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    Chinese Education in Singapore: An untold story of conflict and change: An untold story of conflict and change
    Unavailable
    Chinese Education in Singapore: An untold story of conflict and change: An untold story of conflict and change
    Unavailable
    Chinese Education in Singapore: An untold story of conflict and change: An untold story of conflict and change
    Ebook189 pages2 hours

    Chinese Education in Singapore: An untold story of conflict and change: An untold story of conflict and change

    By Zhang Zhixiong

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    BlurbLife as a coolie … sucked.Strife (the Chinese word tattooed on the wrist of the raised fist) epitomized the struggle of a coolie to make his life better.The story about conflict in Singapore’s Chinese community was always told from the viewpoint of the British colonizers. The perspective of a Chinese coolie was never written down. Until now. Set between the founding of Singapore and the shuttering of Nanyang University, this narrative is a colorful account of secret societies and their wars, of Sinitic languages and dialects, and of suppressions by a colonial government in a free port. Its pages are not crammed with historical facts and dates, but filled with the experiences of Chinese migrants over 200 years. It is an impression of their achievements and a witness to their weakness of character.Join them on their roller-coaster ride into conflict.Extract:"Malaya’s Razak Report (1956)The report was a compromise between the Barnes and Fenn-Wu reports, championing Malay as the main language of instruction. But it accepted the retention of teaching in vernacular languages, including English.Malaya’s Education Ordinance (1957)The Federation of Malaya gained independence in 1957. Alien residents who were born on the peninsula were given Malayan citizenship. The rest, including Singapore-born British subjects, were regarded as local residents.And the newly independent country adopted the Razak Report for its educational framework.Malaya’s Immigration Ordinance (1959)After the sharp worldwide economic downturn in 1958, Malaya passed a new immigration ordinance the following year, safeguarding the employment and livelihood of its residents.According to the legislation, wives (and children) of local residents who had lived separately from their husbands (and fathers) for five continuous years after December 1954 were prohibited from entering Malaya. This would “bring about a more balanced and assimilated Malayan population [with] ties and loyalty to […] a true Malayan nation.”201The law seems to be aimed at children of school-going age. Perhaps to circumvent changes in the education policy of Malaya, or perhaps education in Singapore costed nothing when the ten- and five-year plans were in place, or perhaps schools at the southern end of the causeway were seen to be better, many children from the peninsula were studying there.Wives of non-citizens also appears to be targets of the ordinance. These women had lived for long periods away from Malaya, after taking their children across the causeway, and then remained there to accompany their children, while their children received an education on the patch of land off the tip of the peninsula.Parachute kids and péidú māmā (study mothers) existed long before the words for them came into use. And I would also like to point out that astronaut families were being formed ahead of Yuri Gagarin’s historic journey into outer space.Singapore’s Immigration Ordinance (1959)Meanwhile, Singapore was granted full internal self-government that year. Both its alien residents and its British subjects (citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies) became British subjects (citizens of the State of Singapore). And the new government enacted an immigration ordinance, giving only its citizens the right to enter their country. The legislation was also an attempt to safeguard the employment and livelihood of residents on the city island.Malaya’s Rahman Talib Report (1960)The committee recommended using Malay in all training institutions, especially tertiary education. That would quicken the process of national integration on the peninsula.Malaya’s Education Act (1961)While Gagarin orbited Earth, the Rahman Talib Report was incorporated into the new law, stalling the space race by dampening enthusiasm for sending satellite children to schools on that (expletive deleted) island.Formation of Malaysia (1963)A hundred and forty-four years after the founding of Singapore, its prime minister, Lee Kuan-yew, declared
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPublishdrive
    Release dateNov 17, 2015
    ISBN9789810939526
    Unavailable
    Chinese Education in Singapore: An untold story of conflict and change: An untold story of conflict and change

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    Reviews for Chinese Education in Singapore

