DUCATION ACTION
GROUP
教 育
行
組 動
街六號地下
New Official
MEETING WITH MR. TIMOTHY DAVID, November 20, 1976
6, FORT STREET, NORTH POINT, HONG KONG. TEL. H-700915, K-673315
北 角堡壘
H.K.
لشريعة
in Ft Office in London
EAG hopes to inform Mr. David of the extreme pressures under which our school
children live and to dispel the false, but frequently used, excuse that people in H.K. love this academic struggle. The situation is not an example of dedication to
learning typical of many Chinese, it is instead an example of the pressures and
struggles for a child to merely find and maintain a place in school.
Unfortunately, EAG has still not received answers from the Education Department to questions submitted two weeks ago on issues we hoped to raise. Therefore, some information will have to be sent to you when the Department has replied.
1.
We would like for you to know the following:
The Educational Pyramid System: According to the most recent figures in the H.K. Annual Report, H.K. had the following number of students:
primary school students 696,987
secondary school students 389,298
post secondary school students
*
11,771
Since they are below the legal
60,
As a result of this pyramid system, there is a large number of dropouts at every stage. It is particularly serious at the 12-14 age group with estimates ranging from 45,000 to 55,000 dropouts in that age group per year. working age, they can neither attend school or work.
In many cases, the children fall under bad influences and become delinquents. Another result of the pyramid system is the keen competiveness of the education system which is not preparing our young people for the world of today, much less the world of tomorrow. Most schools are fact and
exam oriented. Most kindergartens give homework and exams in Math, English and Chinese (all are private; cost may be as high as $150 per month). The highly selective entrance requirements into many kindergartens and primary schools place the majority of H.K.'s children that come from poorer families at a disadvantage, often being rejected by school after school. Additionally, slower learning children are often labeled as failures and rejected by self and school. Classes are large (40 depending on type of school) and few teachers have been trained in remedial teaching. Our EAG symbol and pamphlet illustrate the kind of life that our school children live. The system emphasizes self and advancement at the necessity of others failures. This hinders a desire of cooperation and service to the community. Also, the majority of primary schools teach in the Chinese medium but the majority of secondary schools use English as the main medium. Since most students aren't capable of learning in English and a large percent of the teachers are also not capable of teaching in English, there is great emphasis on rote learning. Although H.K. is an industrial society with great demand for technical personnel, there is an over emphasis on the prestige of academic education with little emphasis on the technical or cultural aspects. Even technical schools emphasise one minor skill instead of general ability and theory. In short, our education system is geared towards university preparation, although of the age group only 2% attend university in H.K. and 2% abroad.
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