Posted on 11/22/2009 6:45:30 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Bilingual Education Was Wrong, Lee Kuan Yew Says
Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on Tuesday admitted that Singapore's insistence on bilingual education has been wrong. The father of current Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Lee now holds the honorary title of minister mentor and was prime minister from 1959 to 1990, and senior minister from 1990 to 2004.
When Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, Lee made the country strictly English-speaking for the subsequent 19 years. But with the rise of China as a powerhouse in the global community, Lee hoped to make the country bilingual, having children educated in both English and Chinese since 1984.
"We started the wrong way," Lee told Channel NewsAsia. "We insisted on ting xie (listening), mo xie (dictation) -- madness!" He confessed that he still cannot speak Mandarin perfectly, even after over 40 years of learning it. "Nobody can master two languages at the same level. If (you think) you can, you're deceiving yourself. My daughter is a neurologist, and late in my life she told me language ability and intelligence are two different things," he said. "Successive generations of students paid a heavy price, because of my ignorance, by my insistence on bilingualism."
But he said no matter language skills people have, they will use Mandarin in later life if they learn it early, saying that the education authority and parents in English-speaking households should help make Mandarin attractive to children and encourage them to speak and listen to it as much as possible.
Wow. What a condemnation of the “immersion” theory of education, one I have argued against. Surprising to hear someone with so much direct experience weighing in so heavily.
Well, if the SHTF, as I believe it will within 2 years, and America is pushed from the top of the mountain, Singapore will not have to worry about these issues.
Singapore, like Taiwan, is one of the jewels in the crown in the Asian region that the ChiComs want to conquer and will do so very decisively if we do not have the power/influence to protect her.
The ChiComs want a world where everyone speaks Chinese first-and-foremost. Their goal is still world domination.
I took 4 years of Latin and 4 of French and 14 years of English. At 65, my English Language and writing skills are ordinary...just like everyone else I know.
A former girlfriend learned French and English in her Italian high school and college; she has a reasonable command of both languages (her English grammar is better than some at FR), but her native Italian suffers a little.
One of my Marine friends learned Arabic at the Defense language school in Monterey, CA; his English hasn’t suffered. I think a lot depends upon when the language immersion takes place and how often one uses it afterwards.
Well, as someone who has been exposed to linguists and multilingual children from Europe, Asia and America, I wish my own nation had made this mistake....
Learning a second language early gives you a better grasp of grammar and syntax and eases study of any subsequent language.
I honestly would agree to a one time waiver of the Constitution to get this man in the Oval Office for just four years......
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