The education system in Hong Kong is examination-oriented. Before the implementation of 334 curriculum, secondary school students have to attend public examination - HKCEE and HKALE for the promotion of form 6 and entering the university respectively. To get the limited places, Hong Kong students sometimes are learning everything by rote without deeper understanding. Most students concentrate on their academic results, but put less emphasis on what they have learnt. It is true that some students have an outstanding academic achievement. Unfortunately, there is a lot of criticism that Hong Kong students lack critical thinking, analytical and problem solving skills. The reason for this phenomenon is the passive learning attitude of Hong Kong students which is the result of the examination-oriented education system.
The new senior secondary curriculum was introduced, but I think the problems I have mentioned above are not solved. The liberal studies became the core subject in the new system so as to improve students’ critical thinking skills. However, students in Hong Kong remain silent and are unwilling to raise questions during the lessons, compared with the counterpart in western countries. Raising questions for what they don’t understand or what they oppose is the key for students to improve their critical thinking skills. (Some teachers in primary and secondary school don’t like students who ask “too many” questions in the classes. They may think that those active students cause troubles to them or challenge them.) The learning atmosphere won’t improve unless the traditional teaching methods are changed in Hong Kong.
There is a lot of contradiction between Hong Kong education system and the society. I remember that the government official commercial shown in the TV has a slogan - “求學不是求分數”, which remind students that what they have learnt is more important than the academic results they get. On the other hand, the education system still sticks to the examination as the assessment. Besides, the employers will only look at the public examination results and other academic qualifications or achievement when we seek the jobs. Moreover, some students may have potentials and skills in other fields rather than the academic fields. The government also claims that those have their own “uniqueness” and have ability to achieve their goals. However, the education system doesn’t fully support those students to develop their “uniqueness” and their non-academic skills. In fact, professional skills are required for most of the career in Hong Kong, as well as the essential elements for employers’ consideration to the applicants for jobs. Therefore, most Hong Kong students believe that having good academic achievement and higher academic qualification is the only way to succeed in the future careers, and even their life in future.
