40 years late - Death of a Sacred Cow

Atobe SG

Finally, after nearly 40 Years of Public Hankering, the Government has relented in their insistence of having the Second Language as an IMPORTANT CRITERIA for admission into a Tertiary Institution.

How many wasted lives has been the result of this useless and irrelevant policy that began in the mid-1960s ?

A simple estimate of 10,000 A-level Students per year, unable to enter tertiary institution in Singapore, and over a 40 year period will give us a total of 400,000.

If we count on half of this 400,000 obtaining tertiary education overseas, and each incurring a total expense of $90,000 for a three year course, it will result in a whopping $18 Billion drainout from the savings of Singapore families.

2nd language barrier to enter university lifted
By Sandra Davie

A SACRED cow in education was slaughtered on Saturday when the Education Ministry announced that students no longer need to include the grade for their mother tongue subject when applying for a university here.

The surprise move, which will take effect from this year, means that students who have difficulty with the mother tongue language will not be disadvantaged when they apply to enter the National University of Singapore (NUS) or Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

But they must still score at least a D7 or a pass in Chinese language B to qualify for admission.

Before, even if language laggards did better overall, they could lose out to others by being forced to count mother tongue when their grades were converted into admission scores.

This issue has been a bugbear of students and parents and is said to have driven many students abroad to do their university studies because they could not meet the language requirement.

Neither NTU nor NUS would say how many students had failed to get in under the mother tongue requirement, but they said there were several each year.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/latest/story/0,4390,237542,00.html?

ShutterBug SG

I do not think for one moment that they listened to public hankering enough to eventually abolish this policy. I believe it is their increasing awareness that local talented students leaving Singapore in droves, to study elsewhere and NEVER returning.

While our government is pumping in foreign talents, they are also bleeding out local talents. Effectively, this is a useless "blood" transfusion. But hopefully this recent 'amendment' ( or yet another U-turn ), may set things right.

As for myself, I'm remain a casualty of their short-sighted policies.

wuming78 SG

New admission criteria at a glance

Minimum requirement

Old: Two A-level passes, General Paper and mother tongue. Polytechnic students needed a relevant diploma.

New:Minimum A-level criteria will not change but polytechnic students can use a diploma in any discipline.

Mother-tongue language and American Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)

Old:Mother-tongue language grades, SAT and A levels counted for admission.

New: Mother tongue and SAT no longer needed. But for this year and next year, applicants may still use their SAT scores if these will boost their chances of admission.

Two-tier admission framework

Old: Applicants shortlisted by a total score based on their three best A-level subjects, General Paper and mother-tongue grades.

New: Mother-tongue is no longer required but may be included, if the student does well, to boost his admission score. In addition to the score based on the A-level results, there will also be a faculty score using additional criteria that a faculty can set. It may include portfolios, reasoning tests or interviews.

Special admission criteria

Old: Universities set aside a few places for exceptionally talented students, for example, winners of international Olympiad competitions.

New: A university may pick up to 10 per cent of its enrolment according to independent criteria that may include other activities a student is involved in, for example volunteer work or entrepreneurial activities.

wuming78 SG

i think its a reflection of the changed reality.

but yes i agree its late. this is again another case of "auto-pilot", and the lack of a sense of the environment - the parable of the boiled frog.

but at least they haf done something, and i think most would agree these new criteria are definitely a step in the right direction.

[email protected]_arms SG

ha, just a quick look at the standard of language here, Sandra Davie writes the following "A SACRED cow in education was slaughtered yesterday when the MOE announced that students no longer need to count the grade for their mother tongue subject when applying for a university here"

She then goes on to write, "Students must still score at least a D7 in Chinese language or a pass in Chinese Language B to qualify for admission".

This is a complete contradiction of what she said at the begining of the article. Which is very funny and interesting to note what kind of people are writing in the Straits Times today. So why do you say Mother Tongue is no longer a requirement of admission, you cant speak english at this level, it is SHOCKING.

"Another change, the American SAT will be dropped as admission criterion... the reason for the about face is that the new SAT, to be launched next year, would overlap with the new A-levels, which also emphasise reasoning skills"

Wtf would MOE want to do that? Thus can we expect SAT to be counted for admission next year? I really have no idea.

wuming78 SG

i think wat most of us meant was tt u no longer haf to use ur score for ur mother tongue. yes u haf to meet tt minimum criteria of a D7, but i guess most ppl could attain tt easily. D7 is jus 2 steps away from F9 u noe?

as for SAT, MOE still allows u to use it for this and next yr, cos of the short notice i reckon.

Xcert SG

Error post. Embarassed Laughing Mr. Green

CX SG

heh... not easy at all leh... imagine those who don't speak mandarin at home, don't speak mandarin in schools and don't have mandarin speaking friends... the only time u speak mandarin is in CL2 class...

the whole idea of "mother tongue" is quite absurd really cos there are lots of mothers who don't speak the language that are taught in schools as "mother tongue" ...

i have peranakan friends whose family don't speak mandarin... and the kids wouldn't as well if it wasn't for the school syllabus...

its like asking indians to learn tamil... sure, they do better than average than chinese forced to learn mandarin, but the justification for doing so is so silly... i have a friend whose family is indian muslim and mother is pakistani... her mother tongue should be urdu... but?

or eurasians... my friend's mother is portuguese-eurasian... can he learn portuguese?

