Glossing Over Vital Details

The Education Bureau underestimates what students know about government

Hong Kong secondary students are getting the "Basic Law Education for Dummies", as teaching materials are using bizarre analogies to explain the city's relationship with the mainland and how the city's leader should be chosen.

In the teaching materials for a 15-hour "Constitution and the Basic Law" module, now part of the required Basic Law lessons, the Education Bureau compares the Chinese central government to a school principal, and the city's chief executive to a form teacher.

Eddie Ng's department under fire for simplified material

In the video, the narrator says a principal could not manage matters in detail for every class, so he authorized form teachers to do so.

As to who should be a form teacher, the narrator says it was the principal who decided.

Talk about simplifying too much and skipping a lot of detail!

Education lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen slammed the video as misleading.

He said it failed to give the context of "one country, two systems", and presented the chief executive position as appointed rather than elected (by a small voting committee).

"With this explanation, we do not need to resume political reform," he said. "Instead [it shows that] we should move towards the appointment of [chief executives]."

Students are political thanks to the Umbrella Movement

Ip, a former principal, also questioned the omission of a section of teaching materials related to one's rights protected in the Basic Law, which was in previous versions of the materials.

Of the 39 hours needed to complete this course, 24 hours will be focused on Chinese history lessons, and the remaining 15 on life and society topics. However, it's expected that Basic Law education will later expand to a total of 51 hours.

In response, Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim denied the new education requirement was supposed to replace the controversial national education program aimed at promoting patriotism.

But what is it then? How can one compare a school hierarchy with the way our government leader is chosen?

The Education Department is assuming young people know nothing about how government works and live such sheltered lives that they need the analogy of a school to understand.

Except these days, thanks to Scholarism and the Umbrella Movement, students are very well versed in politics and aren't impressed with the current administration.

This paternalistic way of teaching is condescending and pathetic. Just shows again how out of touch the government is with the reality of the situation.

Failing Our Next Generation

Hong Kong's education system seems to be about learning to pass exams

Since the beginning of the academic year, there have been 22 Hong Kong students who have committed suicide, including four in five days. One was an 11 year old. This compares to 23 suicides per year from 2010 to 2014.

The Hong Kong government is alarmed enough that Education Secretary Eddie Ng Hak-kim has announced a team of psychologists will work with schools to provide better counseling. However he did not clarify how many were in the team.

Currently almost every school has a social worker, but there are hardly enough psychologists to go around in the city, let alone for schools.

Eddie Ng pledged to find prevention against student suicides

Nevertheless, people were quick to blame the highly stressful school system, where the constant focus on grades since early age makes it difficult not only on the students, but the parents as well.

There is also the scheduling of children's days from morning to evening, seven days a week so that they have no downtime or even a few hours to play with friends. Does a three-year-old really need a CV as thick as a magazine?

Many believe the education system really needs to be completely revamped, with a focus more on actual learning than learning how to pass exams. Currently students seem to just go through the motions and don't find school fun at all.

When kids aren't interested in learning then how will the city be able to innovate at all? Curiosity is what inspires people to find out new ways of doing things, or new things, period.

But education chief Ng didn't mention anything about examining the pitfalls of the current education system and instead said it would set up a committee to look into the problem and recommend preventative solutions within six months.

What a pathetic bureaucratic response.

Children don't have enough time to play and decompress

How about reaching out to the shocked and bereaved parents, fellow students and teachers, asking them if they saw any signs of trouble, and find out what what support they need?

There are also concerns that parents aren't spending enough time with their children, as both mother and father work these days to pay the rent/mortgage/school fees/put food on the table, etc.

The other extreme of parents sheltering their children is not good either, as young people are less able to cope with setbacks and failure, as encountering these kinds of incidents can be good for character building.

Another factor is that children today are more antisocial and would rather text than talk face-to-face with friends and adults.

"This generation grew up with the internet. Although they are more connected, they also tend to look only at things they like. They might not understand complicated or different views on an issue. For anyone who sees things not fitting their taste, they could simply 'unfriend' them," says Dr Lee Sing, a professor of psychiatry at Chinese University.

This results in young people seriously lacking in interpersonal skills and the inability to cope with stress.

What needs to be done is to discuss the issue so that people -- not just young ones -- will be encouraged to speak up. With the fast-paced world we are living in, people do not have time to reflect on their lives or think about what they want to.

With 22 suicides already this academic year, it's time to stop and ask what is going on and figure out how we have failed the next generation.

The Political Fight over Chinese Characters

Many in Hong Kong think students should learn traditional Chinese characters

The Hong Kong government continues to push its agenda to mainlandize the city with the Education Bureau's latest consultation document that says local students should learn simplified Chinese characters.

There was a huge uproar last week when TVB started using simplified characters for its Putonghua newscasts on its J5 channel that led to 10,000 complaints.

It is a divisive issue, because depending on which side you're on indicates your political leanings.

Education chief Eddie Ng says the issue is being politicized

However Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim denied any political intent behind the move, accusing others of distorting the facts and creating an uproar.

The bureau said learning simplified characters was not an item for consultation because it was already stated as a goal in the Chinese Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide back in 2002.

Why didn't we hear about it then? Perhaps it was because there were other more pressing education issues at the time?

