Years ago when I was a kan cheong parent of a child taking his PSLE, I was shocked to find that his syllabus included material that I did at O Level. Folks from my generation must look very slow and stupid to today’s teachers of super students. Of course, I’m just being sarcastic. Singapore’s educational system is on steroids and but unfortunately, though certain “yardsticks” like PISA scores ut us at or near the top, none of the top “talent” here seems to be Singaporeans.
The import of new citizens from China is ostensibly a boost to our Chinese language standards. Sadly, that is also not the case. The Chinese language (and I’m not talking about hawker lingo) is treated as just a bothersome examinable subject, the hollow label of “mother tongue” notwithstanding. But there is something we should learn about Chinese from the Chinese. As this model answer book I found at popular shows, Chinese standards have not only been raised by these immigrants, they have also exported a new level of truancy to our country.