Mind over Chatter

I refer to Lee Wei Ling's article "Morals and morale" on page 31 of the Sunday Times, the 'think' section.

To be sure, I doubt if it is even meant to be an article more than a sort of autobiography short. Only the last 4 and a half paragraphs expressed any kind of text relevant to the issue. But then, as a friend pointed out, I ought not to waste too much time on this.

Basically, the audience interested in the issue does not need to know that the author and her brothers' ability to be bilingual affected the decision to make all ethnic Chinese students be like her in that respect. Neither would they be terribly interested in the fact that the author loved memorizing the classics and that she also had a nice view of the Istana grounds to work at it in front of or that she never got below 90 marks for moxie. How moxious. Or that the author had little problem memorizing facts in medical school owing to the way Chinese refined her memory faculties to its current awesomeness. Or that she was good enough to have her essays printed in Chinese newspapers as a teenager and be paid for it (even if it was 'only' $10 apiece or so). And that above all she learnt to be honourable and cultured like the ideal Confucian junzi.

And after recognizing that not everyone can be like her, she suggests that Chinese should be taught in a way that students can understand and find useful, no elaboration, the end. Oh, and also that it will be transformed somehow by the use of IT.

Alas, we weep for the death of tissue which once conveyed nutrients and water to useful photosynthetic parts of our natural world.