Chinese: our mother tongue

Article:

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_151213.html

Review:
This article pertains to issues that are very near to the average Singapore Chinese student. Some find it a hassle to study Chinese and can hardly wait to drop it when they go to JC. This is even so when some of them are excelling at it and it is all because we students think that Chinese would not bring us far.

Then again, there are those students who lack this aptitude in Chinese, such as me. I do not hate the Chinese language or have any enmity with it. However, I just do not like studying the characters of this language. My grades reflect this lack of enjoyment for it. However, I do realise the fact that indeed I am a Chinese student. This is my mother tongue and has been passed down from one generation to the next. By losing this language, I am essentially forgetting my roots.

As many feel that Chinese is difficult to study, is it wise for us to lower the standards or just learn it without examinations?

I feel that this is not a solution. There is no point in decreasing standards as if one does not have an enjoyment studying Chinese, then he or she would not excel in it even if the standards were lowered. This lowering of standard would only seek to leave us lacking in the usage of our mother tongue and this would be a disadvantage in the increasingly bilingual world. Examples brought up by the writer would be that of China and Vietnam, where the people there yearn to learn a new language, it often being English.

So is it a question of Chinese being too difficult or a question of the students not making an effort? I guess that it is the latter. With perseverance, nothing is impossible. We see Europeans speaking Chinese, some even more fluent than us ethnic Chinese. Why is this so? It is because they make an effort to learn it, putting in time. It is no longer a question of anything being too difficult for one to learn, instead of it being too difficult for one to put in effort to learn.

Why don’t we try? Put a little bit more effort into Chinese and we will see that it is not impossible to excel in it. Maybe instead of decreasing the difficulty of Chinese, we should instead increase our efforts to overcome any learning difficulties that we face in our pursuit for greater heights.

World-class education: is this true?

Article:

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_149557.htm

Review:

This article has eloquently elaborated on the flaws of our supposedly world-class education that we are all exposed to in Singapore. Well put by Ms. Bavaani Vadivale- Nanthabalan, I feel that indeed the system of education in Singapore is “Teaching to test”, which has resulted in “a nation that is obsessed with rankings and success.”

My first point of evidence would be the fact that we students in Singapore are no longer learning for our own enjoyment. It seems to be the case that we are only learning in order to meet the expectations of our teachers and parents. These expectations often are materialized in tests and examinations, with the results determining our status in their eyes. How many of us actually study more than required? This is only so when we have the passion for that certain subject and this is also curbed by the excessive amount of other work that we have. It seems that only graded work has importance in the lives of the average Singaporean student.

We see students putting in their best for work that is to be graded. For those worksheets and assignments that are not, it is often the case that they are left in one corner, rushed at the last minute. This could be on purpose, when we feel that it is more worthwhile to do the work that would count to our grades, or could be a consequence of the massive amount of work and other commitments that we face. We work only for our marks and grades, putting effort in our CCAs just for the CCA points. It has been drilled into our heads that only these things will decide whether one gets a scholarship or not. These are the only things done in school that would count in our lives in the future.

Another point brought up by Ms. Bavaani is the fact that Singaporean students tend to be less confident, articulate and expressive. This can be considered a norm in classes, where we learn and accept what we are taught; only clarifying our doubts. Little chance has been given to Singaporean students to express ourselves in the way that we want. Students that do so are labeled as disruptive and not a good student in any teacher’s eye. Even if we are given the choice to express ourselves, we tend to keep quiet, as we have always been taught too. We have been conditioned and it is hard to change.

Yes, we are among the world’s best in terms of knowledge education. But is that all there is to schooling?