the language thing

The parliament debate on syllabus reform for Chinese is getting on my nerves. Action is certainly long overdue -- what irks me is that even in pursuing change, the powers-that-be are still clinging on to the old utilitarian philosophies, the ones that got us into all this trouble in the first place. Yes, we all know about the 21st century Chinese economy -- all of us except seven-year old kids who really, I would imagine, don't give a flying fig about their chances as entrepeneurs thirty years down the road. What the gahmen should be doing (if anything at all) is making kids excited. They should make learning Chinese seem cool. I mean, hell, it is cool.

And yet, over and over again, it's the same stupidity. The Straits Times today proudly carries an article entitled: "Can having too much fun learning Chinese be bad?" -- I personally can't think of any ways my experience learning Chinese could have been less fun without bringing leg shackles and an iron maiden into the picture. I know the adage is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but guys, it's broke.

Over dinner the other day (the Westlake one), we were talking about how Singaporeans don't really have a handle on any language. We can communicate -- but so can chimps and dolphins. And cockroaches. The grasp that most people have on either English or Chinese is insufficient for anything other than the expression of basic, literal meaning -- it's not that people are without the intelligence to come up with abstract ideas or novel thoughts (well, in some cases anyway), it's that they lack the vehicle with which they can share them.

It's sad. And it's all because education is firmly dictated by policy, and policy (correctly so) is geared towards the end, the prize. Language lessons (I feel) just can't work that way, because there is no end, and the milestones are not obvious until they're passed. The journey is everything, and the trick is getting people not to fall by the wayside, not to give up, no matter how slow their pace may be.

Anyhow, I guess that on the whole I'm glad they're trying to change things. Yes, they have the wrong motives and methods as always, and it's probably going to end up being a case of too-little-too-late. Still, as Justin always tells me, people like us always succumb to idealism in the end -- the triumph of hope over experience, as he likes to say. Here we go again.

Currenly reading:
Lie Down in Darkness - William Styron