hey guys....below is an article i came across while doing research.it reflects the opinions of a writer on English being accepted into our Singaporean culture.publish your own comments on this statement if possible
Monday • November 6, 2006
Michael Wee
michael@mediacorp.com.sg
IN "ON writing the Great Singapore Novel," (Oct 30), commentator Liang Dingzi discussed the need for "the Singapore breath and breadth of life" in our English-language literature.
As an aspiring Singaporean writer, it seems to me a great impediment lies in the failure to fully integrate the English language into our culture. It is surprising how, after more than a century of British colonial rule, a growing number of English-speaking households and even native speakers of English here (that is, children born into English-speaking families who learnt English first), Singapore has yet to wholly claim the English language as part of her culture.
By that, I don't mean developing our own colloquial tongue, Singlish. Truth be told, English here is still treated as a language for business or instruction in schools. It has an official status, but not a personal one.
It often seems almost a crime for, say, an ethnic Chinese here to claim that English is "his or her own language" rather than Mandarin — even if he or she did grow up in a mostly English-speaking environment, at home and in school. This is because culture has been made so rigidly synonymous with language, and English is treated here as something foreign — brought in by foreigners and thus not truly "Singaporean".
While the Ministry of Education's inclusion of more local English-language literature into the curriculum might slowly change this perception, Singaporeans who speak mainly English (or worse still, proper English) are treated with scepticism or sometimes even labelled to be "acting ang moh" (Caucasian).
I feel Singapore can truly claim English as part of her culture, despite being an Asian society ostensibly upholding Asian values.
With a growing English-speaking environment, we should be less culturally suspicious or shy towards the language and instead embrace and integrate it into our unique culture.
I am not saying everyone should start speaking English, but Singaporeans need to realise English can play a part even in the most Asian aspects of our culture.
The potential in this is great. The English language can be used to promote and breathe new life into our culture and go hand-in-hand with our "Asian-ness". Culture need not confine the language of expression.
In schools, for instance, class discussions on the Mid-Autumn Festival and poetry recitations about the moon can enter English or Literature classes. The occasion need not be labelled a "Chinese cultural activity", solely reserved for the Chinese-language department to exploit.
By exposing the young to our rich Asian heritage through not just Chinese, Malay or Tamil but also through English, we can show that the latter isn't distinctly Western and can also function culturally in an Asian setting.
English is not the enemy and does not necessarily result in deculturalisation; conversely, it can be used to keep our cultures alive. After all, the concept of an Asian country claiming and integrating English is not new — India, on account of her colonial history, has accepted English as a "colonial inheritance" of sorts. The fruits of this are sampled in India's body of English language literature, which Mr Liang made reference to in his article.
If Singaporeans accept English as a part of their culture, writers would subsequently find using English to exude Asian Singapore more appropriate — and maybe our Great Singapore Novel will no longer be as elusive as before.
-AMALA-
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Culture
Culture refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. In general, the term culture denotes the whole product of an individual, group or society of intelligent beings. It includes technology, art, science, as well as moral systems and the characteristic behaviors and habits of the selected intelligent entities. In particular, it has specific more detailed meanings in different domains of human activities.
________________________
As Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European immigrants, the culture of Singapore expresses the diversity of the population as the various ethnic groups continue to celebrate their own cultures while they intermingle with one another. Singapore has achieved a significant degree of cultural diffusion with its unique combination of these ethnic groups, and has given Singapore a rich mixture of diversity for its young age.
SEOKHWEE/
________________________
As Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European immigrants, the culture of Singapore expresses the diversity of the population as the various ethnic groups continue to celebrate their own cultures while they intermingle with one another. Singapore has achieved a significant degree of cultural diffusion with its unique combination of these ethnic groups, and has given Singapore a rich mixture of diversity for its young age.
SEOKHWEE/
Divorce
Disagree:
• Better to end the pain and suffering now then to continue for the rest of your life. It is meaningless and a waste of time to continue with a marriage without love.
• Some say that divorce can affect children badly. However, divorce does not doom children to years of emotional problems or lifelong dysfunction. In fact, exposure to constant parental conflict and unhealthy family situations can significantly impact children's lives in a negative way instead.
Agree:
• The marriage knot is more likely to unravel these days. People get married and divorced as and when they like. They felt that this is a normal process in the 21st century and everyone is doing it as well. This will cause to lose the significance and meaning of the marriage. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), forty-three percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years.