The consultation document says after mastering traditional Chinese, students should be able to read simplified characters to widen their reading range and foster better communication with the mainland and overseas, while schools should promote "using Putonghua to teach Chinese language" on campus as a long-term goal.

However the bureau did admit it didn't have any evidence to prove using Putonghua to teach Chinese would be more effective than using Cantonese.

The difference between simplified and traditional characters

When the general public was asked about their view by a newspaper, they all resoundingly rejected the idea of using simplified Chinese in schools, saying there was no need.

Nevertheless, some international schools teach simplified Chinese to make it easier for students to learn and easily integrate with the mainland, where as local schools insist on traditional characters, and that students would be able to figure out simplified characters.

Academics say learning traditional Chinese characters helps students understand their etymology.

"I beg the government not to create problems where there are none," says Chinese language expert professor Ho Man-koon of Caritas Institute of Higher Education. "Teachers do not need to specifically teach simplified characters. Students can naturally learn them by guessing and making logical inferences."

Legislator Lam Tai-fai, representing the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong and supervisor of Lam Tai Fai College, said the business sector was ambivalent about students learning simplified characters.

Simplify this! The character biang to describe noodles

"The knowledge of simplified Chinese has nothing to do with making profits," he said. "Since traditional Chinese is widely recognized and adopted in Hong Kong, it is better to encourage students to learn simplified Chinese [of their own accord] rather than to make it mandatory."

Teachers are also concerned that simplified Chinese will take hold if it actually becomes a course in the curriculum. "They fear that after students achieve a good grasp of simplified characters and Putonghua, many years later simplified Chinese will fully replace traditional script in their textbooks," Ho said.

Eva Chan Sik-chee is the convenor of the Parents Concern Group on National Education, and warned that although the issue was overlooked in 2002, it didn't mean there was consensus now.

"The government has not really consulted the public," she said. "Many people in the education sector are not even aware of this proposal. We are highly concerned about the overall impact of the proposals, including using Putonghua to teach Chinese as a long-term goal. We have a feeling that the whole consultation exercise is leaning towards the mainland culture, and made out of a political motive."

Education chief Ng needs to come out and explain clearly what is going on -- is there really no more opportunity for the public to give its own opinion on the matter? And why does it think learning simplified Chinese will help Hong Kong students liaise better with Chinese overseas? They are most probably learning traditional characters, and if they are using simplified, again, they can figure out what they are saying without having to explicitly learn simplified Chinese.

It seems like this issue will not be resolved anytime soon and there should be a dialogue about this, instead it seems like the government is bending over backwards to please Beijing.

Yet another reason why the government is so alienated from the general population and that Hong Kong people get no say in their lives.

As some people are saying these days, it feels like 2047 is already here...

Children as Pawns

Young children in PLA uniform attended Sunday's inauguration of the cadets

The push back against Occupy has already begun with the formation of the Hong Kong Army Cadets Association. Apparently it is aimed to make youngsters "aware of their responsibilities and obligations are Chinese citizens", but there's a lot of confusion surrounding it.

On Sunday the group was formally inaugurated in Ngong Shuen Chau naval base, a restricted area on Stonecutters Island, with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's wife Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee dressed in uniform as the group's "commander-in-chief".

Only select media were allowed to attend, including Wen Wei Po and China Central Television, were allowed to attend.

Many senior government officials were there, including Leung, central government liaison office director Zhang Xiaoming, Security Secretary Lai Tung-kwok, Education Secretary Eddie Ng Hak-kim, and Youth Commission chairman Bunny Chan Chung-bun.

Controversy surrounds the cadets and their function in HK

Former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa is said to be the group's honorary president and his wife Betty Tung Chiu Hung-ping is said to be an honorary adviser.

Apparently some 200 members of the association marched in the event, but now it has been revealed that many were duped into attending, drafted to make the numbers of recruits look better.

One of the "recruits" named Jackie, claimed he saw an ad for the event posted on Facebook for alumni of a military summer camp organized by the Education Bureau, the PLA and a non-profit group called Concerted Efforts Resource Centre.

Those who took part in the ceremony would get a free PLA uniform. He agreed to go along and was told by staff from Concerted Efforts that he was not being recruited to the cadets.

However, he and others were introduced as "members from different columns" of the association.

Another Form One student said all 120 of his classmates attended the event on the understanding that they were spectators.

Some people, including Wong Yeung-tat, leader of pro-democracy group Civic Passion, are concerned the cadet group would use military training to indoctrinate young people with Communist Party values.

"It will make it easier to accept the sets of values being taught to them," he said.

So Wong has announced Civic Passion will form a group of 14 to 18 year olds who will counter the cadet group, which is open for those six years and above. What these teens will do is unclear, but surely a direct polar opposite of the cadets.

When children are young, some take part in groups like Beavers, Scouts and Girl Scouts. They learn survival skills like camping to first aid, teamwork as well as compassion for others.

What are these young people learning in cadets? Are they being taught what exactly "rule of law" means? Are they expected to cite the Basic Law by heart? Perhaps they have to practice marching, singing the national anthem and conducting the flag raising ceremony?

And why are the secrecy surrounding the inauguration and not allowing other media outlets to attend? What is there to hide?

But more importantly, do these children realize they look like they are being used as pawns in the war of rhetoric that is further dividing the city...