RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch RASHKB and author 130 LACEY, J. A. LAI, T. C. - LANYON-ORGILL, Dr. P. A. LAW Chung Kam · LAWRY, R. E. LEE, Harold LEE, J. S.- LEE, The Hon. R. C. LIDDELL, Mrs. M. LINDSAY, Mrs. B. E. LINDSAY, T. J. - LIU, D. H.- - LIU, James J. Y. LIU. Dr. Tsun-Yan LLEWELLYN, J. LOBATO, Dr. P. G. LOTHROP, F. B. LUM, Miss Ada - MA Meng McBAIN, E. B. McCOY, W. J. MCCRARY, M. U.S. Consulate-General, H.K. Vol. 1 (1961) ISSN 1991-7295 + Dept. of Extra-Mural Studies, H.K.U. - - - · - · + · · - L 1701 Beach Drive, Victoria, B.C., Canada. Victoria Heights, 43-A, Stubbs Rd. Flat 1-A, H.K. The British Council, 133 Gloucester Building, H.K. 604 Edinburgh House, H.K. 74 Kennedy Road, H.K. Lee Hysan Estate Co. Ltd., 604 Edinburgh House, H.K. 10-F Headland Road, H.K. 364 The Peak, Severn Road, H.K. Butterfield & Swire, H.K. 1 Mercury Street, 1st fl., Causeway Bay, H.K. Flat 14, 16-18 Conduit Road, H.K. 83 Sincere Terrace, Grd, fl., Tai Hang Rd. H.K. Dept. of Geography & Geology, H.K.U. P.O. Box 144, Macau, Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass., U.S.A. 142 Boundary Street, Kln. Institute of Oriental Studies, H.K.U. Geo. McBain & Co., S.C.M.P. Building, H.K. · U.S. Consulate-General, H.K, - 25-A Robinson Road, Top fl., H.K. McDOUALL, The Hon. J. C. S.C.A., Connaught Road C., H.K. McGRATH, D. B. MACK, A. M. - McKERNESS, Miss J. MANEELY, R. B. + T L + MARQUAND, R. A. - MARTIN, Rev. Canon E. W. L. MELLOR, B. MILLER, P. M. - MOK Shu Wah MORGAN, L. G. MOU Jun Sun MOYLE, G. C. - NETHERCUT, R. D. - NEWBIGGING, D. K. NIXON, F. A. NG, Peter Y, L. · - - U.S. Consulate-General, H.K, - - H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. 5 Magazine Gap Road, H.K. Dept. of Anatomy, H.K.U. 104 Paramount Apt., 2 Shan Kwong Rd. Happy Valley, H.K. St. John's College, H.K.U. Registrar, H.K.U. W U.S. Consulate-General, H.K. + - - - 21 Cochrane Street, 1st fl., H.K. Colonial Secretariat H.K. Dept. of History, New Asia College, 6 Farm Rd., Kln, Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., H.K. U.S. Consulate-General, H.K. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., H.K. Room 42, Hong Kong Club, H.K. + Dept. of History, H.K.U. NOBLE, H. - Ying Wah College, Bute Street, Kln. O'CONNELL, Miss S. - - U.S. Consulate-General, H.K. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m EDUCATION AS A BY-PRODUCT OF FISH MARKETING T. A. ACTON* "The mighty rolling ocean is very deep and wide but cannot daunt the training of our bodies and our minds. So come, come together, children of the fisherfolk, let us all sing together. The provinces of knowledge are boundless as the sea, our schools' maternal care endures like the sky. So come, come together, children of the fisherfolk, let us all sing together. Fish are the treasure of the ocean, knowledge is the treasure of books, for us, the children of the sea, industrious, hard-working and brave. So come, come together, children of the fisherfolk, let us all sing together. ** School song of the Fish Marketing Organisation Schools, translated from the Chinese. Every year some eight hundred children sing this song at a prize presentation ceremony at the end of a five-day summer camp organised by the Hong Kong Fish Marketing Organisation (the F.M.O.). From more than three and a half thousand children in fifteen schools they have been selected to make new friends, attend barbecues and handicraft classes, widen their general knowledge and take part in sports, and win prizes in competitive games, whose honesty is guaranteed by the fact that they are organised by volunteers from a local office of none other than the famed and feared Independent Commission against Corruption. The prizes are presented on the last day by the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries, currently the Hon. J.M. Riddell Swan J.P. 3 Lecturer in the Sociology of Social Policy, Thames Polytechnic, Vice-President, National Gypsy Education Council. The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the British Academy, which financed the visit to Hong Kong during which the research for this paper was undertaken, the many fishermen, F.M.O. officials, members of organisations discussed in the text, members of both Hong Kong's Universities, and his wife and members of her family who discussed these matters with him. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 138 TA ACTON individuals, though rare in Hong Kong, might find their way through the system more easily if the F.M.O. schools were to become part of the general educational system, which they now so closely resemble. Conclusion Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 12th annual summer camp of the F.M.O. schools, at Wukaisha Youth Village, the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Hon. J.M. Riddell-Swan J.P. said: "There are clear advantages in completing secondary education, whether a child wishes to follow a career in the fishing industry or ashore. In common with other industries, fishing and fishing vessel technology are advancing rapidly, and the well-educated fisherman will obviously be able to take better advantage of this and so increase family prosperity.' * 46 The two major themes of this education policy appear in this speech: its benefit to the efficiency of the fishing industry, and its contribution to slimming it down (“a career in the fishing industry or ashore”). It is noteworthy, however, that the speaker applies these themes specifically to secondary education. The battle for primary education has already been won (give or take the odd thirteen-year-old who suddenly appears at a remote school, refusing to admit to any previous schooling; but this happens far less often than in Gypsy school projects.). This is an indication of how much more educational policies for the Shui-sheung-yan in Hong Kong have "achieved" than those for Gypsies in Britain. There has been a much greater penetration by the schools system, and by the dominant attitudes of industrial society to education among the Shui-sheung-yan than among the Gypsies. This paper quoted the SOCO study which showed that 32.5 percent of 263 poor Shui-sheung-yan respondents declared they wanted no more than primary education for their children. If such a question were asked of a sample of nomadic Gypsies in Britain, the figure would be nearer 90 percent, one would guess. In Hong Kong progress towards better education for the Shui-sheung-yan is general throughout the territory. The 11 British West Midlands Local Education Authorities, with their claims of achieving 800-1,300 children attending out of their estimated 1,500–2,000 constituency, are merely the brightest spot in Britain. Many other local education authorities are doing nothing, and the Department of 47 ================================================================================