English

Singapore has oft emphasised upon the need for an improvement in the usage of the English language amongst it people. However, this has been met with a mere general rise in literacy, but not in the quality of the language spoken.

The most overlooked issue is the concept that complex English usage is often seen as very haughty. Because amazing vocabulary is only relevant at the examinations, transcending this ability onto the streets has the exact same effect as rattling off the specific features of the water cycle when dark clouds gather overhead -- you are shunned by peers, who will undoubtedly give you a look of immense disgust.

There is a general trend that certain schools consistently produce certain types of professionals: politicians, lawyers, doctors and scientists, to name a few. A very plausible explanation lies in the nature versus nurture debates. While studies have been inconclusive as to which is the more important, they have nevertheless agreed to an extent that both are very crucial to development. Compare then a school which trains the students in mastery of the English language with one that merely ensures knowledge of it. Amongst like-minded peers, amidst a competent environment, it becomes inevitable that the students become more adept at more intricate language usage.

Yet, the solutions currently being explored include polishing the scripts of local productions. It includes strict regulatory criteria regarding publications and advertisements. The government has concerned itself largely with the exposure to proper English, understandably neglecting the more cunning uses of it. Yet, success in the world on an international level relies greatly upon out ability to converse in the same style as our foreign counterparts. The time will soon come when focus has to adapt to differing demands. And when that happens, no longer must the concern be so shallow. It must go beyond, daring and proposing to sculpt pre-conditioned mindsets. It must shape and utterly shatter the association of schools with uncool, from which stems the greatest obstacle to creating a population of masters of the English language.