• In a nationally representative, longitudinal study, the sociologists found that about one third of divorces ended high conflict marriages, characterized by frequent fighting, violence, or abuse. When these marriages ended, children did better because they were freed from a tense and dangerous family situation. However two thirds of divorces ended low conflict marriages, characterized not by violence or frequent fighting but by unhappiness and boredom on the part of one or both spouses. When these low conflict marriages ended, children did worse after the divorce because they were not aware of significant problems to begin with. One day, usually with no warning, their family simply fell apart and life changed forever after that.”
• One of the most impressive of these studies shows that divorce was a deeply painful experience for children. They endured more depression, greater learning difficulties, more aggression toward parents and teachers and were two to three times more likely to be referred for psychological help at school than their peers from intact families. It is also found tat divorce took its greatest toll years later, in early adulthood.
SEOKHWEE/
• Better to end the pain and suffering now then to continue for the rest of your life. It is meaningless and a waste of time to continue with a marriage without love.
• Some say that divorce can affect children badly. However, divorce does not doom children to years of emotional problems or lifelong dysfunction. In fact, exposure to constant parental conflict and unhealthy family situations can significantly impact children's lives in a negative way instead.
Agree:
• The marriage knot is more likely to unravel these days. People get married and divorced as and when they like. They felt that this is a normal process in the 21st century and everyone is doing it as well. This will cause to lose the significance and meaning of the marriage. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), forty-three percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years.
• In a nationally representative, longitudinal study, the sociologists found that about one third of divorces ended high conflict marriages, characterized by frequent fighting, violence, or abuse. When these marriages ended, children did better because they were freed from a tense and dangerous family situation. However two thirds of divorces ended low conflict marriages, characterized not by violence or frequent fighting but by unhappiness and boredom on the part of one or both spouses. When these low conflict marriages ended, children did worse after the divorce because they were not aware of significant problems to begin with. One day, usually with no warning, their family simply fell apart and life changed forever after that.”
• One of the most impressive of these studies shows that divorce was a deeply painful experience for children. They endured more depression, greater learning difficulties, more aggression toward parents and teachers and were two to three times more likely to be referred for psychological help at school than their peers from intact families. It is also found tat divorce took its greatest toll years later, in early adulthood.
SEOKHWEE/
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Communication in the Family.
Good, open and honest communication in the Singaporean families are hard to come by nowadays, the reason for this problem is both the fault of the parents and the children. Here are some of the reasons in my opinion that have contributed to the communication breakdowns in various families.
#1: The fault of the parent
Good, open and honest communication in the Singaporean families are hard to come by nowadays, the reason for this problem is both the fault of the parents and the children. Here are some of the reasons in my opinion that have contributed to the communication breakdowns in various families.
#1: The fault of the parent
- parents choose work over children, evident when they spend long hours in the office, reach home when the children are sleeping, and parents bring unfinished work home to do.
- parents think that children are old enough to fend for themselves (children are still children afterall, and still need parental guidance!)
- exhausted from the workload of the week, parents have no energy left to spend time with children on weekends
#2: The fault of the child
- Children think they're grown up already, and do not need their parents' help
- teenagers choose friends over family not realisingthat friends can sometimes lead you astray (esp if you fall into bad company)
- children idle free time away on the television, computer, with friends...etc instead of spending quality time with parents
#3: The result
- the result of both sides being at fault is indeed detrimental
- children are deprived of parental love, and seek other forms of feeling acceptance and entertainment
- children end up taking the family for granted and see no need in good communication
- parents lose focus of their main priorities unknowingly
- thus there is a breakdown in communication within the family
As seen from the words in italics, both sides do not have family as their their top priorities, which in my opinion in truly saddening. As the saying goes "blood is thicker that water", many people fail to get the message and often treat their families as people whom they meet and live with everyday. We slowly lose the special bond that binds us together when we communicate less with our family members. I believe that communication is the key, and we must not allow our respective families to suffer from communication breakdowns. We should all try our upmost best to preserve a good relationship with the members of our families!
Chloe Goh did this :{] Heh heh.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
DIVORCE
- divorce rates have been increasing steadily over the past decade.However much this number increases,Singaporeans appear to hold conservative attitudes towards divorce with the majority finding divorce unacceptable, especially if the couple has children.The following are just the statistics that show the mindset of Singaporeans over the past two years: the Survey on Social Attitudes of Singaporeans (SAS) 2001 – 2003, the majority found divorce unacceptable.
