Unnecessary pressure for kids in Chinese schools

I've posted a letter to The Star paper recently. Hmmmm... Expecting tons of backlashing after this!! Here's the letter:


I DISAGREE with L.C. Teh, “Pressure prepares pupils to face real challenges in life” (The Star, Jan 17).

I am a product of a Chinese-medium school, and I certainly will not put my children through the sort of unnecessary stress and pressure I went through.

I remember the time when I was sitting for my UPSR in 1989. I had always been weak in Chinese, but I scored an A in my Chinese essay.

The only reason I managed to do so was the dozens of essays I was “forced” to memorise throughout the whole year! Never mind if I did not understand what I was writing, as long as I got an A; that was what mattered.

Every day without fail, there were extra classes after school. We were also not supposed to participate in any sports or co-curricular activities as this was deemed “a waste of time”.

Every day was filled with homework and more homework. Drilling children in scoring A’s only makes them workers, not thinkers and never leaders.

Furthermore with their emphasis on the mother tongue, Chinese-medium schools certainly do not prepare their students for the future challenges where English is still the dominant language.

I have been working in the engineering field for quite some time, and I have seen countless Chinese-educated graduates struggling to stay afloat in the working community.