cHyOrK: >>

Thursday, January 27, 2011

So the World's Oldest Politician visited Dunman High last Monday.

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Apparently, he hoped to "emphasise the crucial role of family background in a student's development in the area of bilingualism". He was "curious to see if such an environment could foster an equal mastery of both English and Chinese in its students", because he believes that "no one can be equally proficient in two languages".

--> 1. I do agree that it's not easy to be equally proficient in 2 languages. BUT, if the gahmen continues to remove and downplay the existing environment that are conducive to nurture bilinguists, we're going to fall off the cliff forever. There seems to be a gradual move in that direction in recent years. Even the idea of giving the Mother Tongue (MT) a lessened weightage in PSLE was almost put forth, if not for the petition signed on last year's Mothers' Day.

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He grilled the Dunman High students he met on what languages they spoke at home, and whether they felt that learning Chinese was 'a duty or a joy'.

--> 2. I don't know what the students reflected to him, but to me, it was BOTH a duty AND a joy. It's certainly a duty, because I'm an ethnic Chinese. And it's certainly a joy, because I express myself much better in my native language. Yes, I speak 100% Mandarin at home and I read Chinese Newspapers 7 days a week, but it does not affect my survival in the country.

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He said: 'So if you spend 80 per cent of your time absorbing knowledge in English, that must be your master language,' he said. 'I think it's important that we understand that. If you want to be in an old Chinese school like in the old days where there's no English, then you will produce students who cannot find suitable work in Singapore.'

--> 3. Yes, I spent 80% of my time absorbing knowledge in English. But my master language isn't English. I mean, when I talk to myself, it isn't in English.

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To one flummoxed class of Year 6 students, the equivalent of Year 2 in a junior college, he asked: 'What made you choose Dunman High? Which schools did you try to get into but couldn't? Let's not be shy.'

Eighteen-year-old Wong Zheng Kai ventured that Dunman High was his parents' first choice as they wanted him to attend a school rooted in Chinese tradition.

'So is Hwa Chong,' retorted Mr Lee.

--> 4. My PSLE score was able to take me to any school in the country. I chose Dunman High as my first choice. It was a 12-year-old's decision, but it remained to be one of my best decisions ever. Don't make DHS sound like a dumping ground for schools like RI or Hwa Chong, because my friends and I were given the choice, and we chose our alma mater over the other schools, out of personal will and farsight.

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Excerpts quoted from HERE.

人生是黑白的.
12:14 AM <3

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