[lg policy] blog: Did singapore government fail in mother tongue policy and therefore chinese language standards drop?

Mon Jan 10 15:48:37 UTC 2011

Did singapore government fail in mother tongue policy and therefore
chinese language standards drop?

Chinese or malay Differentiated learning will surely KILL chinese
language in the long run

Can Tao Nan  Primary School be a leading light for Singapore’s Chinese
language?

On 19 th May 2010,  Our state propaganda machinery the Channel eight
(a division of Singapore Media Corp) mentioned and showed very flimsy
examples of Chinese language being alive and well  . It also mentioned
that mother tongue is alive and well, with student numbers  extending
from 80 to 90. Is this truthful. It is truthful but missing the point
completely as this trend is an anomaly, it is indeed increasing. From
80 to 90 students, not bad, in a country of almost 5m population
right? This is a joke .

Try speaking to  someone in Orchard road, clark quay or even Ang Mo
kio  , nobody  speaks Chinese anymore. It’s not the fault of parents
as the government Systematically  dilute the Chinese language . There
is a lacking of Chinese language usage and vocabulary.

Language equal   culture, most linguists agree .

Are we seriously at risk of  sacrificing not only our Chinese culture,
but to the economic engine that is CHINA?

Lee Kuan Yew has succeeded in diluting chinese

In a Country where 70% are Chinese and in these chinese households  ,
70% use english at home  . Out of these people , some swear to  hatred
learning Chinese language.

You call that well? This Issue  is rather  serious amongst chinese
families  in Singapore.

Singapore older Generation politicians should sincerely promote mother
tongue (not just chinese language)

Like the saying goes,     begin with the end in mind. If the END is
that MTL Mother tongue language standards is further diluted, the
efforts to learn it will falter.

Aim low and we can all forget about it

Let’s just say, keep the standards and mother tongue percentage weigh
same and then work on the foundations and promote the Mother tongue
language ecology alive.

The war is not over. The singapore government has backed off changing
mother tongue percentage weight but would still like to promote
Differentiated teaching to gradually encroach on the language  . Let
all the children study in one single class in a one standardized
teaching. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work for all. Thus a solution
must be found. Rather than the divide and conquer tactics of
differentiated learning.

One of the most damning   policy soon to be implemented regarding of
differentiated teaching is to TEACH CHINESE using ENGLISH language as
a  medium on the pretext of chinese students from English speaking
families  !

   Singapore government cannot hoodwink the people about promoting
mother tongue while it is killing it and  about how important mother
tongue is and yet there is hardly any chance to use Chinese language
or malay or Tamil in everyday life.

While we all acknowledge   that English is the language that gels all
races in Singapore, we cannot and shall not sit idly while mother
tongue witters away. In this case, it is not wittering away, but being
chopped away!!! I remember during my grand mother’s time, she spoke
cantonese, Hokkien, Malay, some english and some teochew . Did we have
an issue?

In fact we think that in Schools, there should be a compulsory module
for chinese to learn 20 hours of Malay and 20 hours of tamil. And
likewise for Malays to learn 20 hours of Chinese and Tamil and for the
tamils learn 20 hours of Malay and Chinese.

How many of our Ministers  can speak Chinese Fluently?

 Our members of parliament cannot even speak proper sentences without
searching and struggling for words and some of these people run
constituencies which has poorer chinese language in Singapore speaking
dwellers. The Malay member of parliament  are better, they at least
can speak Malay fluently. We respect them even if they cannot speak
Chinese language.

Having such people as MP will only send the WRONG picture about
learning Mother Tongue that the RICH and powerful speaks English and
those poor and not so educated Speak mandarin Chinese or dialects.

SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT PANDERS TO THE MORE WELL OFF???
There has been statement that 95% of students are okay (as they pass)
with the current Mother Tongue language levels at PSLE. So if 95% of
the students have no problem, why is the government saying that there
is some issue?

Are they seriously trying to win over the parents of the 5% who faces
problems with mother tongue? This surely is not MERITOCRATIC, neither
is it fair. Maybe the government would have a better explanation.

The excuse that DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES FORCE alteration

(The local Singaporeans   did not agree  for massive immigration, mind you)

Many times, the government has been saying that with the influx of
immigration , Singapore education ministry  cannot afford to  teaching
Chinese at high level , they cannot teach malay at high standard  and
tamil at high standard  . But let’s face it, this is Singapore. And
Singapore is for Singaporeans shouldn’t it be? We welcome alien
talents, but Singaporeans must take precedence over expats or PRs  As
such people come into Singapore, surely Singapore has to widen the
mother tongue to include Hindi and maybe Tagalog and who knows, maybe
even some western based languages.

But until they become Singapore citizens  and until they serve
national service or it’s equivalent, the Singapore ministers who speak
with english slang better listen up  , or else we will surely show
them during the Coming  election, if there is one.

These days, even Nanyang Primary school students hardly speak chinese
even as it was one of the last fortress standing for chinese education
in singapore

Now, let the DOG wag the tail and not let the tail wag the dog.

http://best-tv-shows.com/did-singapore-government-fail-in-mother-tongue-policy-and-therefore-chinese-language-standards-drop/

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