11/18/2009

3 admissions of mistakes in a day - LKY

This is simply unbelieveable. For more than 45 years in power, there was no mistake. The record was a clean sheet of paper. Yesterday I heard it in the news that LKY admitted he made a mistake in the bilingual policy. Quite shocking news really. Today, reading the media reports, he actually admitted making 3 mistakes in a single day. Mistake number One, teaching the wrong way 'by insisting on ting xie(listening), moxie (dictation).' I will put it as spelling and dictation. Ting xie ie listening and writing, is spelling. Mistake number Two, 'insisting on bilingualism in the early years.' And mistake number Three, 'equating intelligence to language ability.'PS. Moxie is not dictation but writing from memory. Having realised his mistakes, he made it his lifetime pursuit to make it right. And he 'wasn't helped by the ministry officials, one English speaking, one Chinese speaking.' So he took on the task of thinking, on how to overcome this situation. He is no educationist, and he is also a very busy man. He thought through the problems and came out with more solutions. Finally he is putting them right. I can't imagine the consequences if he is not around to think through all the problems for Singaporeans. Why are there no other thinkers to complement this thinker in our country? Our country cannot depend on just one thinker to solve all our problems. The universities must start a course on thinking national issues and solving national problems.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

educated parents(DNA) produces highly educated children(dna)?

two is enough?

Anonymous said...

It's not too late to learn, how about fine tuning FT policy, NS issues, high housing costs, public transport policies, etc, etc. The list goes on, but do not stop after the GE, we know what's up his sleeve, after having been burnt and betrayed many times.

Lost4ever said...

Perhaps he just need to let the Chinese parents realize that as Chinese, u need to know your own culture, and the mother tongue, be it dialect or Mandarin will the the basis of learning the Chinese Language, why bother to force the issues in school and in public.

BTW, he was there to kill the Chinese Language in the first place.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i still remember those days in the 60s and 70s when china was still branded by the west as an evil state and chinese were gooks. and many chinese overseas also believed so. the western propaganda was so effective that many overseas chinese were even ashamed to be chinese and regarded anything chinese as dirt or shit. they would have bleached their skins if that was possible.

how could they be expected to learn a 'pariah' language, a language of the losers? so uncool!

time is changing and chinese is now cool. the west is embracing chinese, chinese culture and lang and learning them in double quick time. the overseas chinese are still sleeping and are waiting for the westerners to tell them that being chinese is cool before they want to learn chinese.

that is the pathetic part of being overseas chinese. 1.3b chinese never complain that learning chinese is difficult. but 2m chinese find it extremely difficult and painful to learn their own language in a slightly different form.

Lost4ever said...

Start them young, my kids started in the womb.

My colleague's wife felt otherwise, and they now have a banana boy, and trying to revert to no avail.

Sad that there are still many parents who leave it to the school and tuition centers, where as parents, we should try to start them with dialects or Mandarin.

The kids can go learn English in School, as its used universally for education and in the commercial world.

Well, the KiaSu Singaporeans will find a way out, bananas can always migrate, the heartlander will continue a vicious cycle of trying to catch up.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Here again, about be,ieving the claims of "leaders". Leaders are humans, they make mistakes.

Therefore you and only you can decide if something is right or wrong and in which context.

This is a pure admission of non- critical and independent thinking and everyone playing "follow the leader"... when the leader was wrong and too arrogant to listen to others, or to have a slight bit of "healthy doubt" that he could indeed be wrong. And he was.

Mistake #4: Arrogance: thinking that certain "special" people have powers to see into the future and make "certainty" based plans.

Anonymous said...

An extremely egoistic man who think he knows everything under the sky admitting mistake. May he live long enough to make corrections to his many wise decisions in formulating national policies.

patriot

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

he is the man who did it his way. he shaped things and made things happened.

there are many who benefitted from his decisions, and also those who did not or suffered. those who benefitted rightly must worshipped him. those on the other side would hate him.

we need passionate leaders who are willing to take ownership of this place, to change things for the better of the people. their decisions may be right or wrong, and they will be judged by history and the future generations.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

If there were no sheeple, there wouldn't be any need for "leaders".

In fact, there'll always be more sheeple than leaders because it is far easier to be led than to think for yourself and make your own rational decisions -- and cope with your own errors.

So it is quite "natural" to seek the easier "way out" and have someone else -- a messiah, for example -- to tell you how to live, what you must be and why you need to be led, so that in the end you can be "saved".

Works all the time.

Anonymous said...

From the "three mistakes", what I could possibly imagine is after a decade or two, he or someone would probably admit that the influx of foreign migrants in year 2000s (in an uncontrollable manner) - whether talented or not, is another mistake.
By then, whom are our next generations going to put the blame on?

Anonymous said...

5th mistake: taking too long to realise he has made so many mistakes.

6th mistake: only admitted mistake by saying "we" instead of "I", i.e. not man enough to take ownership personally but has to lump that responsibility upon everyone else.

7th mistake: even knowing that he has made so many mistakes but still refused to apologise to the people - arrogant, insolent and conceited.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

I think one can get too "hung up" in trying to find fault in others and making an account -- like god would when you die -- of their "errors" and "evil".

At some point being over-judgemental serves no purpose but to polish The Ego -- not that I'm against polishing the ego and using the ego occasionally for fun ad pleasure-seeking.

In a certain sense, I don't "blame" LKY. If I had his power, ruthlessness and influence... fuck, I'd behave like the king of the universe too and wield my power -- ramming my values into as many people I could, and smashing my enemies.

I'm just trying to get a little honesty here :)

Anonymous said...

He has yet to realize his Mother of All Mistakes.

And

that is his conscience is not working.

patriot