IT IS wrong to attribute personal inadequacies in learning Chinese entirely to Chinese language teachers who work diligently, particularly in predominantly English-speaking schools where Mandarin is regarded as uncool and parochial.

This group of teachers have made a critical contribution in giving Singapore a bilingual edge economically and culturally; yet they have received little appreciation, especially from the students they have taught.

Instead of saluting their efforts, we read about their perceived ineffective teaching methods.

Conversely, we do not read many letters in the Chinese press by Chinese-speaking Singaporeans or Chinese nationals moaning about learning and mastering English. On the contrary, we often read how these students stoically memorise the entire English dictionary and even top schools in English literature.

Instead of blaming the disadvantages of an education system which emphasises the primacy of English as the language of governance, science and technology as well as commerce, they have quietly but resolutely surmounted these challenges.

When asked by his principal to use English language references to teach Mandarin in Jack Neo's film, I Not Stupid Too, the Chinese language teacher replied that no one made this request when he struggled to learn English. This reflects the significantly less recognised experiences of coping with language by the Chinese-educated.

The contrast in attitudes to learning English and Chinese by these two different groups of Singaporeans reflects the egocentric and Eurocentric value systems of a predominantly English-language educational structure in breeding an attitude of arrogance, privilege and complacency.

Whatever its flaws, Singapore has established a relatively concrete educational infrastructure in teaching Chinese as a second language.

While it should be continuously reviewed to cater to changing trends, the fundamental pedagogic principles of hard work, commitment and discipline should not be diluted - or ridiculed.

Otherwise, we will weaken our relevance to the growing numbers of eager students of Chinese around the world from Africa to America.

More important, we will be a deculturalised, pseudo-Western society that is blind to literary and cultural undercurrents in the rest of the non-English-speaking world, a disadvantage with which Singapore cannot afford to be burdened.

Liew Kai Khiun

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