Lack of Benefits in Over Parenting

Children in Hong Kong, particularly the ones of A-type parents don't have much of a childhood.

When they are three years old the children are already prepped for pre-school entrance tests which entail not only identifying objects on flashcards but also be able to say their name, and talk about their hobbies.

Hobbies? At three years of age?

I recall one parent saying that during the interview, her daughter was asked her name and she replied, "bee bee" or "baby".

And from then onwards the parents ferry their children here and there for tutorials, classes for dance, music, sports and art in the hopes all these extracurricular activities will give their brood a leg up in the world.

However on the show Freakonomics, economist Bruce Sacerdote found that over parenting doesn't have much of an affect on children and in fact doesn't help much in their financial future. He discovered that while parents could have a moderate affect on your income in your early 20s, they basically have zero influence for the rest of your life.

Zero!

But what about over parenting when it comes to academic success? Economists Steven Levitt and Roland Fryer took national data of children from birth to grade school in the United States and crunched the numbers. Levitt concludes it doesn't matter how many activities your kids do whether they go to museums. There is no evidence that the parental choices of obsessive parents can be correlated with academic success. "When it comes to happiness of kids that kind of cultural cramming is negatively correlated with happiness," Levitt says.

Negatively correlated to happiness!

So let that be a lesson folks. While it's good to encourage your child to learn whatever interests them, there isn't much value in forcing them to play piano or go to a museum.

Sometimes it's better just to let kids be kids.

Now if only the rest of the Hong Kong population and school system would realize this too.

More Concerns about National Education

There are more doubts as to how Hong Kong will implement the controversial national education course in all schools within two years.

As expected many teachers raised objections during the four-month consultation period that ended earlier this week.

The plan calls for all primary and secondary students in Hong Kong to include national education as a study subject though it has not been clarified as to what exactly the students should be learning and how.

Those for it in the pro-Beijing camp have criticized the city's education system for years saying there is not enough effort made to instill a sense of national identity in students, fearing they will be ostracized by the rest of the country. And those opposed are concerned about the true meaning behind national education, that it could be used for "brain-washing" purposes. There are also concerns of extra workloads for both teachers and students.

This proposal has been one of Donald Tsang's key objectives as Chief Executive, though he steps down next year. He is eager to show Beijing that he is heeding its suggestion that Hong Kong children learn more about Chinese culture (whatever that means).

The Federation of Education Workers which has 13,000 members says the plan should be a pilot scheme first before introducing to all schools, and that only one-third of schools should be involved in the first year.

Federation chairman Wong Kwan-yu said the government's time frame of two years was "unfeasible" and said that as many as 50 percent of teachers taking part in the survey opposed the proposal.

The organization's concerns are a political blow for Tsang, as it traditionally supports the government. The federation is the second-largest teachers' group in Hong Kong, after the Professional Teachers' Union which has already objected to the government's plan.

An advisory body is looking at the comments from the consultation process and will meet on September 15.

Meanwhile Hong Kong Association of Heads of Secondary Schools chairman Yuen Pong-yiu made a cryptic comment. He said the government should make sure students could think independently and critically.

Is he hinting he wants Hong Kong's children to be able to figure out what is propaganda and what isn't when they take this national education course?

Short Form English HK Style

GLA magazine... what does that mean?

Hong Kong people have a tendency to shorten words to make them easier for them to pronounce or remember. They can speak a string of acronyms but ask them to explain and they could be at a loss for words.

There's a story that trendy fashion label French Connection got its cool name FCUK when in 1997 the Hong Kong office sent a fax saying FCHK to FCUK. After that the name stuck for obvious shock reasons which is why the name is now emblazoned on T-shirts and results in second looks.

The actress Maggie Q whose real name is Margaret Denise Quigley, made her big break in Hong Kong thanks to Jackie Chan seeing her in Gen-Y Cops and got her cast in Manhattan Midnight and Rush Hour 2. Her name was shortened to Q because no one in Hong Kong apart from those who had studied overseas could pronounce her name.

And now we have this magazine called GLA, short for Glamorous. It's originally a Japanese magazine called Glamorous, but probably the Hong Kong marketers of the magazine thought the adjective was too much of a mouthful for locals to pronounce and shortened it to GLA.

How much lazier are they going to get? They're already calling Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen "CE" -- heck even his license plate says that too.

But do we have to shorten every single word just to make it easier for people?

Pretty soon English is just going to be a string of letters that make no sense.

On Top of Hong Kong

A view overlooking Tsim Sha Tsui and Hong Kong Island

Going back of house in a hotel is a really cool experience -- even more so when you're over 100 floors up.

The ships going in and out of Victoria Harbour

Anita, a good friend of mine visiting from the United States and I went to visit Peter who is the executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong which opened in March in the ICC building, the tallest in the city.

We first toured all the food and beverage outlets, Tin Lung Heen, the Chinese restaurant, Tosca with its open kitchen, the bar with large white and red chandeliers on the same floor and also the Chocolate Library above. The Chocolate Library has some creative desserts there, as well as packaging where you can buy a box of chocolates placed in a box that looks like a book.

A place setting with an old picture of Hong Kong

We also went up to Ozone, the highest bar in the world where the balcony is enclosed except for the roof so people can smoke outside on the 118th floor. During the day it has a relaxed atmosphere, but in the evening it looks completely different and reminds me of the scene in Star Wars where Han Solo and Chewbacca go into a bar to acquire a space ship.

Obviously there are some amazing harbour views up there and we visited on a clear day. During the fireworks Peter said you actually look down on them instead of up -- something I hope to try soon. He also pointed out that while we know there are lots of ships that go through the harbour, from up above you can see there is actually heavy traffic in the water.

Afternoon tea sets ready to be served

The private rooms have beautiful table settings including plates that have pictures of old Hong Kong which is different. Each private room we went into was more impressive than the last.

There is also a chef's table, another private room that seats eight or 10 and Peter will personally prepare dishes for VIP guests at a mini kitchen in front of the table. Most of the dishes will have already been prepared elsewhere but are finished in the room for a personal touch. But on the day we went, Sunday, the room was filled with tempting desserts put together for afternoon tea, as there was no other place to store them. We later found out how little refrigerator space there is for the entire hotel.

It is obviously more designed for the guests than the staff as some areas like the cold kitchen just had enough room for two of three people maximum. There were also many doors to go through for fire safety regulations. With a vertical hotel it also meant going up and down several floors in elevators not to mention ferrying food up and down too.

Freshly made dongpo pork that was braised for a long time

We also visited the Chinese kitchen where they were preparing stocks and we watched one chef heat up his wok on the open fire. "That's what wok-hay is," Anita remarked. She said she tried to explain this to her friends in the US where you know Cantonese food is good when the wok is hot enough. We also saw a large slab of dongpo pork, or braised pork belly just finished cooking and we got to have a small slice of it to try -- practically melt-in-the-mouth good.

Apparently singer Coco Lee will be celebrating her wedding nuptials to Bruce Rockowitz at the Ritz-Carlton and we checked out the ballroom which has lots of mirrors and crystal chandeliers which would be a challenge to clean. We can only imagine how lavish the banquet will be in such a striking hotel.

The crystal chandeliers in the ballroom

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and now I have a greater appreciation for chefs not only standing all day in the kitchen but also working in challenging environments so that others can enjoy your food.

Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong
International Commerce Centre
1 Austin Road West
Kowloon
2263 2265
www.ritzcarlton.com