The Pros and Cons of Mother Tongue Exemption

Mother Tongue Language, particularly Mandarin is not an easy subject to master.  For kids who speak only English at home, this can be a nightmare.  The characters have to be memorized as they cannot be sounded out phonetically.  Intonations are challenging when pronouncing words and then there’s spelling to do as well as compositions which require use of idioms and such. 

I’m speaking from my own experience here, yours might be different.  My child spent hours and hours on Mandarin.  The results were just not commensurate with the time taken to learn the language.  There was less time for other subjects (not mention play time) and as a result it was difficult to do well over all.

Some kids are very good at languages and I’m not saying Mandarin is not a lovely and useful language when used correctly – as is English.  However, there are not many people in Singapore that are really proficient in either Mandarin or English and butcher both languages on a regular basis.

Pros

·         Only 3 examinable subjects at PSLE

·         More time to concentrate on learning those 3 subjects

·         At this point in time, there does not seem to be any penalty for only having 3 subjects at PSLE

Cons

·         Without MTL, your child will likely be excluded from top SAP schools

·          Higher Mother Tongue gets extra points at PSLE (Distinction 3 pts, Merit 2pts, Pass 1pt)

   v  List of SAP Secondary Schools

From 1979:

1.       Anglican High School

2.       Catholic High School

3.       CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School

4.       Chung Cheng High School (Main)

5.       Dunman High School

6.       Hwa Chong Institution (High School Section)

7.       Maris Stella High School

8.       Nanyang Girls’ High School

9.       River Valley High School

From 2000:

10.   Nan Hua High School

You can view this for yourself here:

http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/2008/02/enhanced-programmes-by-special.php

Most parents, like myself, who seek out MTL exemption are not really concerned about their child not being able to get into a Special Assistance Program (SAP) school after PSLE.  In my case, my child was really struggling with Mandarin.  It was taking up ridiculous amounts of time to learn and having a negative effect on other subjects as well as my child’s emotional well-being.  No parent wants to see their kid cry day in day out because they struggle with Mandarin, or any subject really.  So when you’re at that point when studying is like pulling teeth and you are crossing your fingers that your child can just pass their subjects, then who cares about getting into an SAP school!

Here’s a list:

Edupoll Rankings of Top 10 Secondary Schools in Singapore 2013/ 2014 ( in ranking order of academic excellence )

1. Nanyang Girls' High School (Lee Kuan Yew is the patron) - PSLE cut-off point 265

2. Raffles Institution (alma mater of Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong) - PSLE cut-off point 263

3. Raffles Girls Secondary School - PSLE cut-off point 263

4. Hwa Chong Institution - PSLE cut-off point 261

5. NUS High School - admission by DSA

6. Dunman High School - PSLE cut-off point 256

7. Anglo-Chinese School ( Independent ) - PSLE cut-off point : 249 Express / 256 IP

8. River Valley High School - PSLE cut-off point 256

9. Victoria Junior College - ( IP Program from Secondary 3)

10. National Junior College (IP) (alma mater of Lee Hsien Loong) - PSLE cut-off point 259

NOTE

The above Top 10 academic excellence schools in Singapore have high PSLE cut-off points, rigorous academic curriculum and strong scholastic culture.

For Nanyang Girls' High, Dunman High and River Valley High, students must be effectively bilingual in English and Chinese.

DPM Tharman's daughter studies Chinese as a Second Language at Nanyang Girls' High whilst his sons attended Hwa Chong Institution.

Former PM Lee Kuan Yew's daughter Lee Wei Ling studied at Nanyang Girls' High School.

Both Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong attended Raffles Institution.

Singapore's only female Cabinet minister Grace Fu is an alumnus of Nanyang Girls High School.

You can read about it yourself here:

http://www.edupoll.org/content/view/558/94/

Personally, this list is of no concern to me.  I’m just putting it in for your reading pleasure.

Just as an aside, there was quite some talk recently about a P5 boy at NYPS who attempted suicide at the school due to STRESS (apparently his parents were separating and he was under a lot of “study” pressure).  So to all those parents out there who keep saying “we are Chinese, so we have to learn Chinese” AND to those parents out there who send their kids to tuition to try and improve their kid’s 95% grade to 100% to top the co-hort – maybe you better think about your kid’s mental well-being as well.  You don’t want to push too hard and end up with a suicide on your hands.