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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The third point I wish to comment on is the contents of the approved textbooks for Chinese. These are often beyond the understanding of our primary and secondary school students and some of the contents, to my knowledge, are included only in textbooks for university students in China proper. What results is a kind of "Hong Kong style Chinese"-a peculiar mixture of abstruse classical phrases and ordinary everyday Chinese. Yet imagine how much time and energy our poor children have wasted in acquiring this impractical knowledge?
From the above you may perhaps agree with me that the sooner the Education Department is placed under this Council, the better it will be for the public. Before this desirable step is taken by Government, I propose that the Education Department should have the membership of its Board of Education broadened to include representatives of the professions and teachers from all levels, not merely acting in an advisory capacity, but vested with real power in determining educational policy and with a member elected other than the Director of Education as its Chairman.
I wish to comment now on our newly established Chinese University of Hong Kong which has so often been described as a pale shadow of the University of Hong Kong or as an American copy of the University of Hong Kong. Either description is unfortunate not because I underrate any university of British or American pattern but because I feel that the Chinese University of Hong Kong should have a character of its own.
I have had a number of talks with people who helped to establish this university after many years of hard work and I am under the impression that the primary purpose of having an additional university in Hong Kong was to provide opportunities for graduates of the Chinese middle schools to receive university training and at the same time to promote Chinese education and to play a part in bridging the gap between East and West. If this is a correct assumption, then many criticisms can be made of the present condition of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Firstly, we are fortunate to have an internationally known figure to serve as Vice-Chancellor. In his speeches on many occasions he has emphasized that the Chinese University of Hong Kong aims to be accepted at the highest international level. Our Vice-Chancellor has truly worked very hard along this line. He has travelled abroad so often and stayed abroad so long that it has made people think that he is more like a visiting advisor than the executive head of a newly established institution. His presence in Hong Kong, to be available for any important discussion and policy making, is doubly desirable as the Chinese University is one of a federal type and he is the only suitable person to co-ordinate and constantly supervise the three foundation colleges. I feel sorry that he has been so over-internationally minded as to have overlooked the simple fact that no university in the world can earn an international reputation as long as its graduates are treated locally, more often than not, as little better than English secondary college graduates.
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I can state as a fact that there are many Chinese University graduates working as junior clerks or private primary school teachers earning a meagre sum of $300-400 a month and I remind you that we taxpayers have subsidized each student to the extent of some $8,000 a year for four long years.
Secondly, if the Chinese University is to retain its name and to develop its own character, it is absolutely essential, if it is to have any degree of success, to have sound local secondary Chinese education. Again, to achieve these purposes it is of paramount importance to have the Chinese language adopted as an official language. But has the public ever noticed any real effort being made by the Chinese University in this direction? I am glad to learn that following my suggestion at one of our debates to ask the Chinese University for assistance in translating our official records and training Chinese translation personnel for Government, Chung Chi College has come forward and offered us its free services. A tribute of praise must go to them but we need to see much more effort on the part of our Chinese University authorities.
Finally, we learn with pleasure from the newspapers that there will soon be a research institute for Chinese studies at the Chinese University. It is all very well to have more and better research organs but obviously the fact has been over-looked that the Chinese University is mainly if not exclusively financed by the people of Hong Kong to train local youth to serve the local community. Whether or not it enjoys a high international reputation in certain branches is but of secondary concern. For years we have been and shall be short of medical doctors, therefore we need a medical faculty; likewise, in order to provide more opportunities to Chinese middle school graduates we need an engineering faculty. I have the feeling that our Chinese University authorities in its efforts to relieve the starving masses are distributing vitamin pills instead of rice and salt fish.
In conclusion, I should like to appeal to the Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong to remain at his post for longer periods and to strive, together with other University officers, for equal treatment of their graduates as that of the University of Hong Kong, to try to establish professional faculties at the University so as to put it on an equal footing with its sister University, to do more actual work in protecting and further developing local Chinese education and in setting a date when only Chinese middle school graduates will be...
