Policy for Chinese language in PSLE

HI everyone! Please help to comment as not everything i wrote is perfect. Man make mistakes! I hope that all of you can give constructive comments on my posts and are able to spot my mistakes so i can improve. Thank guys! I will be getting more apps so please wait patiently! :)



Ok, so were was i?



Right, today's new topic. Not really new, but really a good topic. What is it again? Oh yeah, MOE's decision to lower the weighting if chinese language in PSLE.



Woah.



That is really a big decision.



That was my first reaction to this news. Dr Hon posted this EMB message that MOE is going to lower the weighting for chinese language in PSLE. When i saw it at first, my jaws dropped, literally. I was like rubbing my eyes and pinching myself. Of course, anyone would have reacted like that to such an important decision.



Impossible. Unacceptable.



That was my first thought. When i continued reading, i became furious at the MOE's strange decision. Why would they suddenly do such a rash thing? How could they just lower the weighting just for the sake of a few people? Unacceptable! I became very interested in this and continued to look for online discussions and newspapers relevant to this topic. Based on what i found, most people voted for letting PSLE stay the same.



So why is the ministry changing? Why are the ministry changing this policy?

I was furious and asked my mother on this matter. She said that the ministry received a lot of complains that just because of chinese language, it pulled down the marks of alot students' total marks, hence resulting in not being able to enter good schools. She also expressed her fury to me.

The government is simply selfish. They only cater to those small groups of people that complained and complained all day long that chinese is too hard for their son, daughter, they came from another country and cannot study well, Chinese is too complicated......

WAKE UP, PEOPLE! SERIOUSLY!

What kind of stupid excuse is that? Oh yeah, and looking through the discussion threads, all of them had at least 70% of the people agreeing not to change the current system. If this was the case, then why..... why did the government change its policy? I think this is a stupid action. Right, you may think that i am exaggerating things a bit as a came from a chinese background, but hello people, this is simply outrageous.

How many people, how many students taking the PSLE every year are good in chinese and use Chinese as their only hope of entering good schools and by lowering the percentage, the ministry are just trying to extinguish their hopes! How could this even be thought up! What about others? What if people like me, who is good in chinese and bad in english, take the PSLE and got very high for chinese and low for english? Compare it to someone who got high in english and low in Chinese. Right, same thing. But if this policy is used, then it would not be the same thing! I would get lower marks than that student, and he may be able to get into a good school and i may not! That is the difference. Some more, we are not in a country like America, of which the common language is english.

We are a multiracial society!

We do not have a common language! And the ministry's actions of reducing the weighting of chinese shows that it is biased! Why not reduce the weighting of Maths? Why not reduce the weighting of science? Why not reduce the weighting of English? Why not reduce...... Yeah, why not, ministry? Why not? Why Chinese?

There are alot of people who are very good in Chinese in Singapore. As i have mentioned, if the ministry reduced the Weighting of Chinese, then wouldn't it be unfair? Why can't the ministry just let things remain the same. It would not hurt, right? And on the newspapers people even wrote that in the past, the Chinese language in PSLE was so much harder than nowadays. So why are the people complaining?

If YOU cannot get a good score in PSLE, don't complain! Work hard! Work smart! Work diligently! Don't always complain this, complain that, and think that things would fall in place. Don't expect the MOE to do everything for you! Could you at least spare a thought for others? How they would "die" if the weighting is reduced? At least the ones whose English are bad did not complain right? So why is it that you should complain?

And the MOE also has responsibility over this issue. No offence, of course.

Lee Hsien Loong said a few months back that Chinese is a very important subject. If we can master chinese, in future it would be very useful. I was agreeing to him at that time.

What a joke.

If even our prime minister said that Chinese is important, why are they reducing the weighting? The ministry's actions are simply contradicting themselves! At one time they said that we should study Chinese well, another they are indirectly saying that Chinese should be studied less. What are they doing, changing their thoughts every once and then?

I feel that this matter should not be even discussed. It is a rhetorical question. However, i think the reason the ministry did this was because of a reason.

But anyways, i think that the ministry should not come up with such a policy.

Maybe you have differing views? Tell me then!

How should people be educated?

Hi guys! Iam back for more.


I know. Little blog posts, but nevermind, i will produce more blog posts than you will ever imagine!


Okay, back to the point. Right , so what is the point anyway?


Forgot to tell you all, but today i will be discussing on education. Now you will be asking, education? What is there to talk about for education? Folks, this is where you are wrong. There is a lot to talk about for education. What do i mean? Oh, and just to inform you guys, today i will not talk about what is education. I will be talking on a different topic.

I was studying on a random topic when a thought struck me hard. I was thinking: How should the young be educated? Then i thought another interesting thing: Who should control education? The parents, the student, the society or the state? Should a student be taught to think for himself or to adopt the beliefs of the society? Should man be educated to be free and live for his own interests, or to subjugate his own desires and serve others or the state?

