after making generations of wee islanders of chinese ancestry hating "chinese as a second language" - or the logic-defying "mother tongue" - lessons at school, the education ministry are making a right u-turn.
'Most important is, don't turn the student off, which is what we have succeeded in doing. By forcing them to achieve the standard, we have turned off one generation, which is a great pity.
'They are fed up. They are forced by their parents, forced by their school. They have bad results, they hate it, they want nothing more to do with it, which I think is a tragedy.'
exactly. how i hated memorising every single stroke of those pictograms. not that i can't recognise certain words nor not being able to speak it. but what's the whole idea behind it? it's not as if chinese *is* the language of global business. nor my economic survival solely depends on it.
apart from my not being 100% chink.
back then, nobody - well except those who can't simply get a grip on reality - 'ere had any hangup's with the english language; not only it is a unifying language inherited from the colonialists' but the very existence of the wee isle relies on it.
granted, mandarin is all the rage amongst college students in the west. and for those who think they would have massive a leg-up with business associates in these parts.
but to propogate the propaganda that mandarin is the mother tongue of 70% - or more/less - of wee islanders is mighty erroneous. not to mention, a complete insult. their forefather's hailed from the southern provinces of china; where a variety of languages or dialects exist other than mandarin.
seriously, the good old "chinese as a second language" is more fitting as after all, ain't they wee islander first and foremost?
as enscribed by the letter b @ October 13, 2004 11:23 AM