Of English and Chinese..and my dearly beloved school (sic)
Interesting rant I read from minishorts.net about "how a single race like the Chinese, seem to be divided into two - the ones who come from an "English educated background" and the ones from Chinese schools." and being a "stuck-between"..take a look at that post!
Unlike her, I don't have much *enlightened* arguments on this issue. However, my years through the Msian education system has allowed me to experience national/English/Chinese type of educations. Undertaking my primary education in a Chinese school basically provided a very clear understanding as to what the word "work" meant. We had to work, and lots of it. I remember the teachers being dedicated to their profession. Discipline was key, and you had to do your work, whether you liked it or not. On school days, sometime in Std 5 I think, we had to be in school early to complete some mathematics exercises, there were time limits imposed, so obviously we learnt to calculate fast. Our class size was large, up to 45 per class, if I'm not wrong. Highly competitive, though we were still so young..Up till now, there have been efforts by the rest to stay in touch and meet up when possible (though I hardly join as I didn't graduate from there).
I attended a private school in KL for awhile after that. IMO, it is indeed a great change of environment. People speak of private schools as being "elitist". Its rather true, I suppose, in the sense that they aren't very exposed to life outside their circles. Its prob wrong to label them as such, as many others in national schools are like this too, but thats just my opinion. Private schools have their pros. There's the immediate focus on English, and also emphasis on non-academic classes such as arts and crafts, music, even swimming lessons. I attempted to continue my chinese studies, but the level taught in extra class was really basic. I think most of them grow up in purely "English educated" environments due to lack of exposure to the language.
Attending different schools and experiencing different systems have allowed me to have vastly different, and sometimes humorous perspectives on our beloved education system. In secondary school, when I transferred to a national-type high school in PJ, it is pretty obvious who was "chinese-educated" or "english-educated". They tended to huddle in different groups and mixed more within themselves. Me? An in-between I suppose, since I spoke both languages. I wouldn't say I was a *stuck-in-between*, since being bilingual has its benefits =) Thing is, some people hardly wish to acknowledge they know 'chinese/mandarin'. Is it really a thing to be ashamed of if you happen to know your mother tongue?? If you don't know chinese, I believe its okay if you weren't brought up in a chinese school/ chinese-speaking family. Its not okay when one actively denies having knowledge of chinese purely out of fear of people looking down on them as chinese-educated, as if there's a negative stigma associated with it.
However there were the joys of being in that particular school. I shall never forget all the funny excuses my modern math teacher used to get out of teaching, particularly on Fridays - double periods. She came up with incredulous claims of "terlupa bawa buku, tak payah ajar-lah", "terlupa prepare-lah, tak payah ajar-lah" etc, when she could've borrowed a book from us / went downstairs to get her copy. Hahha.. the Form5 days were not without its share of laughter. But things started to feel less funny when our add math marks became higher than mod math, and when she copied incorrectly the answers from the textbook..The words "dedication to the teaching profession" comes to mind..
The school authorities played their parts by "requiring" students to each "donate" a sum of money for "acquisition of computers", which when multiplied by the large number of students in school, became rather substantial. Next thing we know, there're new "additions" to beautify the school grounds, including purchases of various potted plants, the minor construction of a pond and a fountain smack in the middle of the parking lot cum assembly ground (there was some kind of district competition between schools - *beautifullest* school). To add further insult, the fountain leaks. Label me bitter if you like, but I believe there are much better uses for those funds.
Unlike her, I don't have much *enlightened* arguments on this issue. However, my years through the Msian education system has allowed me to experience national/English/Chinese type of educations. Undertaking my primary education in a Chinese school basically provided a very clear understanding as to what the word "work" meant. We had to work, and lots of it. I remember the teachers being dedicated to their profession. Discipline was key, and you had to do your work, whether you liked it or not. On school days, sometime in Std 5 I think, we had to be in school early to complete some mathematics exercises, there were time limits imposed, so obviously we learnt to calculate fast. Our class size was large, up to 45 per class, if I'm not wrong. Highly competitive, though we were still so young..Up till now, there have been efforts by the rest to stay in touch and meet up when possible (though I hardly join as I didn't graduate from there).
I attended a private school in KL for awhile after that. IMO, it is indeed a great change of environment. People speak of private schools as being "elitist". Its rather true, I suppose, in the sense that they aren't very exposed to life outside their circles. Its prob wrong to label them as such, as many others in national schools are like this too, but thats just my opinion. Private schools have their pros. There's the immediate focus on English, and also emphasis on non-academic classes such as arts and crafts, music, even swimming lessons. I attempted to continue my chinese studies, but the level taught in extra class was really basic. I think most of them grow up in purely "English educated" environments due to lack of exposure to the language.
Attending different schools and experiencing different systems have allowed me to have vastly different, and sometimes humorous perspectives on our beloved education system. In secondary school, when I transferred to a national-type high school in PJ, it is pretty obvious who was "chinese-educated" or "english-educated". They tended to huddle in different groups and mixed more within themselves. Me? An in-between I suppose, since I spoke both languages. I wouldn't say I was a *stuck-in-between*, since being bilingual has its benefits =) Thing is, some people hardly wish to acknowledge they know 'chinese/mandarin'. Is it really a thing to be ashamed of if you happen to know your mother tongue?? If you don't know chinese, I believe its okay if you weren't brought up in a chinese school/ chinese-speaking family. Its not okay when one actively denies having knowledge of chinese purely out of fear of people looking down on them as chinese-educated, as if there's a negative stigma associated with it.
However there were the joys of being in that particular school. I shall never forget all the funny excuses my modern math teacher used to get out of teaching, particularly on Fridays - double periods. She came up with incredulous claims of "terlupa bawa buku, tak payah ajar-lah", "terlupa prepare-lah, tak payah ajar-lah" etc, when she could've borrowed a book from us / went downstairs to get her copy. Hahha.. the Form5 days were not without its share of laughter. But things started to feel less funny when our add math marks became higher than mod math, and when she copied incorrectly the answers from the textbook..The words "dedication to the teaching profession" comes to mind..
The school authorities played their parts by "requiring" students to each "donate" a sum of money for "acquisition of computers", which when multiplied by the large number of students in school, became rather substantial. Next thing we know, there're new "additions" to beautify the school grounds, including purchases of various potted plants, the minor construction of a pond and a fountain smack in the middle of the parking lot cum assembly ground (there was some kind of district competition between schools - *beautifullest* school). To add further insult, the fountain leaks. Label me bitter if you like, but I believe there are much better uses for those funds.
posted by xaverri at 3:01 pm
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