這次書展買了些中文書，如大前研一的"即戰力"、林行止的"拈來趣味"及楊懷康的書。再加上早前購買的"甲申年紀事"及"我這一代香港人"等，整個夏天不愁沒書看。
實在想空閒時多看點書，但有些書實在令人望而生畏，如 Toynbee 之 "A Study of History"。 但有些事總要有開始，只要開了頭，便直往終點。要讀巨著總要用時間及胆量。若不嘗試便永遠不知自己是否可以完成。
在書展上，有點驚訝有些年青人在選購英文小說及文學作品。但想深一層可能是暑期作業吧。
流行讀物永遠是書展的寵兒，正於麥記永遠都有川流不息的人潮。但這些精神及實際食糧是否有益便乏人過問。當吃得太多麥記時閣下知道是在破壞自已身體，而看得太多流行讀物時是否破壞自己腦袋呢？不少人每天花數小時看垃圾電視劇時十分精神，但對看嚴肅書就全無興趣兼大打呵欠。這有點像慢性腦袋自殺：keep your coconut in the dark and feed it with shit!
好書有如有益食物，未必好味但一定有益。若不知那些是有益書，便由中國四大名著開始吧。若怕厚可看金庸小說開始。胡適及林語堂的作品也可以。
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Hong Kong Book Fair
I went to the HK Book Fair 2007 on a Friday morning. I thought there would be fewer people but I was wrong.
I like visiting book fair because you can buy books with discounts. I bought the Cambridge Pronouncing Dictionary with 20% off. Other books I bought such as the masterpiece "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon and "Not quite the diplomat" by Chris Patten also had discounts.
Classic literature are sometimes boring but they are excellent writings. That's why they can last for centuries. Because we do not have much time to read, we should only choose good books, such as those written by good writers (if you do not know who is a good writer, choose classic literature instead). It's like eating healthy food, you do not want to feed yourself with junk food only, right?
I like visiting book fair because you can buy books with discounts. I bought the Cambridge Pronouncing Dictionary with 20% off. Other books I bought such as the masterpiece "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon and "Not quite the diplomat" by Chris Patten also had discounts.
Classic literature are sometimes boring but they are excellent writings. That's why they can last for centuries. Because we do not have much time to read, we should only choose good books, such as those written by good writers (if you do not know who is a good writer, choose classic literature instead). It's like eating healthy food, you do not want to feed yourself with junk food only, right?
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Hong Kong's Education System is in trouble - Part III
What is the relation between our education system and the "current and future government officials"? Our education system only prepares our students to become bureaucrats but not leaders. It emphasises on pragmatism; students are to become skilled workers in their undergraduate training. Research and Development are only for those who cannot find good jobs. Those who want a stable job go to the government. The Administrative Officers (A.O.) and Executive Officers (E.O.), in fact were only chief servants and servants of the British rulers - they were never leaders. I remember 陶傑 says that it is similar to a house owner (master) and his maid. No matter how smart the maid is, a maid can only follow orders. The maid does not have the power to design the house - it's the jurisdiction of the owner. The maid does not understand why the house is designed in such a way as the owner never teaches her how to design with taste. The result is that once the maid becomes the owner of the house, she can only follows the past design. She never knows how to re-design the house with taste. I think the maid needs to know how to design with taste before she actually starts to design but she did not learn it before. The maid needs to study again but she refuses to admit it. The maid would think that as long as the owner can do it, why not her?
A leader not only needs to have education, but also wisdom. Wisdom can be gained by reading the good ones. Do our government officials read more than one newspaper per day or only read the media summary? Do they read 明報,信報,International Herald Tribune,and Financial Times? We know the answer - their performance shows.
A leader not only needs to have education, but also wisdom. Wisdom can be gained by reading the good ones. Do our government officials read more than one newspaper per day or only read the media summary? Do they read 明報,信報,International Herald Tribune,and Financial Times? We know the answer - their performance shows.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Phonetics
I started learning phonetics in May, and I realized it's a good tool. I can pronounce a word with confidence. I encourage all my friends to learn phonetics if they REALLY want to improve their English. The course at the International Phonetic Association has only 6 sessions but there are lots of materials. I need to practice what I have learned in class frequently in order to acquire the skills of phonetics. And they work!