Page 159 of 259
(expected to be empty or contain "290")
290
is not present, hence no change to the last few lines. The corrected output remains as is.if 259
Page 157 of 259
288
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The third point I wish to comment on is the contents of the approved textbooks for Chinese. These are often beyond the under- standing of our primary and secondary school students and some of the contents, to my knowledge, are included only in textbooks for university students in China proper. What results is a kind of "Hong Kong style Chinese"-a peculiar mixture of abstruse classical phrases and ordinary everyday Chinese. Yet imagine how much time and energy our poor children have wasted in acquiring this impractical knowledge?
From the above you may perhaps agree with me that the sooner the Education Department is placed under this Council, the better it will be for the public. Before this desirable step is taken by Govern- ment, I propose that the Education Department should have the mem- bership of its Board of Education broadened to include representatives of the professions and teachers from all levels, not merely acting in an advisory capacity, but vested with real power in determining educational policy and with a member elected other than the Director of Education as its Chairman.
I wish to comment now on our newly established Chinese Univer- sity of Hong Kong which has so often been described as a pale shadow of the University of Hong Kong or as an American copy of the University of Hong Kong. Either description is unfortunate not be- cause I underrate any university of British or American pattern but because I feel that the Chinese University of Hong Kong should have a character of its own.
I have had a number of talks with people who helped to establish this university after many years of hard work and I am under the im- pression that the primary purpose of having an additional university in Hong Kong was to provide opportunities for graduates of the Chinese middle schools to receive university training and at the same time to promote Chinese education and to play a part in bridging the gap between East and West. If this is a correct assumption, then many criticisms can be made of the present condition of the Chinese Univer- sity of Hong Kong.
Firstly, we are fortunate to have an internationally known figure to serve as Vice-Chancellor. In his speeches on many occasions he has emphasized that the Chinese University of Hong Kong aims to be accepted at the highest international level. Our Vice-Chancellor has truly worked very hard along this line. He has travelled abroad so often and stayed abroad so long that it has made people think that he is more like a visiting advisor than the executive head of a newly established institution. His presence in Hong Kong, to be available for any important discussion and policy making, is doubly desirable as the Chinese University is one of a federal type and he is the only
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
289
suitable person to co-ordinate and constantly supervise the three founda- tion colleges. I feel sorry that he has been so over-internationally minded as to have overlooked the simple fact that no university in the world can earn an international reputation as long as its graduates are treated locally, more often than not, as little better than English secondary college graduates.
I can state as a fact that there are many Chinese University graduates working as junior clerks or private primary school teachers earning a meagre sum of 300-400 dollars a month and I remind you that we taxpayers have subsidized each student to the extent of some $8,000 a year for four long years.
Secondly, if the Chinese University is to retain its name and to develop its own character, it is absolutely essential, if it is to have any degree of success, to have sound local secondary Chinese education. Again, to achieve these purposes it is of paramount importance to have the Chinese language adopted as an official language. But has the public ever noticed any real effort being made by the Chinese University in this direction? I am glad to learn that following my suggestion at one of our debates to ask the Chinese University for assistance in trans- lating our official records and training Chinese translation personnel for Government, Chung Chi College has come forward and offered us its free services. A tribute of praise must go to them but we need to see much more effort on the part of our Chinese University authorities.
Finally, we learn with pleasure from the newspapers that there will soon be a research institute for Chinese studies at the Chinese University. It is all very well to have more and better research organs but obviously the fact has been over-looked that the Chinese University is mainly if not exclusively financed by the people of Hong Kong to train local youth to serve the local community. Whether or not it enjoys a high international reputation in certain branches is but of secondary concern. For years we have been and shall be short of medical doctors, therefore we need a medical faculty; likewise, in order to provide more opportunities to Chinese middle school graduates we need an engineering faculty. I have the feeling that our Chinese Univer- sity authorities in its efforts to relieve the starving masses are distributing vitamin pills instead of rice and salt fish.
In conclusion, I should like to appeal to the Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong to remain at his post for longer periods and to strive, together with other University officers, for equal treatment of their graduates as that of the University of Hong Kong, to try to establish professional faculties at the University so as to put it on an equal footing with its sister University, to do more actual work in protecting and further developing local Chinese education and in setting a date when only Chinese middle school graduates will be
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