THE article “Teaching children to fail” (Aug 17) is unbelievable. Unbelievably spot on, that is. Growing up, my late dad John Pillai, a former journalist and my mum, a retired teacher, definitely helped shape my communication and language skills.

As one became older and supposedly wiser, one also at times, ignored the discipline and passion poured into English, instilled by the “old folks”. One became sloppy, sometimes irritated when dad was checking my work. Yes, he still did at this stage although no more knuckle raps.

But when a person so passionate about the language and words is no more, who is there to discourse and debate about this article or another?

Teachers are there to be this guiding force to our young, to ensure that the road ahead is cleared.

Minimise the obstacles. But let’s also not underestimate the “new young”, the Gen Y and beyond.

They live in two parallel worlds, the ones we live in and the virtual one. They know how important language and communication is. After all, any Facebook account will show friends from all over the world. Language barriers broken by one common communication tool namely, English.

The whole debate is being laughed at by teens. They will probably fine tune their English by going online more often. The ones we need to worry about are the ones just entering school.

Set up some task force within another task force to “menilai semula” all that has been happening.

Gerry Pillai
Via email