We never learned phonetics while we were at primary school. If we had learned it, we would have been able to pronounce many English words with confidence.
A writer in Hong Kong says that "If we compare learning language with building a high rise, phonetics is the foundation of a language and grammar is the cement and steel. If the foundation is stable by going deep and the cement and steel are sufficient, the building can be built from bottom to top. If the foundation does not go deep and the structure does not use cement and steel, the building can go up to 4 levels at most... schools in Hong Kong shall teach English phonetics and grammar... phonetics and grammar should be learned in primary school and junior forms of secondary school respectively."
The website of IPA is www.ipa.edu.hk and the above writer above is 詹德隆. The quotes above are from his book 中通外直 Part 1 Culture.
We never learned phonetics while we were at primary school. If we had learned it, we would have been able to pronounce many English words with confidence.
A writer in Hong Kong says that "If we compare learning language with building a high rise, phonetics is the foundation of a language and grammar is the cement and steel. If the foundation is stable by going deep and the cement and steel are sufficient, the building can be built from bottom to top. If the foundation does not go deep and the structure does not use cement and steel, the building can go up to 4 levels at most... schools in Hong Kong shall teach English phonetics and grammar... phonetics and grammar should be learned in primary school and junior forms of secondary school respectively."
The website of IPA is www.ipa.edu.hk and the above writer above is 詹德隆. The quotes above are from his book 中通外直 Part 1 Culture.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Hong Kong's Education System is in trouble - Part II
We want our future generations to be bilingual, Chinese and English. Since the majority of Hong Kong people are Chinese, our kids should learn their subjects in Chinese. What about English? We do have English classes since nursery so all we need to do is to hire qualify teachers to teach them. The crux is to have our children to familiar with English terms in various subjects since primary school. We should put English terms in parallel with Chinese terms in textbooks so children know that "香港" is "Hong Kong", "北極" is "North Pole", "國會" is "Parliament", "星星" is "Star(s)", "獅子" is "lion", and "水" is "water". When they are in junior forms of secondary school, the medium should still be Chinese but textbooks should be bilingual so they can choose to read Chinese or English version. Once they are in senior forms, the medium should be switched to English and most subjects should only have English version. As a result, they can understand more when they are in post-secondary school.
When we want our children to learn history, geography, physics, or others, we want them to learn some knowledge, not English. They should learn English in their English classes.
When we want our children to learn history, geography, physics, or others, we want them to learn some knowledge, not English. They should learn English in their English classes.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Hong Kong's education system is in trouble - Part I
I remember that I read the followings when I was in the secondary school:
"universities in Hong Kong have minimal funding in Research and Development as they were never designed to be research-based universities. The government only wants the university to produce sufficient manpower (skilled labour) to help ruling Hong Kong."
Since the establishment of the first university in Hong Kong in 1912, the colonial government wanted it to produce a group of local elites to help the former ruling this tiny place. The university taught these elites to become skilled labour so they knew to follow standards and procedures, but not to know why and how these standards and procedures came from. Some of these skilled labour entered the government and later became senior officials. The problem is that: the ruler, in fact the British, had never taught these skilled labour on the art of making a decision. All the important decisions in Hong Kong before 1997 were made by the British and the Hong Kong elites were merely executing orders by the British. After Hong Kong became part of China in 1997, these local elites became governor and senior officials but they lacked the skill of making decision as they did not have a clue on it. It would have been fine if there had been nothing went wrong as these ruling skilled labour could simply follow the standards and procedures. If there had been anything unexpected, this new ruling class would not have the knowledge and experience to face it as they could not find solutions from standards and procedures. The past 10 years shows that without the master, these servants could make a mess of Hong Kong.
Even nowadays - 10 years after 1997, universities and colleges in Hong Kong are still the same: keen on producing skilled labour but now they are for businesses and it is encouraged by the government. Finance, Tourism, Logistics, these are the "trends" in Hong Kong so many related programs and courses are available. The problem is - when these trends are over, how can these skilled labour survive? A university should educate one to know how to think rather than to become a model set by government or business sector. If our universities in Hong Kong can make their students acquire the skills of independent thinking, they will have the ability to decide their future and the future of Hong Kong; not just following orders from the ruling class.