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

Anyhow wack.

Since when was that issue a Sacred Cow? It was certainly no sacred cow for the common students, but a nice example of how there are some morsels that the MOE cannot force-feed the students, irregardless of what they may try.

dumbdumb! SG

a person can still make it even if his chinese sucks. my chinese sucks.. oso like tt get thru

BillyBong SG

Knowing more than one language is definitely a plus point; having travelled to more than a few countries, i can say that the lack of language comprehension is a major handicap.

Let's not be dillusional. So far no country has effectively implemented dual language mediums in their education system and can claim success. At least we are trying and that is the way forward. I personally will admit that losing touch with my 2nd language is a worrying sign. Yet many out there are experiencing similar symtoms and feel no pain. Perhaps most do not realise the host of advantages in mastering two languages?

I once told a colleague who speaks 8 languages (our 4 main languages and 4 chinese dialects) that had he been given more opportunities and gotten a degree, he could earn big bucks as an international translator. (He happens to currently be a highly respected chargehand at my workplace)

We should not think of language entrance exams or prerequisites as a burden; instead, it should be an extra incentive to buck up on our mother tongue.

Do not let the gahmen 'force' us to take it seriously the way they have enforced the backseat belt rule. After all, we owe it to ourselves to maintain our language standards.

The alternative is malay, tamil and mandarin may go the way of other dead languages like latin.

Atobe SG

Latin became dead as a language when it became irrelevant with the collapse of the Roman Empire, and when the world stop accepting Latin as a 'Lingua Franca' during the march of human history.

If the various ethnic groups - in Singapore's 4.5 million population - should suddenly stop using their 'Mother-Tongues', will these respective language die out in this world ?

Surely a population of 4.5 million will not kill the languages, when there are more then 100 million Malays in the Indonesian-Malaysian archipelago using the Malay Language; and with the numbers even bigger in the populations of India and China, in the use of Tamil and Chinese in their respective territories.

At best, Singaporeans will be handicapped when appearing on the World Stage, and even then, will the reknown resourcefulness of Singapore Businessmen not motivate them to learn these languages at their own time ?

The second language should never have been used as a CRITICAL CRITERIA for the admission into Tertiary Education, as the Second Language has no immediate relevance in our Singapore Context.

It was a vain attempt to preserve our cultural identity, and to perpetuate its use for the learning of Asian Values so as to balance out the invasive influence of Western Cultures.

Are these reasons valid enough to justify the 'destruction' of more then 400,000 lives, over 40 years, and now finally a decision to let the matter drop ?

If the Government had been serious about the use of the 'Mother Tongues' in Singapore, then it should have dropped English as a Premier Administrative Language, and opted for the other THREE local 'Mother Tongues' as the ACCEPTED 'Administrative Medium'.

Unfortunately, the Government had also other political and economic priorities to insist on using English as the Premier Language in Singapore.

The Void Deck SG

hi all,

Sorrie to butt in, but anybody know whether the SAT thing was ever implemented before it was abolished?? Is this another spectacular U-turn or Re-think which lasted about a year before the ludicrousness of it all was unveiled?? Thanks in advance.

Dj PBK

socrates SG

This is just a thought by me, hope it doesn't sounds too ridiculous...

Personally I feel that a mother tongue language is important in the past. Why ? Because in the past, most people do not know how to speak English. During that period the goverment want to implement English for people to learn is because we need a common language to communicate, thus leads to improvement in racial harmony. It is also becoming an increasing important language to learn during that period.

However most singaporean only know their mother tongue language then. If there was a sudden change to learn English only and not their mother tongue, the people then will not accept it that easily. Thus they came up with the 2 language schemes, first to promote the use of a common language and second the people can still maintain their roots by learning their mother tongue, thus won't be that offended.

If you ask me now, I still feel that learning 2 languages is important. As what Atobe had said, there are still many people who knows little English and more mother tongue language like Chinese and Malay. Knowing 2 languages will give us an additional edge. In fact, many countries in the world are promoting the learning of 2 languages. China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Korea etc etc are learning their national language, yet it is compulsory for them to learn English too.

About the 400,000 students, I feel that the the figures is a bit exaggerated... I feel that there is lesser than 10,000 people per year that failed to get into local universities JUST and only JUST because of their 2nd language and not due to their other subjects. Learning 2nd language does not seems to be a problem in the past too where there are more people speaking in mother tongue.

