The other day I met a friend from long ago. I was happy to find out that his kid was attending the same Chinese school as the one my girl will be entering next year. His kid is attending Std 1 in that same Chinese school this year.

However, much to my dismay I learned from him that he is now checking out private schools because he wishes to pull his kid out from that Chinese School next year.

His reason? Not the workload because he had already expected that. He has a supportive spouse who sits down with the boy and teaches him everynight even though she does not know Mandarin herself. He invests RM1,500 in an electronic dictionary and teaches the boy how to use it to help himself in his work. At the same time, they also send him to British Council once a week to make sure that his standard of written English remains good. Even though they speak English at home, he is worried that his standard of English will deteriorate if he is not given the practise. According to him the British Council is packed and there is a waiting list to get in.

His reason is because he thinks that Chinese School is turning his boy into a reserved kid. According to him he does not know how to mingle and he is afraid that he will either turn out square and reserved or rebellious as he retaliates from the stress of going through the culture of fear day after day. He is afraid of this even though they are supportive parents who give their boy lots of support in school.

He sent his kid to Chinese School because he felt that he had no choice since he has totally ruled out National School. No Choice. Sigh. Why do we have such a screwed up Education System? I am still wondering whether I am doing the right thing to send my girl to Chinese School.

At the moment, she is a bright girl who loves school. She is not afraid of her teachers. She loves to ask questions and she communicates with them well, IN ENGLISH. However, I am worried that all that will change next year. Will I see her shrink into a quiet, frightened little girl who does her work because she HAS to do them and not because she loves to learn the way she is now? Oh well, we’ll see.


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