For those who do not want their children to become skilled labour, including many senior officials in Hong Kong, they send their children abroad. They want their children to receive education, not vocational training.
When we look at our youngsters, we know that using mother tongue is the best way for them to acquire knowledge (not language) but many of us resist it. Why? Because we are worrying about their future. English is the international language and most universities in Hong Kong claim that English is the medium of teaching. Without a moderate English standard it is difficult for a student in Hong Kong to learn his subjects in university, no matter local or overseas. The dilemma is that many students in Hong Kong are not capable to acquire knowledge in their second language, such as History, Economics, and Physics. I still remember that when I started my secondary school, all subjects except Chinese and Chinese History were in English but my primary school was a Chinese medium school so I had a hard time to learn other subjects and I had a feeling of failure as I did not understand the content of most subjects. How can we resolve this dilemma?
"universities in Hong Kong have minimal funding in Research and Development as they were never designed to be research-based universities. The government only wants the university to produce sufficient manpower (skilled labour) to help ruling Hong Kong."
Since the establishment of the first university in Hong Kong in 1912, the colonial government wanted it to produce a group of local elites to help the former ruling this tiny place. The university taught these elites to become skilled labour so they knew to follow standards and procedures, but not to know why and how these standards and procedures came from. Some of these skilled labour entered the government and later became senior officials. The problem is that: the ruler, in fact the British, had never taught these skilled labour on the art of making a decision. All the important decisions in Hong Kong before 1997 were made by the British and the Hong Kong elites were merely executing orders by the British. After Hong Kong became part of China in 1997, these local elites became governor and senior officials but they lacked the skill of making decision as they did not have a clue on it. It would have been fine if there had been nothing went wrong as these ruling skilled labour could simply follow the standards and procedures. If there had been anything unexpected, this new ruling class would not have the knowledge and experience to face it as they could not find solutions from standards and procedures. The past 10 years shows that without the master, these servants could make a mess of Hong Kong.
Even nowadays - 10 years after 1997, universities and colleges in Hong Kong are still the same: keen on producing skilled labour but now they are for businesses and it is encouraged by the government. Finance, Tourism, Logistics, these are the "trends" in Hong Kong so many related programs and courses are available. The problem is - when these trends are over, how can these skilled labour survive? A university should educate one to know how to think rather than to become a model set by government or business sector. If our universities in Hong Kong can make their students acquire the skills of independent thinking, they will have the ability to decide their future and the future of Hong Kong; not just following orders from the ruling class.
For those who do not want their children to become skilled labour, including many senior officials in Hong Kong, they send their children abroad. They want their children to receive education, not vocational training.
When we look at our youngsters, we know that using mother tongue is the best way for them to acquire knowledge (not language) but many of us resist it. Why? Because we are worrying about their future. English is the international language and most universities in Hong Kong claim that English is the medium of teaching. Without a moderate English standard it is difficult for a student in Hong Kong to learn his subjects in university, no matter local or overseas. The dilemma is that many students in Hong Kong are not capable to acquire knowledge in their second language, such as History, Economics, and Physics. I still remember that when I started my secondary school, all subjects except Chinese and Chinese History were in English but my primary school was a Chinese medium school so I had a hard time to learn other subjects and I had a feeling of failure as I did not understand the content of most subjects. How can we resolve this dilemma?
Hong Kong and Canada
I have been living in Hong Kong for over 30 years. I was born in Hong Kong, finished my secondary education in Hong Kong and headed to Canada for post-secondary education in 80's. After I stayed in Canada for a while, I liked this country and I thought I would stay there forever. My experiences in Canada opened my eyes to the world. After I stayed in Canada for 5 years, I returned to Hong Kong in 90's for a summer vacation - first time in 5 years. The vacation lasted for about 3 months and I was glad to see my relatives and friends. After I returned to Canada shortly, suddenly I felt that I missed Hong Kong very much; I missed my relatives, friends, and the place. It was my homeland and I want to stay there and work for a better Hong Kong. I returned to Hong Kong one year later - after I obtained my undergraduate degree in Canada. It was a right move as the economy of Canada was getting worse in early 90's.
First Blog
This is my first blog. I want to share my views with you about many issues in Hong Kong and overseas.
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