Chinese!
MM Lee just said something about the importance and inadequacy of our Chinese education again. He seems to be on this topic really often these days.Haha something crossed my mind though. What is the most effective way to get Singaporeans to learn Chinese properly?
Remember how the generation before us picked up English when the Chinese streams were wiped off the education system? I guess the same thing should work: reality.
So if we were to get Singaporeans to learn Chinese, we can use the threat of marginalisation. For example, for a Chinese to get a job in the government/MNC etc. he needs to have a certain level of mastery (like get him to read some economics article in Chinese aloud and answer comprehension questions on the spot orally - Lehman Brothers got my friend to translate a paragraph of economics news into Chinese when he applied for a position there). Of course we can extend it to other races (Malay for Malays, Tamil for Indians, hmms, Others for Others) too.
When that is in place, people will learn. They will face it and not evade. Hahahaha and we will then be able to laugh at those cocky people who insist that they won't bother about Chinese because English is enough.
But can we do that? Hmms no. The MOE is doing the exact opposite when they introduced those Chinese B nonsense - to our dismay.
- We will just chase these people to the West: because in Singapore it is the English-speaking people who hold most of the resources.
- Since they hold most of our resources, do you think such a suggestion is politically feasible? The resistance would be really strong. Cannot do anything about that.
- The government won't be able to find enough people to join it, because that is simply asking for too much, judging by the current situation.
The analogy cannot work out: simply because in the 1970s the students in the Chinese streams belonged to the lower classes. Morever, it is politically correct then to stay away from anything Chinese.
So how? Haha we know we are better; that's all I care. I don't think anything outside is up to me. As long as people realise that not having both strong Chinese and English backgrounds will put them at a severe disadvantage, they will automatically start learning. Like Hongkongers and Mandarin - there is a tremendous improvement over the last few years because if they can't speak Mandarin, they can't get a job or can't do business with the PRC tourists. This works wonders.
Haha MM Lee can relax... if Singapore is being put at a strong disadvantage because of this intrinsic problem, there are people like us who can at least arrest the cell cycle and repair the DNA before apoptosis (programmed cell death) sets in. Of course, no one can risk the cell cycle stopping so come on, if you love this country, get yourself some books in Chinese and start reading them! :D
Labels: Policy and Politics
