Why the Old Chinese Education System in the Philippines Can't Pass the HSK Standard Today

Bahay Tsinoy, museum of Chinese life in the Philippines

I must admit that there's really a lot of cavemen out there. Some would argue that Pinyin is making things too easy, never mind that Mainland China has been the first to make the move to abolish Zhuyin. I was looking at the comments on the Bahay Tsinoy Facebook page and I'm not surprised by the comments. I try to talk about Pinyin and even ask, "Can you get your business permit with Zhuyin?" I guess I was being too blunt in what I did or not. Those old books above were useless. It's because they required people to learn Chinese first and an overdose of memorization. Memorization helps but without understanding, it doesn't help. Besides, you can't even use those textbooks above to teach Mandarin in the language centers (read why here).

People who graduated from Chinese schools talk about their experiences. Some of them even said, "We just memorized so we don't get whacked at the ruler by the siansi (Hokkien for teacher). For some time, there was Language 1, Fuhao Zhuyin, Chinese math (which I think is rather redundant until now), and Language 2. I was evaluating my past and why I even started to hate Chinese. I did have some ideas back then but I was afraid to speak them out. The school system tends to encourage people to be robotic. All of it was focused on too much memorization. We were too stuck on Zhuyin and we were never taught Pinyin. The problem with the Chinese school was that the Chinese class taught Mandarin as a first-hand language rather than a second-hand language. Also, I must admit that Zhuyin is becoming very obsolete. It's like using typewriters in typing classes or demanding students to use a typewriter to make their reports. It didn't matter how strict the Chinese teachers were if the system itself was faulty. Having reasonably strict teachers is good but they can become monsters in a bad system. 

HSK means Hànyǔ shuǐpíng kǎoshì (汉语水平考试) which means Chinese level test or Chinese proficiency test. The problem that was with Chinese was how it was focused on reading stories in Chinese (and switching back between Mandarin and Amoy instead of Mandarin and English), we had to memorize even when we didn't know how to read, and the Zhuyin just complicated things. Later, Language 2 or History was removed so there were only three subjects left. However, a lack of practicality was still the issue. Reading and memorizing Chinese isn't meaningful until you understand what you're memorizing. Some people even got two Chinese diplomas but still can't speak proper Mandarin. The valedictorian may have memorized the speech. However, has the valedictorian even understood it? Some people memorize Chinese songs but never understand the meaning. 

There's really no real proficiency when you think about it. The purpose of memorizing Bon Toi (question and answer in Hokkien) is supposed to teach how to speak right? However, if the people can't understand then getting a high grade without understanding what was spoken, isn't a good grade. A good grade is only good when it's a grade that's accompanied by learning. However, with too much focus on grades over learning then that's why students cheat. I couldn't get over how many cheating incidents happen inside Chinese classes too. I tried cheating and the siansi crumpled my test paper. I had a classmate who got suspended for cheating in Chinese. Other stuff I remember is I had a classmate who repeated Grade 2 Chinese four times and another failed Grade 3 Chinese twice. Grade 2-3 Chinese soon become the reason why some transfer to non-Chinese schools. It was a common sight for the students to cry when they had to do the Biak Diam (memorization). Yet, the decades-long problem had persisted since it was the way that the Chinese language subject was taught "since time immemorial" (read here). Some people even say that Pinyin is lazy and that Zhuyin is "more accurate". Do they even have the guts to tell that to the Chinese language schools where foreigners are learning to speak better Mandarin than they are? 

Can those old schoolers really pass the HSK standard then? Chances are that they're probably too focused on Amoy to speak proper Mandarin. They may have been good at memorizing Bon Toi but not understanding the Bon Toi. That's why I hated memorizing Bon Toi too. Though, memorizing Bon Toi, if taught correctly, can help people. That's what I recommended in the bilingual approach (read here). Katrina Liu's books have both Pinyin and English. As the Chinese community grows, the elders can't keep on using those old books that they were so used to. Assimilation was always bound to happen. Sure, there's Chinatown but can the businesses in Chinatown force the City Hall to read Chinese characters for their business permit? Can they use Zhuyin to secure their business permit (read here)? I'm seeing a lot of Chinese businesses spell out their names in Pinyin such as Xiaomi, Chatime, Gong Cha, and Yi Fang to name a few.  

Instead, the approach to teaching the Chinese language subject is to make it more accessible and practical (read here). In turn, it prepares them to master a difficult subject fully prepared. The system itself needs to change and Chinese language teachers can do a better job. The teachers are bent and driven by a syllabus. A good syllabus will produce better teachers. A bad one will end up derailing even the best teachers. The whole memorization thing should be to speak Chinese. That's why I'm glad that Zhuyin was replaced with Pinyin. Now, it might be to have a more practical approach especially with Mandarin being the most widely spoken language in Asia.