Should Dialect be taught in school?

Dialect is part of us, part of our culture. Our dialect originates from our hometown, where our ancestors came from before settling down in Singapore. There are about a number of different dialects in the world, among them the famous ones were Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew etc.

This topic was raised years ago during one of the Prime Ministers' National Day Rally. I remembered that it was mentioned if no further action was taken, dialect might be lost in Singapore. Ok, maybe only Hokkien would be left. But, this would also mean that we have forgotten our roots.

Singapore government, ironically, censors all hokkien dialogue on TV and only allows English and Chinese. Even songs on the radio must also only be English and Chinese. This promotes bilingualism but at the same time, people gets less exposure to dialect.

There is also a sterotypical view of people that anyone who speaks hokkien instead of english and chinese is a gangster, or "chao ah beng" in hokkien. These people are being viewed as uncultured, uneducated, rude and useless people who just gets involved in gang fights and being a bully. This is entirely not true. It could be the tone that the person uses to speak hokkien. This view also indirectly caused the downfall of dialect in Singapore as parents are instilling thoughts to their kids that you would be a good for nothing gangster if you start to speak hokkien or other dialects. Ironically, we often see our parents use dialect to communicate with out grandparents.

I feel that there should be a special programme for dialect, just like in our school we have BSP. It can be like a third language for students and they just learn for extra knowledge with no tests and exams. This can help promote dialect among the younger generation. Other than that, in this programme histories of the different hometown should also be taught to students such that they can understand their roots better. This also fufills our school's philosophy, 饮水思源。

As a 40% hainanese, 40% teochew and 20% hakka, I feel that I should also start to learn these dialects as it is part of who I am. At the same time, I can improve my hokkien and cantonese. Dialect should not be lost in Singapore. As much as you may disagree with me, it should be promoted like singlish as they are our culture.