This post was written to reflect my own personal opinion and that is I'm for status quo which is no lowering of weightage for Chinese language.
Sadly, I'm one of the many that opted for Poly tertiary education to avoid Chinese. Having not been able to learn more about the language is indeed regrettable.
Because of the standard of my Chinese, I have difficulty writing a Hammer article in Chinese! And sometimes I need English subtitles to understand Mandarin TV dramas :(
Luckily I enjoy singing and that's how I got to eventually have the chance to expose myself to more Chinese characters.
I have learnt to understand and appreciate the use of my mother tongue.
To me, lowering the weightage means lowering the significance of the language. By doing that, we are indirectly telling students that this is not so important and that to them means lesser effort. One will eventually lost touch with something that you spent lesser effort on.
Chinese is something that we use to connect to our roots and culture. Imagine losing touch with that!
With China integrating into the international community, there is no doubt that it is more closely link to the world. Hence it is now a common sight to see Singaporeans working or doing businesses there and vice versa. Without the knowledge and use of the language and it's culture, it's going to be an uphill task.
We are talking about PSLE here, which is the minimum standard one should have. Since it is the last line of defense for the language, there is no way to compromise.
Some of our dramas made Chinese teachers wore thick black glasses to emphasize seriousness and boredom. Are students getting the wrong impression here? Perhaps the perception that students have with regards to Chinese is something that can be looked into?
In conclusion, If Chinese PRC can score As for English why can't we Singaporeans, who are expose to both languages from young be it in kindergarten or through conversations with parents and grandparents, do so for our Chinese language?
