So today marked the day that my AP results would be released.
In great news, I passed both and got a 3/5 for English and a 5/5 for Chinese. Of course, the english was super hard and chinese was super easy so I sorta expected this. But I was just happy I passed both and they were both valid.
The first thing my parents said after hearing this was "Oh your english is worse than your chinese." which is statistically correct, but factually inaccurate. The exams are on such a different level and it would be most inappropriate to compare them at all. So, my father declared, "So since you've already taken your AP chinese exam, you can stop using chinese forever." Then silence ensued. This had long been a topic in our family. He insists that speaking bilingually will affect both languages as you speak, which is why he absolutely condemns singlish, even though he speaks it himself. Singlish is the essence of singapore. It is a way of life and while I understand why it's bad, it's definitely part of our culture. My father always criticizes Singapore for many things, including how Singapore has no culture, is so uptight and how the government takes so much money. I understand all these concerns but it's not ok to be hypocritical about it.
Furthermore, when he says that my english is bad, it's only when I'm at home, speaking to my family in an informal manner. I mean, after living in America for 2 years, my english is definitely no longer broken as singaporean english would be. It seems that I'm a mirror to my father. He gets angry about his own incompetence in the language and then berates me for it even though I don't have a problem with it. I don't know about him but I can be very flexible. I naturally switch between my singapore and american accent and when I mix my languages, I do it fluently too. I don't know what the deal is but apparently my father has been having trouble conversing with his co-workers and he thus blames his failure on me. I'm not him but he scolds me like I'm doing the exact same thing as him. And the worst part of all this? I'm the only one receiving all this reprimanding. My brother, who stupidly used chinese for the whole day even though that's what we were quarreling about, did not receive even a single scolding. Likewise for my mother.
Usually when something like this happened, I would lose my cool and start arguing and being absolutely downcast which would then make me receive another round of scolding for having a "black face". However, I was unusually calm and collected today. I did not even talk back; in fact, my brother and my mother actually argued for me. Alas, even though it was their mouths that opened, I received all the abuse. My father in his fit of anger, went out for almost the whole day and returned with the same frown upon his face as he spoke nary a word. And after we came back from dinner, he began the same threaten I've been receiving for a long time: "Since you like your chinese so much, you can just go back to singapore! See whether you die anot." The only difference about this time is that he has claimed that he has already booked air tickets and he even sent me a link about transfering back. While it may seem like nothing to the reader, it seems quite serious. But whatever it is, this just adds to my stress.
Let's say that I really am forced to go back. I am in the middle of nowhere in my education. Since US's and SG's educations do not correspond, I am left to hands of all those placement tests. And honestly, I think we all know that I am so screwed if I take one of those placement tests. The difference in standards in the educations are phenomenal and I am bound to plummet from a former above average student to a failing student who knows less than half the material being covered. I will fail because of the difference. The worse part is that I think that even hard work will make it hard to recover the lost time and lost knowledge that I had not gained. I've always been a good school and striving for the best but if I come back I'm screwed. Another thing is that if I had finished at least high school, I could try to apply for a singapore university but since I wouldn't be if I were to return now, I would have to go to JC and I would be in a really bad school. Or worse, I may have to go back to secondary school. (Very likely indeed)
I already have to worry a ton for my university entrance stuff in America and if I have to deal with this, I will definitely break. All this moving here and there and everything will and has messed with my life to much already. I've had enough.
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