Do u feel the heat too?
China whiz kids: S'pore feels the heat
Brilliant China students are giving their Singaporean counterparts a foretaste of global competition in the classrooms
By Tracy Quek
VICTORIA Junior College (VJC) student Wong Li Keng faces tough competition in his class, not only from his Singaporean peers, but also from his nine classmates from China.
The China kids are so brilliant, he says. He's had to work harder and play less just to keep up with them. 'When I see them getting better results than me, I feel inferior and pressured. We have to improve or the Chinese will catch up with us,' he said, expressing a sentiment often felt but rarely heard from local students.
Li Keng, 18, is not the only one feeling the heat. From primary school to the university, China students are showing their academic prowess and giving Singaporean students a foretaste of what it's like to compete against global talent in the workplace.
Teachers may sing the praises of the China students but their remarkable academic achievements have stirred emotions ranging from jealousy and envy to awe and admiration among parents and local students.
One parent, Madam Tam Chiew Hong, 48, says the stiff competition is one reason her son, Lam Yoke Yeong, 12, is taking private tuition for maths and Chinese four times a week.
The part-time bank executive said: 'Of course, I'm worried about top places going to foreign students. If that happens, Singapore would lose face and have a reputation for producing mediocre students.'
If local students don't buck up, she predicts 'foreign students would also take away jobs from our kids at the end of the day'.
Madam Teo Eng, 52, a housewife, admits she sometimes compares her 11-year-old son Kok Tse En's progress with that of his China classmates. 'I tell him that even though their English is not as good as his, their marks are not that much below his, while their Chinese grades are so much better,' she said.
While the angst over foreign talent is not new, the growing influence of China and the opening up of Singapore to China tourists, businessmen and students have aggravated those feelings.
Last year, about 30,000 China nationals were studying in government and private schools here; the largest cohort so far, said Mr Wang Yongli, the education counsellor at the Chinese embassy. In 2003, there were about 25,000.
One-third of them are in polytechnics and universities, 10,000 in primary and secondary schools and the rest in private and commercial schools.
More will come, he said, given the easy entry requirements and Singapore's reputation for being a safe country with a world-class education system.
For a country that prides itself on its academic achievements, it is a galling experience for Singaporeans to be beaten at their own game. Mr Wong Pei Jun, 24, a Nanyang Technological University (NTU) electrical and electronics engineering undergraduate, said: 'Every foreigner puts stress on local students to perform. But because most of the Chinese students are here on scholarship, we assume they are smarter and so we have to work harder to get the honours we want.'
At the age of 11, Sean Ng is learning to grapple with his feelings at losing. The Primary 6 pupil from a neighbourhood school in Yishun feels 'jealous' when his China schoolmates sweep gold at table-tennis competitions, even though they're in the same team. 'They won gold and I won bronze. If they were not here, I could have won the gold or silver. I can't get over it.'
A check with 20 primary and secondary schools and junior colleges shows that the number of China students ranges from a handful to more than 100. A typical school has between 20 and 30 students. Ironically, the small number of China students makes their achievements even more visible and newsworthy.
In 2002, The Straits Times reported on its front page that six out of 17 top Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scorers that year were China students.
Just last month, China students made headlines for sweeping the top three prizes in the Young Inventors Awards 2004, which recognises research and innovation among tertiary students in the Asia-Pacific.
Four of the five members in the top three Singapore teams from NTU and the National University of Singapore who won the awards were from China. Only one was Singaporean.
When asked about the China students in their schools, teachers and principals invariably used adjectives such as 'highly intelligent', 'focused' and 'exceptionally driven'.
Nanyang Girls' High teacher Ong Siok Cheng said: 'They impress us with their diligence and determination. They are generally more focused than local students and have clear goals. Local students can learn from them.'
They typically excel in maths, sciences and of course, Mandarin. English is usually their weakest subject but they overcome that hurdle in double-quick time.
At Rulang Primary in Jurong West and Peiying Primary in Yishun, for example, youngsters from China have left their mark.
China-born Zeng Jingyin, 12, did Peiying proud by obtaining last year's third highest PSLE score of 283. She broke the school's previous PSLE record, which was held by another China student, Liu Hui, who achieved a score of 281 in 2002. Last year, the school's third, seventh and 10th best performers also were China students.
Rulang's top PSLE students from 2001 to 2003 were China students. Only last year did a Singaporean student, Wee Yun Han, reclaim the top spot with an aggregate of 282.
China student, Zhao Chong, 19, a second-year JC student at Hwa Chong Institution, won top spots in last year's physics and chemistry Olympiads. He also scored seven A1s and two A2s in his O levels.
His feat is eye-popping given that he could barely string a sentence in English when he arrived here in 2002.
The reason China students like himself excel is because of fierce competition back home, he said. 'Chinese students are more motivated than local students. In China, during the free period or between breaks, instead of playing football or resting, students sit in classrooms and study or do homework, so that they have more time to go home and read more books.
'Singaporean friends think it's stressful here but I don't find it so at all,' he added.
That characteristic drive is what Singaporean students will encounter in the workplace, and VJC student Wong Li Keng, 18, is already getting the jitters.
He said: 'Having had a glimpse of how outstanding they are now, it makes me a little nervous to think about what things are going to be like when I start working. It's not going to be easy.'
-- Renee Tan and Ng Mei Yan
