Recently, the media gave much attention to a problem that has, for many years beset Singapore society, in particular, Singapore’s schools—how to teach Mandarin effectively. It is no secret that the problem had been a most intractable one from the start. Parents frantically resorted to engaging private tutors to get their children to pass the exams (I was one of them); children hated the language, and dropped it as soon as they were out of school (mine did).

For some parents, this all-important language policy created a special pain as they saw their otherwise well-performing children traumatized by the inability to cope with Mandarin. They chose the ultimate recourse—emigration.

The recent highlighting by the media of this issue of Mandarin in a largely English-speaking society was chiefly due to Minister Mentor’s frank public admission that he had made a mistake in believing a child could be made effectively bilingual through the conventional methods of language teaching in the schools. Mr Lee Kuan Yew spoke candidly of how he had been corrected by the experts in language learning, including his daughter, a neuroscientist.

The immediate response of Singaporeans, including a parent who had years ago voiced her reservations about the language policy and had finally been forced to emigrate to Australia, was astonishingly bereft of all blame or bitterness. Far from taking the ‘I told you so’ recriminatory stance, they lauded MM for his candour and courage in admitting a mistake that had actually been sustained for more than three decades, against doubts persistently (though timidly) raised by language experts, educationists and most significantly, parents.

I concluded that it could only be one of two sentiments behind this deference: fear of MM, or abiding gratitude for his achievements in giving prosperity to Singapore. But either sentiment need not have precluded a third: the right to expect, whenever a massive mistake has been made and openly acknowledged, a simple public expression of regret that so much confusion at the least, and pain at the worst, has been caused for so long. The purely rational admission would have been even better received if it had been allowed the softening and humanising touch of empathetic understanding.

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About Vignettes...

A continuing flow of little, readable pieces that will constitute what I feel is an important 'legacy of values' to leave behind. Read more about Vignettes...