    3.5/5

    13 ratings5 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I agree with the author that there has been more than enough written from the non-Chinese and non-Singaporean point of view. I see this as a doctoral thesis in a university in which English is it's 3rd or 4th language, yet it is very easy to comprehend. It is also NOT BORING. Immigrants to Singapore have not always been voluntary, and the mixing of different dialects has been a real trial to the people. Educating such a mix has been a very difficult task.I do wish that this could be made into an audiobook with a narrator who is able to correctly pronounce the words and places that are unknown to many of us.I won this book in a LibraryThing Giveaway.
    • 4/5
      I was prepared to open the book and immediately read about Chinese Education in Singapore. I work at a Chinese university in Indonesia and one of my lecturer colleagues is from Singapore, so I was looking forward to a pleasant read that would further social discussion with my expatriate colleague. This book will do that, but not in the way I expected.The first chapter is devoted to a detailed discussion of the history of clans in China, their names (which have different pronunciations in different dialects) and a history of clan wars and disputes. I felt most of this could only be appreciated by a Chinese person brought up in a Chinese cultural background. For me, it was “move on, nothing to see here.”Chapter two is about the Chinese language in its many, many forms. With maps. Even the author writes “Sorry about the hardcore use of Mandarin in this chapter. You may stay with me, or skip to Chapter Three.” [loc 234]. I didn’t take the advice, and I am glad I didn’t. This chapter will be of interest to those interested in studying Chinese and to those who work with Chinese people. There are times when two people speaking Chinese seem to not quite understand what each one is saying. This chapter will tell you why. There are also some interesting historical notes. And some humor.And the rest of the book is on target as far as content. In the following seven chapters plus an epilogue, the author describes the struggle for linguistic diversity in education and how it can be preserved when there is also a demand for standardization that will support an end goal of an internationally recognized, accredited degree or diploma. Zhang describes the struggle of females to be educated. (Pay attention to the inequality in females studying A levels compared to males). She describes the complex political atmosphere from the time Singapore and Malaysia were two separate British protectorates, a time when Singapore was a part of Malaysia, then Singapore independence. This is a simplification; Zhang describes it in detail. I am reviewing what I liked in the book. For details (again, well referenced) read the book.Political conflict alone can be thought of as polite and not violent. But there can be a violent component in the form of riots or outright insurrections and war. Zhang describes these as well, both the homegrown internal conflicts as well as proxy wars.This book is not as long as it first appears when initially opened. This is not a criticism; I appreciated the references and I clicked on the hyperlinked numbers inserted into the text frequently. I just want to point out that this is not as long as a Kindle end location of 2479 would indicate. The author begins a section titled “EXPLANATORY NOTES AND a list of References” at 65% in my mobi formatted ebook. This is followed at the 88% point with a Glossary of Chinese terms provided in characters and Romanization.I got this book through a Library Thing Member Giveaway in return for a review. This is an informative book. I learned things. It took me a while to get through it from time of acquisition to review. Apologies to the author. But those first two chapters are daunting.
    • 4/5
      An entertaining but factual account of the many language dialects in Singapore and their interaction with educational development. In the historical narration I felt that the author shortsighted the contributions made by the Catholic Schools e.g., Katong Convent, St. Joseph's and St. Patrick's boys' schools. Many of their students became a part of the ministerial elite before the public learning institutions were fully developed.
    • 3/5
      While I appreciate a book on a sector of culture that is underrepresented in the zeitgeist, Chinese Education in Singapore was interesting, but not well written. It's difficult to attain the aim of this book: there are jokes written in, usually at the end of the chapter, but there are heavy facts; too much to make the book an easy read. I understand the language systems need to be addressed, but the explanation is too clunky, too confusing. Even the glossary is too difficult to be useful. I would take a huge editing pen to this book, but it has the best of intentions.
    • 5/5
      I received this book from Member Giveaway Group for honest review. Thank you very much.The book is a short version history of Singapore and the Chinese language education in schools. The book also gives a short dedication to Chinese used outside SG and the information jums in pretty good details. I am interested in languages so I found the information interesting. Author has done a great research for writing the book and knowing quite a lot about Singapore's history, I did enjoy to read history from Education perspective and learn new facts. The book gives great source of time and cultural development, conflict among the nationalities and education system and change. Great book.The book cover in my opinion could have been better as it hides the charm of actual content of it, although i can understand the idea.