Future leaders of the country

I am... Somewhat concerned of the type of people we will be having for 'future leaders' in their respectful line of works.

This happened just yesterday, while I was on my way home. The bus passes by quite a few junior colleges so it's pretty normal for the bus to get crowded with students.

I overheard two of the students talking to each other, presumably about their mandarin oral examinations. I have to say... It was disturbing for me.

So as it turned out, student A was having trouble with the "open conversation" or topic debate part of his examination. The topic? Wet markets vs supermarkets. The duration? 5 minutes.

He said that he had to pause for 2-3 minutes...

You know what's worse? "aiya I'm also not from china what..."

I'm not sure if it's an issue with not knowing what the issues are regarding the topic of wet markets vs supermarkets, not being able to speak in your mother tongue or thinking that speaking in your mandarin is only for the mainland Chinese. Either way, it's just bad... Especially knowing that these are the "cream of the crop", the "smart thinking people"... Right?... Right?

And student B could still "yalor" to everything student A says...

Is there something I'm missing here? If there's something I should know about please let me know :D