I was amazed at this thought. Yes, students like me had always been living in the shadows of the ministry. For many years now, students do not think for themselves for a lot of things and always rely on the society to help them. The society is like a grip on us that prevents us from producing fresh ideas, and live for our own interests. I think that the fact that the world wanted children to take up school is an excellent idea and a sensitive one. However, just being curious, what would happen if we students are allowed to think for ourselves or we do things of our interests. If there is no school and we are allowed to investigate the area of interest we prefer, for example, physics and we investigate it until we became very good at it and can contribute to the society. Of course, this sugestion is not offered to everyone. It is offered to those who are good in areas and already knew what the teacher is teaching. For those students, if they take up that path, they might become famous and stuff. If they go to school, they may waste time on things they already know. I know that school is important, but shouldn't thhe more higher level pupils learn better? Look at Enstein, look at all the famous people who skipped school for their own interests. Ok, maybe i am exaggerating a bit, but it is worth a try, don't you think?

The ministry is doing great in teaching us these things and i appreciate it a lot. I learnt a lot from teachers telling us the way we should be educated. However, looking at another prespective, i could say some people would want to live for their own ideas and think their own way. Of course, i am not one of them, i am just trying to loook at another perspective. People may feel the way ministry educate us does not suit them and they want to be educated their own way so they can learn more effectively and easier.

Why don't we look at this from another prespective?

Well, yeah. Students al like to live for their own ideals, but their definition of ideals may not be idealistic. What do i mean? In the society, there will always be at least a few who hate school, hate homework, hate studying and just love to play games etc. etc. You should know what i mean. If we allow students to think for themselves, these people, who usually stand a high percentage of the whole society, would spend their time not studying on their favorite subject, not doing experiments, but doing things irrelevant and lazy. They would be glad that there is no school, but would not work hard on his own. These are the ones that are not independent. They do not have a goal in life. If we adopt this, they would suffer and the society at large would not have that much people who are good at a certain subject, maybe even lesser. There are also those who do not understand things or does not have a good mindset to think about what to do. They would also suffer.

So should we be educated our own way or get educated by the beliefs of the public, the society?

Well, i guess the answer is still unknown, but most likely it will be the latter. Yes, i admit it. The ministry teaching us is probably the best way now. If we do the other way, it is i'm afraid not very realistic. Aa high precentage of Singapore is made up of students that are not really that smart and if we think for ourselves, then Singapore may make a loss in the outcome.

However, it is still a good thought and i think that it may happen in the future, if anything changes.

I offered my opinions.

Can you tell me yours?

Singaporeans lack of Moral values and public awareness

Hi, everyone.


Sorry for the lack of posts as i had been busy Lately. Today i am going to talk about a common topic. Singaporeans' lack of moral values, public awareness and how they are not so civic minded.

As a Singaporean, i feel shameful.



Now, don't get me wrong. I did not say i am shameful to be a Singaporean!


But yes, indeed, indeed i feel shameful. Now you may ask, you may ponder, why do i feel shameful. As much as i want to say no, i had to answer this with this phrase, "Singaporeans' behavior in public".


Now you may ask, why? What is wrong with Singaporeans' behavior in public? Let me tell you, there are so many problems with the Singaporeans in public that i was shell shocked. I was amazed to have read an article on this topic in school and i investigated further on the net, only to find more and more articles appearing commenting on Singaporeans' behaviour in public. I was quite frustrated to find that Singaporeans lack such basic courtesy when we are ranked among the highest for being courteous. On the actual fact, numbers don't lie. We seriously needed improvement.


Firstly, i want to share on the topic of littering. Now, now, people, don't get confused. You must be thinking, littering? Yes, littering. Littering has always been a severe problem for Singapore. Yes, i know. Singapore is a "garden city", with no litters and people are doing their job to dispose litter properly, keeping it a clean and conducive environment, and you know what, there are litters everywhere.


Wake up people!


Now is not the time to spread lies about Singapore! Singapore, as it is now and as it has always been, is filled with litter everywhere. There are cigarettes butts in the mud, plastic bags and wrappers flying in the air, even loads of rubbish flowing through rivers, especially the Singapore river! Singapore river is supposed to be a clean river. How could it be filled with rubbish? It is all Singaporeans' fault.


Singaporeans' fault.



No one, no one should have taken up the blame except for the citizens of Singapore, who promised to keep Singapore a clean and conducive environment for everyone usage.. Look at the condition now. Are they keeping their promise? Well, how about no. Singaporeans really disappoint me. What does this show? This shows how uncivilized Singaporeans are, how they lack in public awareness, how they are willing to achieve benefits for themselves instead of willing to care for the country, care for the nation, care for Singapore, in which they are born in. Singaporeans, no matter how bad they are, should at least be grateful to Singapore by returning the favor and not add fuel to the fire. Do we have a sense of respect for Singapore? Do we care to stop for a moment and think how difficult it is for the cleaners to clear our rubbish? Do we even spend time to consider if what we did was wrong?


