jia bui" aka "eat rice"). I will not go into the details about their views, you can read them in the papers and forum. Very interesting and I do encourage you to read them.
What I am going to say here is my view on learning languages, any language. And why I am pissed off with MOE lowering the standard of Chinese in the schools today.
Learning (regardless of language or what not) requires interest. If you are interested in a subject, you tend to spend more time and effort in it. And because you spend time and effort you will improve and you will tend to like the subject more and go in-depth in your learning. This is a cycle and this is why it call learning.
However, in real life, we don't love all subjects, esp school subjects. We tend to like only certain subjects and sometimes hated some. (Come on, don't kid yourself, I don't believe anyone will love all subjects during your school days, if you are, well you are abnormal.) So what do you do when you are not interested in a subject but you still need the knowledge. Well, we grit our teeth and do whatever we can, spend lots of lots of effort and time to pick up the subjects that we don't like so that we can pass the exams. Right? Well I did that.
I came from a Jia Bui family and my English wasn't good. Somehow, I managed to pick up English properly. I can speak and write in English (ok I admit I do make grammar and spelling mistakes now and then, but all word processing software have tools to rectify that). So what makes the Jia gang-tan so special that concession has to made for them so that they can pick up Chinese? I really don't understand.
And why does MOE have to lower the standard of Chinese in schools (the standard is already very low now) so that Jia gang-tan children can do well for their exams? If the standard of Chinese can be lower, what about doing the same for English so that the Jia Bui children can also do well for their exams? There are students who don't do well in English but have outstanding results for Chinese and other subjects, why are these students being penalised and not the Jia gang-tan students. So unfair.
Well ... haiz ... I can only ... haiz (sign). Life is never fair.
===========================================================
Jia gang-tan: Chinese Language is very difficult. My son will have a problem getting into U because he will not be able to pass the exam.
Jia Bui: What is so difficult about Chinese? It is not difficult, English is harder. Need to know when to use present tense, when to use past tense, spell long words properly.
Jia gang-tan: It's difficult, even MM says the teaching method is wrong for 30 years. I hope MOE will lower the passing standard for Chinese. Better still, scrap away the Chinese from the 'O' level, then my son won't have problem getting into U.
Jia Bui: Whoa ... Chinese language standard in schools standard is already very low, still want to lower somemore? Now they can use hanyu pinyin to replace properly Chinese words during exams and you still want to lower it somemore? U even want MOE to scrap Chinese?
Jia gang-tan: Yeap. His English and other subjects is good just Chinese is not good. If MOE scrap this subject, then he sure can go U. We speak English, MOE sure sayang us and listen to us. All the elites comes from Jia gang-tan, MOE sure will do something to ease the lives of our children.
Jia Bui: If MOE really does that, they are very biased. Biased towards Jia gang-tan. My son English not good, to be fair MOE must also lower the standard of English so that my son can also go to U. His Chinese and other subjects also very good. Can or not? hah??? Can or not????
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