LazerLordz SG

And yet there are people who are bitter that the SATs are the main cause of their inability to get into the Unis..C’mon 1300+ is not so hard to get..unless you’ve not been well read and mature in your mindset .A well-read and engaging mind is very capable of clearing this average benchmark.Unless its a case of sour grapes or are we trying to pander to the increasingly mediocre nature of our youth by telling them SATs are hard, so we abolish them? I have friends who became more well-versed in english after being foreced to study for the SATs..This is a regrettable move.

nismoS132 SG

during sec 2, i had a eurasian classmate whose mother tongue was german. so he got time off whenever we had CL2 classes.

darf- SG

whoever it is that is in charge of our education had better stop playing with our lives

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

It has never been about playing with our lives, it's about breaking in, bashing to fit into a mould, and the dehumanization of the latest generation to produce obedient slave drones which will be written off as usless the moment a newer version of how the top brass thinks they should "educate" the masses. Using nice little excuses like "They should upgrade themselves".

All this while, apparently the system has always been infailable and has apparently been adequate in prepping Singaporeans for life.

Since when has our education been much focused on the development an individual's potential, allowing him to discover this own talents and develop them to the fullest? Nope, it's all about cog making and pushing as much short-lifespan meat through the grinder to keep the motor running.

Given that, it's no surprise they toy around with such diddly issues like mother tounge when the entire educational system misses the point entirely. But of course, there's always a nagging feeling they want to keep it this way as producing upwardly mobile people with political opinions is not in the interest of the status quo.

To digress, it could be argued that democracy is a threat to the stability of Singapore, and we could do away with it altogether, rather then spend so much money and time on what is obviously a total farce.

Atobe SG

In a reply to this part of your post, we should ask - is 'MANDARIN' the common 'Mother Tongue' of Singaporean Chinese ?

Or are the TRUE 'Mother Tongues' of the Chinese in Singapore the various dialects of Cantonese, Foochow Hainanese, Hakka, Hokkien, Khek, Sei Yup, Teochew, and a host of other Chinese dialect groups found in Singapore ?

Mandarin was promoted aggressively by the Government as a unifying language for all Chinese in Singapore as a result of SM LKY family experience.

He had once stated that his daughter - a doctor at SGH then - had decribed to him a problem that she had encountered at her workplace; in which she could not understand any dialect, had to attend to a woman speaking only in a particular dialect, and assisted by a nurse from another dialect group; all three women had a tough time understanding each other.

Transposing his daughter's predicament, SM projected the confusion that was to be expected in getting the Government's message to the grassroot levels, if the same confusion is multiplied when English is the preferred medium of Government.

The fact that English was used in preference over the other National Languages of Malay, Tamil and Chinese, was a purposeful decision made from little political or economic choice.

Adopting English would simply level the playing field, and make it the common ground in which all races in Singapore are shown equal treatment, with no favoritism to any particular dialect or language.

continuing post by socrates:
However most singaporean only know their mother tongue language then. If there was a sudden change to learn English only and not their mother tongue, the people then will not accept it that easily. Thus they came up with the 2 language schemes, first to promote the use of a common language and second the people can still maintain their roots by learning their mother tongue, thus won't be that offended.

The adoption of Mandarin actually killed the use of the REAL 'Mother Tongues' - which are the various dialects used by the different dialect groups found in the Chinese Community.

In learning Mandarin, the various Chinese cultures and folklores died a natural death, with at least three generations of young Singaporeans, who are today unfamiliar with the 'ancient' dialects spoken, its accompanying cultures and values, as well as the ethnic roots of the respective dialect groups.

Many ethnic Chinese from the older generations were offended, and the Government did come down hard on those die-hards during the early period in implementing Mandarin as a Language.

Forty years later, dialect is encouraged to be spoken in Class today.

continuing post by socrates:
If you ask me now, I still feel that learning 2 languages is important. As what Atobe had said, there are still many people who knows little English and more mother tongue language like Chinese and Malay. Knowing 2 languages will give us an additional edge. In fact, many countries in the world are promoting the learning of 2 languages. China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Korea etc etc are learning their national language, yet it is compulsory for them to learn English too.

Your credit should be given to 'BillyBong' for suggesting the importance of learning 2 languages.

It is certainly correct that learning 2 languages or more can only benefit any individual, let alone in a multi-racial country such as Singapore.

However, to make it as the most important factor to gain admission into Tertiary Education is ridiculous.

There have been quite a few instances when A-Level students, who were high achievers in the important studies of English, Mathematics, Sciences, COULD NOT achieve the minimum standards required in the Second Language 'Mandarin'; and had been turned away by NUS and NTU.

continuing post by socrates:
About the 400,000 students, I feel that the the figures is a bit exaggerated... I feel that there is lesser than 10,000 people per year that failed to get into local universities JUST and only JUST because of their 2nd language and not due to their other subjects. Learning 2nd language does not seems to be a problem in the past too where there are more people speaking in mother tongue.

You are correct that '10,000 people per year that failed to get into local universities JUST and only JUST because of their 2nd language and not due to their other subjects'.

400,000 students is not an exaggeration.

You only have to multiply by 40 years onto the 10,000 students PER YEAR that do not make it into Singapore Universities, due to the poor results with Mandarin as a Second Language.

Do not mix up Mandarin with the Dialects Spoken as a Mother Tongue by Chinese in Singapore.