My Filipino colleague was complaining to me about his kids and Mother-Tongue study in primary school. No Tagalog is taught in local schools, of course, and his kids had problems with Chinese and Malay, so he finally got permission to enroll them in private French classes.
I actually never stopped to think how the bilingual system affects the foreigners in local schools who are not of Chinese, Malay or Indian descent.
With the increasing number of foreigners and their kids in Singapore, I suppose it is really time to do away with the traditional bilingual platform in schools, as much as I hate to admit it.
Just like I had mentioned previously, my Filipino colleague also suggested that schools do away with compulsory mother-tongue, and allow students to opt in to take classes at both examinable and non-examinable levels. In addition, he suggested that if the government wants to encourage take up of mother-tongue languages, the authorities in question should incentivise the takers, especially those who opt in for the examinable. Now that, I had not previously considered. Immediately, I thought of a few ways off the top of my head:
1) Priority in University enrolment provided all their other subjects meet the required standards. This way, the bright students who do not do well in mother-tongue are not penalized, but the students who do well in their normal subjects and mother-tongue studies are rewarded. Works kind of like those “Special” papers that we could take at “A” levels.
2) Special programs such as internships (leading to job offers if possible), exchange programs etc which are only open to students who completed, say, at least “AO” levels in mother-tongue languages.
3) Communities and companies who have vested interest in keeping mother-tongue languages alive to offer scholarships etc directed at students who take up and do well in mother-tongue languages.
I am sure more can be thought of. Actually I was mainly thinking of Chinese as I was writing because no other races seem to be having a problem with their mother-tongue education.
In fact, it made me wish that the above had been in place when I was a student, so I could profit from the system. Haha.
I think if the incentives are sufficiently attractive, the next thing that parents would be complaining about would be that there are not enough high level Chinese classes. Put a price on a previously free commodity, and the about-face reaction is astounding. Such is the psyche of a Singaporean.
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2 comments:
Interestingly, I would have thought that Malay would be a more suitable (and local) second-language option for your Filipino colleague's children, considering that both Tagalog and Bahasa Melayu are in the same language family (i.e. Austronesian languages), unlike Tagalog and French (one is Austronesian, the other Indo-European).
Actually, I think the bilingual policy issue is a lot more complex than it seems to most people arguing over it. I am sure we can agree that Singaporeans are descendants from many different ethnicities and cultures (therefore also implying many different languages and/or dialects). It is an unfortunate side-effect of generalised policies that many of these specific differences are lost. For example, the Chinese taught locally in schools is based on Putonghua (a standardised version of Mandarin/Beifangyan), but most of the Chinese population are descended from Southern Chinese regions speaking non-Mandarin Chinese languages (e.g. Minnan [Fujian Minnan, Chaozhou, Hainan], Yue, Hakka, Minbei etc.). The only commonality is really in the written system (and only in Wenyanwen, not Baihuawen), whereas almost every other aspect of the languages are different (such as in phonology, intonation, syntax, lexicon, pragmatics etc.). The "bilingual policy" in the very first place is a problem even for the Chinese, much less other ethnic groups in Singapore.
Look at the 'Malay' situation. In Singapore, the 'Malays' can actually be more accurately classified as Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Buginese, Acehnese, Madurese etc.. Of course, many of them are now totally subsumed into the more generic ethnicity, but many of those who still retain of their heritage (in particular, the Javanese) also do not get to learn their heritage language.
The Indian situation is probably as bad. Most Singaporeans do not even stop to think that India is a really big country with many languages (main official local language is Hindi, but there are also 13 other official regional languages), and Indians therefore are a varied group. However, most would simply equate Indians with Tamils. Not all Singapore Indians speak Tamil, but are also forced (initially) to study Tamil in local schools. Luckily for them, there are more options now, with Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi being offered at 'O' Levels.
The point is, the bilingual language policy had a kind of one-size-fits-all approach. In some ways, that shaped some of our expectations and attitudes. It is like: either we conform (i.e. take one of the prescribed languages, or we get out of the system). However, conforming to the system brings us to a contradiction: language, heritage and culture are usually, if not always, closely interlinked. For example, being forced to learn Mandarin in schools means most of us abandon our native Chinese languages (or dialects, as some prefer to call them) and losing valuable knowledge and customs tied to those languages. Is it any worse for some Chinese Singaporeans to abandon Mandarin Chinese for English (only) than it is for many Chinese Singaporeans to abandon their original Southern Chinese languages for Mandarin? It seems to me to be a close parallel.
About my Filipino colleague and his kids, well, you'd have to ask him. I just took his word that Malay poses problems for his kids.
As for the rest of your comment, you've got a point. I'm not sure I agree fully, but I can't gather myself to think of any coherent response at this moment. :)
Incidentally, I thought Janadas Devan had a very nicely written piece in today's papers on this subject. Did you read it?
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