Singapore is dependent on tourism for our economy. If the tourists see how much littler there is on the ground, what would be their impression of Singapore? How disappointed would they be? And when they feel disappointed, what are the chances, what are the chances of they coming to Singapore again or telling their friends something good about Singapore? Very very little. Singapore had always been considered as an advanced, a respectable and clean city. How could we live up to our reputation if we continue doing this? It is always the good side of Singapore being shown on TV, magazines, newspapers. Wake up! We could not only appreciate our reputation and sit there basking in the sunlight. We must look at the big picture, the problems of Singapore!


Singaporeans are too self centered, too selfish, too lazy, too unthoughtful, too brave, too despicable, too not respectful, too atrocious! How could we throw rubbish on the floor, when the rubbish bin is just a few feet away? How could we throw rubbish on the floor, when Singapore is the very country we were born in? How could we throw rubbish on the floor, when so much effort are put in to clear those rubbish? How could we throw rubbish on the floor, when there are so many expectant tourists looking forward to see Singapore? How could we throw litter on the floor, you tell me? How could we......


Now, now, as much as i hate to say this, littering is not Singapore's only problem. There are more major ones.


For example, Singaporeans' lack of civic mindedness. A very simple topic, yet a very disappointing one for Singaporeans. Singaporeans' problems are that we are too kiasu in many ways. We want the best for ourselves and do not care about the welfare of others. What do i mean by this?




Very simple.



For example, in public transport, it is very obvious and apparent that Singaporeans lack this manners and civic mindedness. Now you may ask me, in what ways do we lack those? Well, how many instances have you seen people giving up their seats to the elderly, reaching out a hand to assist the elderly in movement, or helping the disabled people, pregnant ladies or elderly? I bet that these instances are very rare.





There was this one time, that i was on the bus going to school. As it was the new kind of bus, it has four seats reserved for the disabled, pregnant women, and elderly on the left side of the bus and 3 seats on the right. On the next stop, a few people boarded the bus. There is one free seat on each side of the reserved seats. An old and fragile lady carrying grocery bags was walking towards one of the seats and was preparing to sit down. However, before she could even react, a teenager around my age sat down on that particular seat and began untangling his earphones, not even paying attention to the helpless lady. When she turned around and prepare to sit at the free seat on the right, a school girl sat down, snatching away her chance of sitting down. At that time, everyone was watching the whole incident with disapproval. However, no one dared to ask the girl or the teen to stand up and give away the seat to the lady. I was tempted but i was too shy at that time. Now i regretted it. The old lady then was really helpless and looked tired out. She could not find any more seats, and guess what? Another elderly lady stood up from the reserved seat and gave it up to the old lady. The old lady thanked the other elderly and sat down.




From this, i am sure that all of you would find how awful Singaporeans' behaviour are. Okay, okay, lets not even talk about how Singaporeans are unwilling to give up their seats to the elderly. If Singaporeans do not give up their seats, then i do not really think so bad of them as most of them are too shy. However, this is a more severe case. This is a complete mistreating of the elderly! The teens just literally snatched the whole seat away from the elderly, not even bothering to look at their surroundings or bothering to look at the signs that read the seats are reserved for the elderly. They just wanted to get the seat for their own good, they are just too kiasu. They should at least look at the surroundings! Furthermore, an elderly gave up her seat for another elderly! How ridiculous does that sound? That just shows how bad our moral values and awareness are. No matter how adamant we are or how unwilling we are to give up our seats, we should not let an elderly giving up her seat for another elderly. This is very shameful to our society at large. Everyone here is the culprit. Even i am. We should at least pluck up the courage to tell the teens to give up their seats, but no one did that. This just shows how ill mannered we are.




Singaporeans are smart, we are well educated, so why is it that we are unable to get the meaning of the posters, flyers, advertisements and help the public in one way or another?

About giving up seats, i think i do not have to rant on anymore. You all should get the message.

Singaporeans are just too kiasu, no matter what thing we also need to compete, and because of this, because we wanted things for our own personal good, we often forget about the environment. We do things our way, without civic mindedness, with just ourselves in mind. How disappointing......




Singaporeans are also too loud in public. Sometimes i board a bus, the first thing i hear is not my e z link card being tapped, but the shouting of several people, or one person for that matter. Sometimes they shout out excitedly, wanting to congratulate people, or having won something; sometimes they curse swear words in different dialects, angry at people; sometimes they are just having loud conversations with their friends. By doing that, Singaporeans are being too selfish as the bus is being shared by many and so many people will get distracted by their loud voices.I know, i know, as compared to china, we are very good already. But come on people, be realistic, we should aim higher, compare with countries that are better, and learn from them!


Even there are several times whereby people stick their legs out and block peoples' way of moving, people put their bags on the seats and prevent people from sitting....... So on and so forth.




Are we really like this? Are Singaporeans' really this self centred? Does Singaporeans really lack moral values?




Think about it ourselves, reflect upon it and i hope that we can observe this and realise our mistakes, and change for the better.




What do you think?