http://hk-magazine.com/feature/vote-your-feet
For me it was very uninspirational, condescending and very generalised.
But perhaps I should learn more how the HK government uses its money on subsidising students to go abroad and how it uses its money to do education reform in HK....
But Mr. Tsao who claims to be The number one scholar in Hong Kong (香港第一才子) should know that not all things are skewed to one side.
1) “patriotic education” - go to any country and tell them that learning one country's national anthem and mandatory hoisting one's national flag is an ill founded idea and see what they say to you.
2) Would the Labour government in UK or the Democrats in US educate their children about the corruption of their own party and reveal all the dark secrets behind the scene?
NO.
Why do we know about that then?
Because they have different ruling parties who know how to play politics to reveal that to the wider public. China has one and only one ruling party, why would it let you dig up its dark secrets?
Would you dig up your own dark secrets Mr. Tsao? Or does paparazzi generally dig it out for you?
So there is nothing wrong with not including “Mao: The Unknown Story” by Jung Chang in their high school education, it's the political, social system of China that is different if you want to be precise.
3) Lan Kwai Fong is crowded with foreign students and they can tell 'a martini from a Babycham' because their studying environment provides them with the skills to do so.
When have you seen a foreigner study in local high schools?
And when have you seen local HK students integrating foreigners into their circle of friends like what Singaporeans do?
It's because UK boosts cross cultural exchange and when you are a kid studying abroad, you try your very best to get to know other cultures so you won't stick out like an odd ball.
The so-called 'government official’s children' (which I am not one of) can tell the difference between one drink from another because they can integrate with other cultures easier than, say foreigners can to HK culture.
The root of all evils is the dominant language called English, which is taking over the world.
Why don't you ask a foreigner whether they can tell one dim sum from another?
4) Modern education basically started as a result of Industrial Revolution, there were too many kids in the filthy dirty streets, and intellectuals saw fit to house them in proper institutions so they can becoming a functioning part of an element in an industrialised society. Now we have come a long way from that and the British have refined their model according to their own needs and wants because they have been the ruler of their country for the past centuries or so.
Hong Kong, being a British colony in the past, obviously created an education that was favourable to the British which meant that the education system would work as a factory to create a cream of society who would want to go to Britain for further education.
But Hong Kong have just took back our autonomy for 11 years and the government is struggling to come into terms with post colonialism and has failed to provided a successful education reform, and a lot of people has lost hope in that reform. It doesn't mean adopting or assimilating Chinese education into our system is not good. Look how prestigious Beijing University and Tsing Wah University is in the world.
So please stop being fearful of being patriotic and be proud of being a Chinese, because whether you like it or not. Hong Kong is going to become directly under Chinese rule in 2047. And the best is not to breed misunderstanding and mistrust between Mainland China and Hong Kong, but to actively engage in cultural exchange that is not only driven by economic forces, but through educational reforms.
If you don't want to be patriot about loving China, then don't.
But at least love Hong Kong and give suggestions on ways of improving local education instead of dreaming about the past. Rather, try and understand the past so you can try and predict the future.
2 comments:
There’s one thing always going on in people at 40s, ‘lost memory’, the mood of nostalgia. So probably the idea of adopting mainland education system would not work after 2-3 generations of parents, by then they would be people of today’s child, whom lived in the absence of colonial rule. Leaders in China did predict well, 2047, a good time.
and you might just as well be less harsh about Mr Tsao, he is an old dude living in history.
i think he is proposing a political argument / mobilising young people to 'vote with their feet' as the title of his article suggests, and being nostalgic and sentimental at the same time
Welcome to blogspot btw : )
Post a Comment