Elite Granny Wanna Fast Track Grandsons Woh!

[makapaaa]

Apr 22, 2010

CUTTING MOTHER TONGUE WEIGHTING
Do it quickly

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THREE of my grandchildren who took their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) performed superbly in every subject bar Chinese, which devalued their performance and cost two of them a place in a top secondary school.
The one who was lucky got into the school of his choice only after appealing. He had scored A-stars in English, Maths and Science but managed only a B in Chinese.
Despite devoting most of his time to studying Chinese, it was this language which dragged his aggregate score down to 240 - and into the bottom classes of secondary school. Reason: the classes were divided according to PSLE scores.
By Secondary 3, he had worked his way back to the top classes. But it was the same story in his GCE O levels. He aced all his subjects bar Chinese in which he got a C. In junior college now, he is performing well in every subject but this time, his mother tongue may pose an even greater threat to his academic future. He failed H1 Chinese and the school advised him to retake the exam or compromise his scholarship applications.
Lose out on scholarships because of Chinese? If that happens, my grandson may be
forced to fulfil his academic dream overseas. And with that, Singapore will lose another bright spark to a foreign country.

=> The Old Fart's grand spawns flung their CL2 and still got free overseas scholarships fully funded by the Peasants what! Only the Peasants need worry lah!

I am certain that thousands of students have suffered the same fate as my three grandchildren since the bilingual policy was introduced almost 40 years ago.
I worry because I have five other grandchildren who must take the PSLE. Our examination system should recognise a pupil's strengths, not penalise his weaknesses. The fairer weighting for a PSLE aggregate score is to calculate it based on a pupil's best three subjects. He should be required to only pass the fourth compulsory subject.
The Government should implement the new weighting immediately and not let another generation be penalised.
Chong Geok Kheng (Madam)

 

[makapaaa]

Apr 22, 2010

Wrong move

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I WAS dismayed by yesterday's report, 'Mother tongue weighting in PSLE could be cut'. As a parent who is trying to nurture bilingualism, how can I and other like-minded parents convince our children that they should do their best in learning their mother tongue, as with any other subject, while the Government tells them that it is perfectly all right not to do so?
If the PSLE is a high-stakes examination which is not channelling our students to academic courses they want to study, the Government should fix the core problem rather than treat the symptoms.
The message the Government is sending to pupils now is that it is fine to give up on learning the mother tongue if they find it too difficult.
Yet, there are already provisions to cater to pupils who have special learning needs, and the direct schools admission channel for others with special talents.
Is it a sound policy to encourage the attitude of giving up when the going gets tough? Our young may not only lose language skills and forget their roots, they may also lose the tenacity and determination to overcome challenges.
Promoting bilingualism among young children can improve abstract thinking skills and we commonly agree that learning different languages and cultures exposes us to different perspectives and world views, thus enhancing cultural intelligence.
I urge the Government to reconsider reducing mother tongue weighting until there is a comprehensive and objective study which examines how current requirements affect the pupils' motivation as well as how it benefits them.
Let us not rush into a decision that will shape our society's cultural identity for years to come, based merely on the views of some vocal members of society, including myself, who may not fully understand the relevant educational principles and cultural implications.
Low Yen Yen (Ms)

 

[makapaaa]

Apr 22, 2010

Another problem

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'Mother tongue should be renamed 'second language'.'
MR DEVANE SHARMA: 'The Ministry of Education should consider renaming the term 'mother tongue'. Pupils these days study languages which are not their true mother tongue. I am a Singaporean of North Indian ethnicity and studied Malay although it is not my mother tongue. My friend, who is Malay, studied Chinese. Perhaps, mother tongue should be more accurately renamed 'second language', or even 'ethnic language'.'
Important but...
'Review overdue.'
MR KALIANNAN TAMILSELVAM: 'The review of mother tongue weighting for PSLE is overdue. To be sure, the mother tongue should remain important for our bilingual policy and for pupils to know their culture better. But it should not be at the expense of sacrificing a pupil's chances of qualifying for a top secondary school. A pass in mother tongue should suffice for entry into secondary school. Another option is to calculate a pupil's PSLE aggregate from the three best results he scores of the four he must take in the exam.'