- SAS 2003(59% found divorce unacceptable)
- 75% agreed that couples with children should not divorce
- (vast majority of Singaporeans felt that divorce should be the first option when a marriage breaks down,94%)
- Even 61% of the younger Singaporeans compared to 79% of older Singaporeans found Divorce unacceptable
With statistics that clearly shows the general opinion of our fellow citizens,it is rather obvious that divorce is considered a social ill in our society.
-AMALA-
COMMUNICATION IN A FAMILY
Open and honest communication is the backbone of all relationships in a family.The more we communicate with each other about daily issues or life;the stronger our bonds become.It is of utmost concern that lack of communication has lead to the various problems in families(eg.wayward children,divorce,disputes between siblings)We should try out the following methods to improve communication in our families and to bridge all forms of distances between us
- Have regular family discussions to what the things each and everyone is looking forward to and what they're anxious about. Get everybody's burning issues out on the table. This is a good family practice!
- Remember that different family members may feel differently about a certain issue at different times. Remember that how someone feels about an issue one day may change and change again over time.
Honor feelings and encourage all family members to express them freely and without judgement. Don't try to "fix" someone else's grief. Deal with emotions by recognizing and acknowledging them. Work the energy out through physical exercise, art work, crying and laughing. Be explicit about what you're doing and why. - Ease a time of logistical confusion. Put a calendar where everybody can see it and mark important dates and occasions of the household so that no one wil left out or out of place in a family
These are only some of the ways for one to build healthy relationships in a family.We should experiment with various kinds of methods and pick out the comfortable ones for successful foundations.So...Happy communicating to all...
-AMALA-
Friday, April 13, 2007
Communication problem in family
- Despite the government introducing the five days work week system, parents and children still hardly have time for each other.
- Some parents continue to bring their work home while children will be spending the weekends on their schoolwork or with friends.
- Communication problems in family are very common within singapore especially at the stage when the child is a teenager.
- Parents believe that the child is old enough to take care of him/herself and hence they will start devoting more time on their careers.
- There is lesser communication and interaction between both sides and this leads to misunderstandings easily.
- Parents have forgotten that this is one of the most important periods of their children where they start to experience many changes and difficulties in life.
- Children start to question their parents’ love for them and soon develop a mindset that nobody needs each other.
- They feel that having their friends by their sides is enough and are not willing to turn to their parents when they are having problems and share with them.
- They begin to believe that a home is only a place for them to sleep. There is no love, no warmth and no feelings for that place they called home.
- The child may end up with the wrong company and takes the wrong route.
- Hence, parents should start doing something when they feel that it is getting harder to communicate with their children and often ended up having with arguments and quarrels and not when things are getting out of hand. This problem will not resolve by itself and will only worsen as time goes by. It requires lots of understanding and involvement from both parties to build up a good relationship. This is the period of time where their love, care and support are needed the most. They should also make an effort to ensure that the child is aware of the existence of love between them.
done by: SeokHwee
- Some parents continue to bring their work home while children will be spending the weekends on their schoolwork or with friends.
- Communication problems in family are very common within singapore especially at the stage when the child is a teenager.
- Parents believe that the child is old enough to take care of him/herself and hence they will start devoting more time on their careers.
- There is lesser communication and interaction between both sides and this leads to misunderstandings easily.
- Parents have forgotten that this is one of the most important periods of their children where they start to experience many changes and difficulties in life.
- Children start to question their parents’ love for them and soon develop a mindset that nobody needs each other.
- They feel that having their friends by their sides is enough and are not willing to turn to their parents when they are having problems and share with them.
- They begin to believe that a home is only a place for them to sleep. There is no love, no warmth and no feelings for that place they called home.
- The child may end up with the wrong company and takes the wrong route.
- Hence, parents should start doing something when they feel that it is getting harder to communicate with their children and often ended up having with arguments and quarrels and not when things are getting out of hand. This problem will not resolve by itself and will only worsen as time goes by. It requires lots of understanding and involvement from both parties to build up a good relationship. This is the period of time where their love, care and support are needed the most. They should also make an effort to ensure that the child is aware of the existence of love between them.
done by: SeokHwee
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