<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Relook second-language requirement for A levels
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I HAVE always been baffled by the Education Ministry's insistence on having Tamil as a second language even at pre-university level.
When I was a student, I found my Tamil classes at junior college unbearable because I could already communicate effectively in the language, appreciate the culture and relate to the Tamil-speaking population by the time I had completed my O levels.
But in junior college, I was expected to read up materials in Tamil I was hardly interested in to expand my vocabulary and write essays in flowery language just to please the teachers and ensure a high grade. The time spent learning the language could have been put to better use, for example, focusing on core subjects.
If polytechnic students can do their diplomas without having to take up a second language, why can't A-level students do the same? Geetha Nair (Mrs)
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I HAVE always been baffled by the Education Ministry's insistence on having Tamil as a second language even at pre-university level.
When I was a student, I found my Tamil classes at junior college unbearable because I could already communicate effectively in the language, appreciate the culture and relate to the Tamil-speaking population by the time I had completed my O levels.
But in junior college, I was expected to read up materials in Tamil I was hardly interested in to expand my vocabulary and write essays in flowery language just to please the teachers and ensure a high grade. The time spent learning the language could have been put to better use, for example, focusing on core subjects.
If polytechnic students can do their diplomas without having to take up a second language, why can't A-level students do the same? Geetha Nair (Mrs)