 

[BuiKia]

Implement fast so that can penalise those who did well in Chinese? Another selfish sinkie....

Apr 22, 2010

CUTTING MOTHER TONGUE WEIGHTING
Do it quickly

<!-- by line --><!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --><!-- story content : start -->
THREE of my grandchildren who took their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) performed superbly in every subject bar Chinese, which devalued their performance and cost two of them a place in a top secondary school.
The one who was lucky got into the school of his choice only after appealing. He had scored A-stars in English, Maths and Science but managed only a B in Chinese.
Despite devoting most of his time to studying Chinese, it was this language which dragged his aggregate score down to 240 - and into the bottom classes of secondary school. Reason: the classes were divided according to PSLE scores.
By Secondary 3, he had worked his way back to the top classes. But it was the same story in his GCE O levels. He aced all his subjects bar Chinese in which he got a C. In junior college now, he is performing well in every subject but this time, his mother tongue may pose an even greater threat to his academic future. He failed H1 Chinese and the school advised him to retake the exam or compromise his scholarship applications.
Lose out on scholarships because of Chinese? If that happens, my grandson may be
forced to fulfil his academic dream overseas. And with that, Singapore will lose another bright spark to a foreign country.

=> The Old Fart's grand spawns flung their CL2 and still got free overseas scholarships fully funded by the Peasants what! Only the Peasants need worry lah!

I am certain that thousands of students have suffered the same fate as my three grandchildren since the bilingual policy was introduced almost 40 years ago.
I worry because I have five other grandchildren who must take the PSLE. Our examination system should recognise a pupil's strengths, not penalise his weaknesses. The fairer weighting for a PSLE aggregate score is to calculate it based on a pupil's best three subjects. He should be required to only pass the fourth compulsory subject.
The Government should implement the new weighting immediately and not let another generation be penalised.
Chong Geok Kheng (Madam)

 

[littlefish]

It is sad that a language is devalued to simply about academic scores. To me, no matter how well a person scores in his mother tongue, if he did it only to secure a place in top schools, his scores are worthless. This is probably why the country has no soul. There is no passion in learning the languages, it is all about grades.

My opinion is that the second language should never be considered a criterion for advancement as it is not the medium of instruction for other subjects. If a person is not interested in studying it, then making it a requirement for excellence will not make the person love the language more. Indeed, it will make the person hate the language more.

I never did well in my second language but I loved it all the same because there are thoughts and words that cannot be expressed in English easily. The irony was that I only started loving it when I no longer needed to take second language exams. I realised it was because the teaching of the language was geared towards making the grade rather than instilling passion for it. This is a fundamental flaw in SG's education system. I think passion is more important than grades, especially for second languages. It is better for SGreans to first do well in English and then focus on second languages if they are passionate enough about them. I guess all the second language teachers will disagree with me as it involves their jobs.

 

[tonychat]

She should be happy for her grandson as she can sponsor him for an higher level oversea education in the USA or UK.

Why do so much to enter a local Uni where most of those minsiter losers' children went oversea to study.

I,myself, didn't go through local education and i have valuable independent thoughts that is much higher level than those average sinkies who follow those govt-infested rules to the core.

 

[hockbeng]

She should be happy for her grandson as she can sponsor him for an higher level oversea education in the USA or UK.

Why do so much to enter a local Uni where most of those minsiter losers' children went oversea to study.

I,myself, didn't go through local education and i have valuable independent thoughts that is much higher level than those average sinkies who follow those govt-infested rules to the core.

"I myself" is poor english.

 

[tonychat]

"I myself" is poor english.

That is sinklish which is typed to cater for sinkies here for better feel quality.

 

[Brightkid]

I know of kids who are very strong in languages buit poor in maths and science.

They are now dumped into ITE where technical education is more maths and science than languages.

Irony? Or maths and science should also be devalure in the computation ?

The selfish wish never ends.